Ed Brown selling Eighty One lease: 6000 sq.ft. & custom built chef’s kitchen

 

        It’s painful, says Ed Brown, when he leads suitors for his lease around the 6000 sq.ft. of Eighty One, the first restaurant all his own that failed. The longtime chef of Sea Grill’s timing was off. He launched his upscale dream shop in the heart of the city’s financial free fall.  He tried $42 prix fixe, early bird specials, but not even a coterie of fans or a  $9 burger could save the place. It closed after Easter dinner just twelve months from its doomed launch.

        The chef says he already has offers for the lease at 45 West 81st Street, a luxurious space with a wine wall, handsome bar lounge and separate party room that cost his investers $3.25 million.  “I can’t wait till I don’t have to go there anymore,” he says.

        Meanwhile, Brown is free to focus on Ed’s Chowder House at 44 West 63rd Street where he is a partner with Jeffrey Chodorow.  He has also has sent a posse of Eighty One chefs and dining room veterans to join the staff of the busy seafood “shack” overlooking Lincoln Center.

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