Galangal, my one-time favorite Thai restaurant, is no more. The carved elephants no longer guard the entrance, but there was an odd note in the outdoor menu box saying that "Galangal is now Ocha" and listing Ocha's address and phone number.
I'm not sure whether to chalk this one up to the economy, a bad location or another unknown factor. However you slice it, it sucks to see another restaurant close.
6 comments:
What!? Sad! I loved that place - but it was always empty. Why didn't I eat more curry??
That has been closed several months now (more than 3) and something else will take its place. I was also sad because Thia food is fine stuff and they did it well. Ocha, tho is also very good, but off the path from the downtown scene. I still get the feeling that Stamford is not quit adventuresome enough to sustain a lot of ethic restaurants other than I Italian (and now maybe Indian as well).
FD Rich wants to build their Courtyard expansion there right? I don't think it's moving forward immediately, but I thought the tenants leases weren’t being renewed.
I represent the owners of the building, 35 Atlantic, previously occupied by Galangal. We are moving forward with placing a new restaurant tenant in the space, and yes, a long term lease is being offered. I have been following many of the local blogs for some time now, with Streets of Stamford being one of my favorites, and I would welcome some input from the bloggers of this site in regard to what you think might be a good concept for the location. Here’s how I have assessed the location so far. Upon officially putting the space on the market, about a week ago, we have received numerous inquiries from prospective tenants. So far, and as expected, it’s been pretty much the same tired concepts, including Italian, dance club, wine bar, Irish bar, sports bar, and even one who wants to open an “authentic Pakistani” restaurant????? There comes a point, even in Stamford, and I believe we’ve reached that point, when the same-old-thing becomes less than exciting, and most likely won’t have much stay power. Given the fact that this location sits directly across from the side in/out steps of the 840,000 square foot office complex, Landmark Square, set in the middle of 2 multi screen movie theaters, and 2 doors up from the Palace Theater, and not to forget the many late night dance clubs throughout downtown, I began thinking about a concept that could best capitalize on these attributes of the location, even with a lack of convenient parking. No doubt, given Landmark Square’s high occupancy rate of 92%, its side doors facing the location, and abundant employees; a concept specializing in an affordable, sit down, take out, delivery and office meeting catering menu for breakfast and lunch would flourish here. For the before and after theater goers, how about an affordable dinner alternative, such as home made hot dishes and sides, incredibly thick hot & cold sandwiches, soups, salads, and made on the premises cheesecake and other deserts? And then there’s the late night club crowd, who undoubtedly crave a good meal after a long night of drinking and dancing. Well, the concept that I have in mind could stay open, especially on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, late, and I mean 3:00 AM late. Enough said there. So, what am I getting at? Something that downtown Stamford doesn’t have and never did. I’m talking about an “authentic”, and I mean authentic, NY “Jewish style” Delicatessen, straight out of Manhattan. You know, the ones that serve the best home cooked Corned Beef and Pastrami, sliced to order right in front of you, and piled high on real rye bread, with a multitude of combination sandwiches and hot plates. Now, some of may be thinking that we already have a few so-called delis in downtown Stamford, but do we really? Not in the true sense of a real Delicatessen. Go to this website, to see what I mean:
http://www.stagedoordeli.net/index.html
And yes, The Stage Door Delicatessen is one that’s on my hit list in my marketing campaign to try and bring the real deal to downtown Stamford. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Steve
Broker- like your post but unlikely to get a reaction on this site; you should check out stamford notes which is canvasing opinions on what is missing from stamford's downtown "scene"
Steve (Broker):
The west side of Atlantic Street is tough. That it faces the monolithic Landmark Square plaza makes it a far less inviting place than, say, Summer or Bedford Street.
True, there are a ton of workers in Landmark Square and they all need to eat lunch, but I'm not sure Stamford is enough of a foot-traffic city (like Manhattan) to support places like that. People here are still very car-centric. (Keep in mind that I'm not a city planner or anything of the sort, so these are just my impressions and thoughts.)
That being said, if a deli were to open there and offer a fantastic selection at a good price, it might do well. It would be in the busy downtown area, so with some good word of mouth, it could become a destination.
As a personal aside, I'm praying for a cheese shop to open in Stamford. If this deli were to stock some artisanal cheeses, count me as a customer!
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