By: Marissa Ross
In the heart of the East Village, a familiar address is being reborn. The building at 47 Avenue B, once home to the legendary Le Souk and Lamia Fish Market, has reopened its doors as Aquarelle, a seafood bar and cocktail lounge that feels like both a return and a reinvention. For Marcus Andrew, the restaurateur who first brought Le Souk to life over two decades ago, the transformation is deeply personal.
“This space has always been about bringing people together,” says Andrew. “Back then, it was music, mezze, energy. Today, it’s candlelight, conversation, and a menu rooted in the sea. But the intention hasn’t changed, it’s still about connection.”
Andrew, who helped define the downtown nightlife era of the early 2000s, is reentering the scene with a new mindset and a new partner: Baris Koroglu, a hospitality powerhouse whose roots stretch from the kitchens of Cappadocia to Manhattan’s buzziest venues. With experience at The Lullaby, Paradise Club, and 9 Jones, Koroglu has helped shape some of the city’s most creative and culturally rich nightlife experiences. But like Andrew, his focus has shifted.
“We’re not trying to recreate what was,” Koroglu says. “We’re building what’s missing, places that stay open late, feel like home, and deliver warmth with elegance.”
Aquarelle officially opened on June 26, and it’s already being recognized as something the city sorely needs: a proper, elevated late-night restaurant. The kitchen is open until midnight six days a week (later on Saturdays), a rarity in an increasingly early-closing city. Aquarelle invites you to linger. It’s Mediterranean soul meets downtown cool, a space designed for slow dinners, warm lighting, great music, and spontaneous connection.
(Marcus Andrew and Baris Koroglu)
The menu, developed by Koroglu, is a vibrant celebration of the ocean and the season. Dishes include fluke crudo with blood orange and fennel pollen, scallop piri piri with shiso leaf, and octopus carpaccio with smoked paprika oil. There’s also a summer lobster pasta with heirloom tomatoes, whole branzino with Meyer lemon, and a salt-baked red snapper served tableside with wild herbs and olive oil. Produce comes from Marcus’s Long Island farm; the seafood is flown in several times weekly from Montauk and Maine.
There’s also an interactive seafood bar where guests can choose their catch of the day, emphasizing simplicity and transparency. “It’s all about letting the ingredients shine,” says Koroglu.
The cocktail list is equally thoughtful. Botanical-forward and balanced, it features yuzu-thyme gin spritzes, elderflower negronis, and lavender sea salt martinis, all crafted for leisurely sipping and lingering late into the night. Around 11 PM, the vibe shifts, the lights dim, and the room takes on the dreamy energy of a coastal European night out.
But for all its elegance, Aquarelle doesn’t feel exclusive; it feels generous. Regulars are already forming, and neighbors are coming not just to eat, but to stay. It’s that return to neighborhood dining, where you know your server, linger at the bar and order another plate, that sets Aquarelle apart.
“There’s a reason we came back to this exact location,” says Andrew. “It’s not about nostalgia, it’s about legacy. Le Souk was a home for a generation of New Yorkers. Aquarelle is for what comes next.”
In a moment when much of New York’s hospitality scene feels fleeting, designed for viral moments and fast turnover, Aquarelle is a defiant act of endurance. It doesn’t rush you. It doesn’t push trends. It invites you in and reminds you what made New York dining unforgettable in the first place.
With Aquarelle, Marcus Andrew and Baris Koroglu aren’t just opening a restaurant. They’re reopening a dialogue with the neighborhood, with their past, and with a city that could use a little more soul after midnight.
