Asian fusion hits Chelsea Market right where fabled Buddha Bar made only a transitory appearance. Here on the Ninth Avenue side, previously home to a lumber business and with an eye-popping 17,000 square feet on two floors, Buddakan provides some additional west side balance to the many new restaurants on the east side of Ninth Ave stretching from the Maritime Hotel down to the Gansevoort Hotel. The Starr organization added additional Feng Shui harmonious balance by depositing Iron Chef
Morimoto at the other end of the Chelsea Market while executive chef Lon Symensma reigns here. Can lower Ninth and Tenth Avenues get any hotter? Our verdict: a Chinatown banquet hall morphed into a supper club, plus steroids, sleek interior and pretty-colored cocktails. Could you do better? We might opt instead for different transmigratory experience by dining at a hot Asian spot in Flushing and then cab back to a Lower East Side nightclub.
