After a long, temporary closure, the popular steakhouse and speakeasy has finally found a new home.
Holy Ground was an exceptionally popular Tribeca steakhouse, barbecue restaurant, and speakeasy that paid homage the neighborhood’s origins in the 1700s. Previously established at 112 Reade Street, the project was a group partnership from owners Matt Abramcyk, Chef Franco Vlasic, and Nathan Lithgow. Matt Abramcyk is best known as the founder of Neighborhood Projects, a hospitality company that has brought to life recognizable concepts like Tiny’s & the Bar Upstairs, Warren 77, and Smith & Mills. Nathan Lithgow meanwhile is the Wine Director for Neighborhood Projects, while chef Franco Vlasic served as Holy Ground’s chef and pitmaster, and is best known for starting Fort Gansevoort BBQ.
Together, the three endeavored to establish a new restaurant and speakeasy, where classic New York steakhouse meets Smoke House and Cocktail Bar, and Holy Ground was born. Borrowing from the neighborhood’s rich and colorful history, Holy Ground offered guests a unique dining and drinking experience that transported them to the New York of centuries past. The restaurant was even featured on Food Network’s Best Thing I Ever Ate, where the hosts raved about Holy Ground’s exceptional quality. Sadly, Holy Ground was forced to close during the pandemic, and began pivoting to a pop-up style business model for a while. Now though, more intel is breaking about the team’s plans to reopen the concept in a brand new location.
According to a recent liquor license application, Matt, Franco, and Nathan are gearing up to revive Holy Ground in a brand new space at 356 Bowery. According to the application, “Holy Ground will continue its ambience of a charming old-world establishment and will offer guests live jazz and soothing background music.” The location at 356 Broadway was previously occupied by Hecho in Dumbo, a popular Mexican restaurant from Chef Danny Mena that operated for 11 years before closing in 2018.
The location is much more spacious than the original Holy Ground, and offers a total of 3,388 square feet of space between the ground floor, cellar, and sub-cellar. The space is expected to seat a total of 152 guests, including two ten seat bars and a 480 square feet backyard space. There are plans to feature live jazz music as well, and the team will be properly soundproofing the space in order to accommodate this. At the moment, Matt and the team are in the process of acquiring a full liquor license for the space, and are proposing operating hours 11:00 AM – 2:00 AM Monday to Friday, and 10:00 AM – 2:00 AM Saturday and Sunday. While the project is still a long way away from being realized, you can follow Holy Ground on Instagram for more information when the team is ready to share new details.
