RedFarm takes over laundromat below its tiny Hudson Street nest.

RedFarm finds fertile ground for seeding itself on UWS.

          Flatly unauthorized to utter a word, my source is bursting to tell me that the owners of RedFarm have settled on Broadway real estate for their Upper West Side breakout. The store has room for 70 seats, compared to the cramped 44 places downtown and it’s walking distance from my nest on 73^rd Street. September would be the earliest possible opening date, my Deep Throat said. There’s room for a decent size kitchen in the new digs, my confidante noted, and space for storage, unlike the miniscule cooking space in the West Village that forces the staff to stuff supplies on shelves above the rustic red-and-white checked booths.

          RedFarm’s partners—Chinese restaurant guru Eddie Schoenfeld, dim sum wonder Joe Ng and their backer Jeffrey Chodorow—were promising a roll out of RedFarm canteens and carryout dim sum even before they opened the wildly successful original in the parlor of a 19^th century townhouse at 529 Hudson Street. “Unabashedly inauthentic,” Schoenfeld called it.

          Since the first week and my ridiculously early rave, there have been lines outside waiting for places at the no-reservations communal tables. Last Saturday night a few hundred fans clutched their cell phones in near by bars hoping for the summons to dinner. At 10:15, the wait for a table was 2 ½ hours.  With the Times Pete Wells’ enthusiastic two star rave in print, Schoenfeld had taken the night off and Chodorow scion Zack stood in his place at the front door.

          I’ve known Eddie since he was the first Caucasian captain in a Chinese restaurant at the marvelous Uncle Tai so I could call and ask him to confirm this report but the truth is, he’ll only say nothing is decided yet.  And maybe that’s a fact. But I’m passing along what I heard from what seems to be a very good source.

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