(Photo: Paul Wagtouicz for Grub Street)
Mission Cantina has apparently closed after three years of serving up Mexican-Chinese-whatever food, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Danny Bowien’s Lower East Side empire is shrinking. According to a Community Board 3 calendar of meetings sent out today, an entity by the name of Mission Vietnamese is interested in a liquor license in the former Pies ‘n’ Thighs space.
A glance at the application posted on Community Board 3’s website confirms that the folks at Mission Chinese are indeed behind the potential operation. But Mission Vietnamese is crossed out on the list of applicants expected to make their case at a January 24 meeting, leaving its plans unclear.
The narrow, diner-like space at 43 Canal Street has been vacant since July, when the Manhattan offshoot of Williamsburg fixture Pies ‘n’ Thighs vacated it after just a year and a half in business.
We’ve reached out to the Missionaries to see what’s up.
If Mission Vietnamese actually happens, this won’t be Bowien’s first rodeo: The Korean-American chef, whose executive chef Angela Dimayuga is of Filipino heritage, briefly ran a Vietnamese breakfast at Mission Cantina that consisted of items like chicken pho, lamb pho, duck porridge, beef-cheek stew, banh mi, and broken rice with lemongrass sausage.
This Instagrammer called for a Mission Vietnamese over a year ago: