Clarification: The partners opening the restaurant Blend are no longer associated with the owner of Pranna and Lotus Lounge.
The owners of restaurants in Manhattan and Washington, D.C., have signed a 10-year lease for 6000 square feet of retail space at 55 West Marketplace on Church Street. According to a release by Grubb & Ellis, the commercial real estate firm that negotiated the contract for Netherlands-based landlord FFWO LLC (who knows what it stand for?), the new restaurant and bar will be called Blend and will feature touch technology tables. In addition, guests will be able to both order and pay for their food and drinks using their iPhones, so all you out of work servers shouldn’t start lining up for applications.
The new owners operate Pranna, a Southeast Asian Fusion restaurant in New York, and Lotus Lounge in D.C.
Blend will hold 330 people and offer a menu with a “mix of cuisines.” That’s all I know for now. I’m not certain, but the touch table technology may be similar to this London restaurant that projects images on the table.
More as I find out.