A faded gem has hit the market on tourist- and neighborhood-friendly West 72nd Street.
Sambuca Restaurant & Wine Bar, on the south side of the street across from the famed Dakota apartment building, is up for sale.
The Italian family-style restaurant, which was in the same spot for 26 years, is now considered a prime spot for a celebrity chef, said listing broker Rafe Evans of Walker, Malloy & Co.
The restaurant, just steps from Central Park’s Inventors’ Gate, has 240 seats, with a 34-seat banquet room and a bar that seats 16.
While the Upper West Side has flourished as a retail and dining destination in recent years, the W. 72nd Street corridor has remained truer to its past and is filled with independent mom and pop-like shops.
The restaurant was once the ballroom of a hotel before the building turned into a luxury co-op.
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West Harlem continues to blossom. 9A Kitchen & Lounge, a sports lounge and restaurant, just opened across the street from Fairway Harlem. The restaurant, at 2331 12th Ave. off the West Side Highway, is housed in a former beer distribution warehouse.
The theme is “Southern comfort favorites” with a contemporary twist, along with a sushi bar, say managing partners Julie Grunberger and Rigo Herasme.
The 150-seat lounge and restaurant, already attracting diners like Plaxico Burress, has two zones with a bar, lounge seating, a stage, and DJ in both areas. The original exterior brick façade is mirrored inside with exposed brick walls, and the space is outfitted with 32 flat-screen TVs.
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SIGHTINGS… Emma Watson dining at Sette Mezzo with friends, as Diane Sawyer and Mike Nichols dined at a separate table, as did “Selling New York” reality stars and brokers Michele Kleier and her daughters, Sabrina Kleier-Morgenstern and Samantha Kleier Forbes … Leonardo DiCaprio showing up all over the place, at Finale Club kissing a blonde . Then, there he was again, hiding out under a baseball cap on a rainy weekday at the Driver’s Seat in Southampton.