a gastro rebirth for death avenue Restaurants
When Michael Tzezailidis opened his craft beer garden Gastromarket near the 28th Street entrance of the High Line in 2012, he knew he wanted to grow beyond his small bar and backyard garden spot. He worked with his landlord, who also owns the adjacent property, to take over the space next door.
With the popular High Line in the restaurant’s backyard, and the construction of the nearby Hudson Yards residences and other apartment complexes in the West Chelsea neighborhood, Tzezailidis hopes to tap into what he sees as an inevitable local crowd.
“We’re kind of sold on the neighborhood,” said Tzezailidis, who commutes from his home in Astoria. “The ups and downs will be short-lived. We are the pioneer in this neighborhood.”
After two years of planning and construction, Tzezailidis reopened as an upscale restaurant called Death Ave in late November, with an adjacent takeaway coffee shop. Gastromarket’s big draw—a romantic backyard garden—remains. The restaurant’s name nods to the area’s history; a freight train, dubbed “The Butcher,” ran down Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, claiming the lives of hundreds in its path over the years before it shut down in 1941.
Tzezailidis said that while the burgeoning residential neighborhood offers some present challenges—loud hammering and drilling from nearby high-rise construction hurt summer business—he expects that the residential boom will make the investment in the neighborhood well worth it.
“We have a 2,000 square foot garden adjacent to the High Line,” he said. “People come here for the backyard.”
Tzezailidis mostly abandoned the former beer garden concept of the restaurant’s earlier incarnation, and now focuses on a balanced bar program run by his cousin, Stamatis Dimakis, whom the staff calls Steve. Dimakis, who worked as a bartender in Mykonos, Barcelona and the French Riviera, developed a cocktail program that includes the familiar, such as jalapeno margaritas and caipirinhas, and the less conventional, like a house-infused banana bourbon, as well as a selection of wine, including four Greek varieties.
“When you go out with friends, one person likes beer, two people want wine, and one person wants their stiff drink,” he said. “Our menu fares well with all three.”
Tzezailidis, who never received formal culinary training, developed the menu and works with a sous chef to run the kitchen. Everything on the menu, from oven roasted baby back ribs to baked feta with honey, has roots in family recipes. Tzezailidis replaced traditional ingredients with Greek alternatives; the French toast on the restaurant’s brunch menu comes with a thick grape syrup called petimezi instead of a maple variety, which also serves as a base for the house made barbeque and chili sauces.
The restaurant bakes its own croissants and danishes for its café, and brews Greek coffee in hot sand over a burner, using an ancient system called a Hóvoli, in addition to more modern methods. The sand box was custom made in Greece.
“We’re trying to push the envelope as far as quality goes,” Tzezailidis said. The restaurant also roasts and mills all its coffee beans in house daily.
Though the new incarnation is more upscale restaurant than beer bar, with custom made wooden tables, commissioned paintings and heavy iron chandeliers, Tzezailidis, whose family has long made beer and wine, is still devoted to craft brews. The restaurant’s still-unfinished basement is home to six silver beer tanks for brewing the proprietor’s own recipes. Though not yet operational, Tzezailidis hopes to have his brews on tap and in to-go growlers by April. He’s also growing his own hops at his upstate home, which he plans to utilize come fall.
“If you want to make something good, without smashing customers with the price, you have to make it yourself,” he said. “Obviously we’re not raising cattle on the roof, but for us it makes business sense.”
Death Cafe is located at 315 10th Ave. between 28th St. and 29th St. and is reachable at 212-695-8080