Eddie Huang Hopes to Make the Vibe at Crackhaus "Abrasive" Enough to Scare Away the "Idiots in Lacoste Shirts" Who've Made the LES Suck

Tasty Chomps

Eddie Huang serves steamed pork belly, smack talk.

While we at Fork in the Road are fans of the gua bao that Eddie Huang serves at Baohaus, we're also becoming quite fond of the rather frank musings he serves on his blog, Fresh off the Boat. To wit: last Friday, after we posted something about how the Lower East Side has become a post-collegiate amusement park, he shared his thoughts on the neighborhood, how certain watering holes (ahem, Spitzer's) have contributed to a spike in "idiots in Lacoste shirts," and how he hopes his new venture, Crackhaus, will be abrasive enough to keep them from coming back.

"I do hate the LES above Delancey and west of Norfolk," Huang writes. "Ever since Libation and Spitzer's came it sucked. I mean, it started sucking a little before that, but [S]pitzer's was extra sucky. Its a good bar and I go there when no one else is there, it just attracts really shitty people after 5pm. Clinton is still cool and I like the Baohaus block, but when we were looking for locations [for Crackhaus] we wanted something below Delancey."

Huang used to love the blocks above Delancey, but that was when "there weren't a bunch of idiots in [L]acoste shirts all over. Now, its a stampede [F]riday, [S]aturday, and [S]unday morning."

Furthermore, those idiots seem to have stampeded into Bauhaus:

"I don't even work at Baohaus those days cause the people that come suck. Its not the neighborhood peeps. We honestly don't have anywhere to go to hang out."

So maybe Crackhaus will be a refuge. Although, "Im [sic] sure is going to attract a lot of people outside the neighborhood."

In which case: "I'm trying to establish an abrasive enough vibe so that they come once, try the food, and feel uncomfortable enough not to come back. Like all those [Y]elpers that complain about our music and service at Baohaus, they don't come back and its [sic] awesome! This is the goal! Could we be the Taiwanese Rao's (where regulars own seats) down the line? I hope so. If you like golden era hip hop, ABT (american born taiwanese) food, and over the top ridiculousness, you'll like Crackhaus."

The Taiwanese Rao's, perhaps, but if this is any indication, Crackhaus may end up being the Taiwanese Shopsin's. In either case, the restaurant's name doesn't refer to, well, you know. It refers, Huang writes, to the food, which reputedly has the same addictive properties as a certain pie Christina Tosi makes. But no matter:

"We'll probably donate to "just say no to drugs" so old people don't shit a brick but any donation is 100% disgenuine (is this a word? the spell check says no, but i disagree) and purely for marketing purposes."

Ah, bless.

[Via the Lo-Down]