The Village Den was a restaurant located in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, West 14th Street to th ...

neighborhood of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Previously a neighborhood diner, the restaurant was re-designed by

Antoni Porowski Antoni Janusz Porowski (born March 14, 1984) is a Canadian television personality, cook, actor, model and author. He is the food and wine expert on the Netflix series '' Queer Eye'' (2018–present). Early life Porowski was born in Montreal, Qu ...

and partners Eric Marx and Lisle Richards in 2018. The restaurant served breakfast, salads, bowls and smoothies, and has been described by Richards as vegetable-forward, and free of gluten, soy, and red meat.

History

Porowski, Richards, and Marx met in 2012. Their joint workout routines inspired them to create a "health and wellness concept that was still delicious and flavorful, but not super precious or not too much of one thing." Porowski and his team spent three weeks testing recipes with chef Chris Shea before re-opening the restaurant. The restaurant permanently closed in 2021.

Reception

Reviews were mixed, with ''

Eater Eater may refer to: * Eater (band), an English punk rock group * "Eater" (''Fear Itself''), a 2008 episode of the NBC television horror anthology ''Fear Itself'' * ''Eater'' (novel), a 2000 science fiction novel by Gregory Benford * ''Eater'' (w ...

''s Robert Sietsema calling the restaurant an "interesting experiment" but professing disappointment "that little specific nutritional information was provided in a place supposedly devoted to nutrition." While Junkee describes the restaurant to be "artfully approachable, quirky but not weird, aspirational but not intimidating," ''

Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

'' found the restaurant to be a "glorified Dig Inn catering to sweaty Equinox attendees from across the street."

References

2018 establishments in New York City 2010s in Manhattan Fast casual restaurants Restaurants established in 2018 Restaurants in Manhattan West Village {{US-restaurant-stub