“Madame Jade” posters outside the 2-03 Borden Ave. restaurant. (Photo: Nathaly Pesantez)
July 31, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
The former Crabhouse site is undergoing another concept shift, with plans for an Asian fusion restaurant there after months of operating as a Latin restaurant and lounge.
The site, located at 2-03 Borden Ave., is now going as Madame Jade, and will offer a contemporary take on Southeast Asian cuisine in a “new age vibe”, according to the restaurant’s website.
While the full menu does not appear to be on the website yet, some listed offerings include General Tso’s chicken and waffle cites, spicy pork dumplings, Korean hot chicken sandwich, curry sticky rice, and bao buns. Other offerings expected to be on the menu include Peking Duck, tuna toro rolls, and lobster-based dishes.
The restaurant will seat 150 people, and includes a handcrafted cocktail menu and outside seating on floating “birds nests.”
The site will also include a lounge, as its prior concept did.
It is unclear when the restaurant concept switched, but the lounge appears to have been holding parties under the Madame Jade name as early as mid-June, based on Facebook posts. The restaurant portion, however, does not appear to have launched yet, with a grand opening date yet to be announced.
It is also unclear if the restaurant is still under the ownership of Skinny Lee and Joseph Lucil, who have operated restaurants at the site beginning with the revamped Crabhouse in 2016.
The owners were unable to be reached for comment. Calls to the restaurant and lounge’s listed numbers also went unanswered, and the restaurant appeared closed yesterday evening.
Madame Jade follows The Loft LIC , the prior concept that offered Latin fusion dishes around the beginning of the year. Before the switch, the restaurant operated as the Crabhouse for a year.
Staff at the Loft LIC previously told the LIC Post that the change was prompted by the owners struggling with the Crabhouse concept, as patrons often complained about prices and menu items.
LIC Talk was first to write about Madame Jade.
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13 Comments
Has anyone been? Is it open?
I went twice to the Crab House and both times were underwhelming. Food was poor to mediocre at best. It’s unfortunate because I love seafood and there aren’t many option in the neighborhood. The space is great too, a rare large dining room were I wasn’t on top of my neighbors as is so common in Manhattan restaurants. I hope they get this Asian fusion thing figured out.
Go to Hibino on Jackson. Excellent seafood there.
Well this sounds very original and predictable once again. As mentioned people complained about prices and the food at the revamp in 2016. So if the first crab house was so successful why couldn’t the skinny’s people just mimic it and hire a seasoned Chef along with a solid GM that knew their stuff. They could have used that whole top room as a function room and booked the shit out of it. But they had to go down that road of trying to be “hip & cool” and cater to the non neighborhood people. Instead of trying to be a cool spot desperately wanting it to be the IT place or a scene restaurant why not just give the people what they want. Good fresh food that is well executed along with being reasonably priced that’s served in warm friendly environment and try not to serve over manipulated food or “fusion inspired” garbage served with Techno / rap music in the background. Concepts take months and years to develop and this sounds like it was never thought through to the fullest. It shows that they are in scramble mode rather than beast mode and are not in a good position or the position that that want to be in. Needless to say changing concepts that quickly and that many times is not a good recipe for a business. This won’t be the last post that we will all read about The Crab House or whatever the next incarnation it will become.
Best of luck guys.
Because the business owners and/or general manager are ratchet. Seriously. They don’t know their market — people who actually live in LIC — and are instead trying to cater to the cholos who throw their money at Blend on the Water.
The building should be landmarked. Crabhouse daughter gave me a old story with the history. Posting on the community http://www.HuntersPointCrossing.com page this week.
Self inflicted ridiculous disaster! Shi and Skinny’s may not be Michelin starred but they are consistent and decent and are definitely money makers. What in gods name are they thinking with this location? They should just build a residential building there with a small ground floor restaurant. We walked into that Latin restaurant and did an about face quickly. Never even saw the food and didn’t care to. That place was pathetic. I was embarrassed for them.
same chef as skinny’s sooooo probably the same owners. LICTalk blog says they are opening tonight and you can get one free cocktail.
http://lictalk.com/madame-jade-bringing-asian-fusion-ex-crabhouse-lic/
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
R.I.P. Waterfront Crab House…the best ever restaurant in Long Island City! You are truly missed!
More like “best never.”
Just because it was a staple in the neighborhood and the owner was nice, doesn’t make it the best restaurant.
Was the busiest restaurant in LIC. Always packed. Food was consistently good. Prices were fair. Better than anything on Center Blvd. today!
I’ll give you three out of five on this