The owners of Hell's Kitchen Italian restaurant ViceVersa are ready for a change after 25 years in business. The restaurant closed in mid-February, but now partners and co-owners Franco Lazzari and Stefano Delzi will reopen it tonight (Friday) as VV Bar, an ancient Roman-themed gay bar.
The couple came up with the idea at the end of 2023 and have been hard at work preparing it ever since. The space, located on W51st Street between 8th and 9th Streets, has been redesigned, right down to the leather on the backrest. Today, a life-size statue of a naked Julius Caesar holding a mirror ball greets patrons.
The bar will serve stripped-down versions of the restaurant's menu, including arancini rice balls and black truffle and Parmesan fries. Stefano, who is also a chef, transforms duck ragu into tacos and homemade focaccia bread into pizza. The plan is to be open Tuesday through Sunday from approximately 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., with happy hour from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
“What we cannot compromise on is the quality of our food,” Stefano says. “When we opened 25 years ago, we always tried to differentiate ourselves by offering dishes that were outside of the typical Italian stereotypes. We're trying to do the same in our bar. ”
Franco told W42ST that the decision to pivot the business was part of a response to a slowdown in daytime traffic since the pandemic, adding that it was “considered more appealing to the Hell's Kitchen crowd these days. ”, specifically in an effort to adapt to its restaurants. LGBTQ community.
A lot has changed in the past 25 years since Franco and Stefano opened their restaurant.
“It's been almost 30 years since a new restaurant opened on this block,” Franco recalls. In 1999, he had four French restaurants, but “they were very happy with the new business.”
“We were a little naive and didn't even realize the potential of this place,” Stefano said. “It was a combination of luck and hard work.”
At the time, the neighborhood's gay community was much smaller than it is today. “It was a very small number, but we've always been one of those places from day one that has a great gay following,” Franco said. “Bars have always been gay.”
ViceVersa also has its fair share of celebrity sightings. The restaurant was frequented by iconic actress Carol Burnett. One night just before her pandemic, Franco recalled, when she and Julie Andrews walked in together, “people went completely nuts.”
Franco said Nicole Kidman's family, Hugh Jackman and director Jack O'Brien have also visited them.
Stefano and Franco, originally from Milan and Bologna, Italy, met while working at an upscale Italian restaurant on Central Park South in the 1990s, Franco as a maître d' and Stefano as a sous chef. They fell in love and decided to go into business together.
“We always thought of it like our baby,” Franco said. “Our restaurant is our life, our work, it takes up a big part of our dining room, our living room. Even if you're a friend, if you want to see us, you have to come here. It was.”
For Stefano, the restaurant business is “a lifestyle, not a job, because it requires so much time.”
The partners acknowledge that converting an Italian restaurant to a gay bar may not be to everyone's taste, but “that's part of the risk when you make a business decision this big.” says Franco. He hopes to welcome back his longtime patrons while also attracting new customers.
VV Bar plans to celebrate its grand opening on Friday and Saturday nights with a party featuring musician Felipe Rose, “specialty drinks, television personalities” and “adult entertainers,” according to the invitation.