Restaurants & Bars
Uva, Keys & Heels Owner Eyes Former Quality Eats UES Spot
The owner of three restaurants on the same block — Uva, Uva Next Door and Keys & Heels — looks to add one more address to his monopoly.
UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A local restaurateur is looking to increase his stronghold of eateries on one Upper East Side block by taking over a prime corner spot — barely before the kitchen's ovens had a chance to cool off, Patch has learned.
Massimo Lusardi, the man behind Uva, Uva Next Door and Keys & Heels, has plans to occupy the former home of Quality Eats, on the corner of East 78th Street and Second Avenue.
The former steakhouse spot is just steps away from three establishments Lusardi operates on the very same block.
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According to papers filed with Community Board 8, Lusardi submitted his application for a liquor license to the group just two days after Quality Eats' announced final day earlier this month.
Quality Eats shuttered on Nov. 13 after six years of slinging steaks at the corner spot.
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Community Board 8 received paperwork from Lusardi, under an appropriately named corporate entity, Corner Joint LLC, on Nov. 15.
When reached by phone, Lusardi declined to divulge any details of his plans for his fourth spot on the block.
Lusardi, the son of the namesake of the old-school Upper East Side Italian spot, Lusardi's, first opened Uva at 1486 Second Ave. in 2005 as a wine bar.
Its sister restaurant, Uva Next Door, opened in April 2021, with speakeasy Keys & Heels following a year later.
Neighbors interested in learning more can attend the Community Board 8 Street Life Committee meeting on Dec. 5.
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