Toasted Walnut: New spot from ex-Sisters' manager
Later this year, Denise Cohen - who ran the longtime lesbian bar Sisters before its demise two years ago - will set up Toasted Walnut Bar & Kitchen at 1316 Walnut St., just down the street from the new Boxers gay sports bar. The liquor license is in hand, and she goes to settlement next week.
The gayborhood is moving even further off the back streets of Washington Square West.
Later this year, Denise Cohen - who ran the longtime lesbian bar Sisters before its demise two years ago - will set up Toasted Walnut Bar & Kitchen at 1316 Walnut St., just down the street from the new Boxers gay sports bar.
Cohen is aiming at gays, lesbians and "our straight allies," promising a menu of more than just bar food. (She's shopping for a chef now.) The keys will be live entertainment - DJs, karaoke, comedy shows, and trivia nights.
Cohen will do some mods to the nearly new space she inherited, which was a Japanese restaurant called Hokkaido, whose 17-foot ceiling included a mezzanine atop a sunken dining room lined with a sushi bar. There will be plenty of in-house catering opportunities.
And as for "Toasted Walnut"?
"It sounds like fun," Cohen said. "It appeals to all age groups. It's like, 'Let's get toasted!' Where? 'On Walnut.' "
She's hoping to open this fall.