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The owner of Sip & Guzzle, the Cornelia Street cocktail bar that was named the best in North America earlier this year, has his sights set on a big, empty restaurant space a few blocks away, and the plans that went before the local community board include everything from a caviar handroll to 3 a.m. closings.
The application, submitted to Community Board 2’s SLA Licensing Committee, is for 103-105 MacDougal Street, between Bleecker Street and Minetta Lane. The spaces were most recently home to Tacos & Margs and Pappas, respectively.
The principal listed on the paperwork is Justin Weitz, who opened Sip & Guzzle in January 2024 alongside bartenders Shingo Gokan and Steve Schneider and chef Isaac Leidenfrost, and his press representative confirmed the connection to Village Reader while saying it’s too early to share any other details. Sip & Guzzle was named North America’s Best Bar in 2026, and it landed on the World’s 50 Best Bars list last fall.
The new place doesn’t have a name yet. The application lists the trade name as “pending,” though a set of architectural drawings included in the packet is labeled “Chapters.” According to the application, the concept is a “full-service neighborhood restaurant centered on elevated French bistro and American tavern cuisine,” with a stated emphasis on hospitality and being a good neighbor.
A sample menu included in the presentation is organized into a raw bar, caviar service, a section of toasts, snacks, entrees and desserts. A few of the more interesting items: a table-side caviar handroll, goose-fat French fries served with caviar, a wagyu sando, a DIY steak tartare and “carbonara carrots.” The entrees lean classic, with a steak au poivre with frites, shrimp oreganata, Dover sole meunière and a steakhouse burger with a bone-marrow reduction sauce. Dessert includes a warm chocolate chip sticky toffee cookie served with milk shots and a banoffee sundae.
The restaurant would take up roughly 6,000 square feet on the ground floor plus a 2,000-square-foot basement that would be used by employees only. The plan calls for 49 tables with 146 seats, plus three stand-up bars with 27 seats, for a total of 173. There’s no sidewalk café or outdoor space in the application. Proposed hours are 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Wednesdays and Sundays, and 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
On the noise front, the applicant checked off live DJ and recorded music but says the expected volume level is “background (quiet),” and plans to install soundproofing designed by a professional sound engineer. There won’t be TVs, and the applicant doesn’t plan to hire security personnel. Private parties would be allowed on occasion, but promoted events, outside promoters and cover charges are not part of the plan. The building, a seven-story mixed-use structure dating to 1902, sits in a historic district, and the application notes that a filing with the Landmarks Preservation Commission is still pending. The signage would be updated with the eventual name and the façade would be made uniform.
