Colors was a 70-seat restaurant in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City.
| Colors | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Street address | 178 Stanton Street |
| City | New York City |
| State | New York |
| Postal/ZIP Code | 10002 |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 40°43′13″N 73°59′02″W / 40.72021°N 73.98397°W |
The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center destroyed the popular Windows on the World restaurant, and, when many of its former workers remained unemployed a non-profit started a restaurant named Colors to employ them, while upgrading their skills.[1][2]
2006-2017
editFormer employees of the Windows on the World restaurant opened Colors in 2006, with the support of the non-profit Restaurant Opportunities Center.[3] The restaurant closed its original location in 2017.[1][2] The New York Times, and other publications, reported that ROC had problems fulfilling its ideals of worker empowerment, reporting difficulties like workers quitting over not being paid on time.[4][5]
2019 reopening
editCelebrated Cordon Bleu chef Sicily Sewell was hired to oversee the kitchen in a re-opened Colors in the fall of 2019.[2][6] When the newly reopened restaurant was shutdown one month later Sewell was critical of management, who had failed to inform employees that they saw the reopening as a "test run".[7]
References
edit- ^ a b
"Surviving workers from Windows on the World start new restaurant". ABC 7NY. Lower East Side, Manhattan. 2019-09-11. Archived from the original on 2019-09-13. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
At the restaurant COLORS on the Lower East Side, they gathered Wednesday, just as they have for 18 years - a family forever connected by 9/11. The place was founded by surviving employees of the Windows on the World restaurant, which sat at the top of the World Trade Center's North Tower.
- ^ a b c
Stephanie Tuder (2019-09-12). "Restaurant Founded by Twin Towers Restaurant Staff Will Reopen on the LES". Eater NY magazine. Archived from the original on 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
Colors — the rocky restaurant that opened in 2006 by surviving Windows on the World employees after the September 11 terrorist attacks — will reopen this October on the Lower East Side after closing in 2017, AMNY reports.
- ^ Li Yakira Cohen (2019-09-10). "COLORS restaurant to reopen on the Lower East Side". AMNY. Archived from the original on 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
- ^
Britta Lokting (2018-12-21). "The Misadventures of an Idealistic Restaurant in Cut-Throat New York". The New York Times. p. MB1. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
Increasing wages for food service workers is certainly a noble cause, one that aligned with the ideals of Colors when it first opened, in 2006. But good intentions are one thing; running a restaurant in a city as competitive as New York is quite another.
- ^
"The COLOR of Hypocrisy: ROC's Failed Restaurant Model" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
The flagship COLORS New York location is now closed for service, but even as COLORS was failing to turn a profit, ROC was actively hoisting COLORS as a model restaurant and attacking other restaurateurs for the way they conducted themselves.
- ^
Caroline Hatchett (2019-12-11). "I Want to Make Really Good, Black-Ass Food". Eater magazine. Archived from the original on 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
Sewell-Johnson, who began cooking professionally after more than 15 years as an actor, ultimately wanted to create a deeply personal restaurant for the community. Her family has been in the business for generations: She owned a Berkeley restaurant with her mother, her aunt owned a restaurant in Chicago, and seven generations ago, one of her maternal forebears was the enslaved head cook on a Tennessee plantation.
- ^ Chris Crowley (2020-01-21). "Colors, ROC United's Downtown Restaurant, Abruptly Closes". Grub Street. Archived from the original on 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
Staff found out about the news during dinner service at around 8 p.m. on Thursday, when the restaurant's chef, Sicily Sewell-Johnson, was informed via text that the restaurant would have to close. It was a sudden ending to what Sewell-Johnson describes as a tumultuous experience. 'As far as structure, we never had that,' she tells Grub. 'It was like a constant fight.' -