New Green Kitchen Location Now Open In Lenox Hill

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An Upper East Side institution has relocated — and reopened — to continue its 91 year legacy.

Green Kitchen opened Monday inside of the former Five Napkin Burger at 1325 Second Ave., at East 70th Street, after 91 years on East 77th Street.

The new spot takes over a huge space with seating for 60 inside, plus extra tables with black-and-white rattan chairs on the avenue sidewalk and a dining shed on East 70th Street.

By noon on Monday, the eatery was already filled with Upper East Siders, eager for a new, spacious eatery to stretch out in.

Inside there was ample room for parents with strollers, and a long, green booth lining the southern wall along with dozens of classic bistro bentwood chairs. Dark green subway tiles in a single-herringbone pattern line the bottom part of a black-topped bar and green floral accents — assuredly part of the Green Kitchen style guide — pop against a light pinewood wall paneling.

Peter Kasimis, whose family owns the shop, explained to the community board in December that the "toxic relationship" they had with the landlord, who he called a "deadbeat," was a big reason why they decided to pack it in last summer, despite 91 years of history.

The building itself, at First Avenue and East 77th Street, had fallen into foreclosure, Kasimis said, and that a health department shutdown a year ago was due to the landlord's neglect elsewhere on the property.

Green Kitchen also runs another location in Yorkville on Second Avenue and East 84th Street.