When Monkey Thief swung into Hell’s Kitchen in October 2024 — taking over the familiar penny-covered columns at 401 W47th Street from Gilda, Barrage and Citron — the response was immediate. “I’ve been in the industry for 20 years, and I’ve never opened like that,” co-owner David Muhs remembered with a grin. “It was a really great feeling…such a great neighborhood to be part of.”
Same Same co-owner David Muhs is glad to be open once again on W47th Street. Photo: Phil O’Brien
For eight months, Monkey Thief thrived under a temporary liquor license, operating with full cocktails and an easygoing, neighborhood-first ethos. Community Board 4 had approved the application. The block association supported it. Even the church next door — an important detail in the story to come — sent a letter backing the bar. “They were awesome,” David said. “They wrote us a letter in support and said there’s always been a bar there.”
But on Juneteenth weekend, everything changed. The State Liquor Authority had sent an inspector to a different applicant nearby, noticed the church, and connected the dots. “We get a denial letter in our email — like, boom,” David said. “We’re like, ‘What the hell? What’s going on?’”
Suddenly, the full license was denied — not because Monkey Thief had done anything wrong, but because of New York State’s 200-foot rule prohibiting a full liquor license within that distance of a church or school. They had gambled, believing the building’s history of bars going back to the early 1980s and the church’s longstanding multi-use identity would make approval possible. “It was a calculated risk,” he explained. “We felt confident a bar could be here…there had been a history.”
El Calvario Church is just west of Same Same, but had never been an issue for full liquor licenses at previous bars that called 401 W47th Street home. Photo: Catie Savage
Instead, Monkey Thief was ordered to close — a blow made worse by the delays. “They told us, ‘You’ll have an answer in 10 days,’ and then a month later we’re like, ‘Where is our answer?’” David said. The team brought in one of New York’s specialist SLA attorneys. They filed Freedom of Information Act requests. They sought an appeal hearing. Each time, the answer came back: beer and wine only. Full stop.
By the end of June, they had been closed for four months — but were still paying rent.
“So we had to pivot,” David said. “In true Monkey Thief form, we had to live by our motto of being adaptable and resourceful.”
They had already begun sketching a contingency plan — and within two weeks, Monkey Thief became Same Same, a wine-forward bar helmed by Wine Director Olivia Moran and Chef David Sullivan. They rehired half their staff, redesigned the space, and made the best of a license that no longer allowed the cocktails they were known for.
Wine Director Olivia Moran pulls a bottle from Same Same’s ice box. Photo: Phil O’Brien
Same Same opened last month — but the community never left. “Those first two weeks, it was all of our regulars, all of our friends from Monkey Thief coming to support us,” David said. “They were like, ‘What’s next? What’s the plan? We’re glad to have you back.’”
Hell’s Kitchen is where they want to be — even after closing their Brooklyn bar, Sama Street, earlier this year. “We fell in love with Hell’s Kitchen because it has the same sense of community we loved in Greenpoint,” David said. “This neighborhood is an untapped gold mine for people who want to be part of a community. Regulars pay the bills.”
He speaks about the neighborhood with genuine affection — the kind that only comes from months of locking the doors, waiting on lawyers, and finding the whole block rooting for your return.
The interior of Same Same is much the same as Monkey Thief, minus the large monkey painting next to the bar. Photo: Alex Staniloff
“The block association, Elke [Fears, president of the W47/48 Block Association], the community board, the church — they were all so supportive. Even you reaching out!” he laughed. “We were hesitant to say anything before we knew anything, and then everything happened really fast.”
If Same Same feels familiar, that’s intentional. “Same space, same people, same ideals,” David explained. “Same Same — but different.”
What’s different is the wine — and the joy Olivia takes in curating it. Instead of a long, intimidating list, there are six to seven rotating wines by the glass, written in marker on a roll of brown paper (where the Monkey Thief painting used to sit). The list changes nearly every week.
A roll of brown paper listing the current wine selection hangs where the namesake Monkey Thief painting once was. Photo: David Muhs
“We try to get as many regions and varietals as possible,” Olivia said. “Every time people come back, there’s something new.”
That evening, Olivia’s globe-trotting list included a Somlói Vandor sparkling wine from Hungary, a Georgian Mtsvane from Pheasant’s Tears, and South Africa’s bright Force Celeste white. The orange section poured Bodega La Senda’s Kybriki from Castilla y León, while reds ranged from Domaine Lambert’s Les Terres Blanches in the Loire Valley to a lush Edad Moderna from Mendoza, Argentina.
David loves watching guests discover wines they’d never normally order. “Half of these I can’t pronounce either,” he admitted. “It’s really about what’s in the glass — the feeling of coming in here. Are you on a date? Catching up with friends? We’ve got something for that.”
David has got creative with a cocktail list of low-ABV products to adhere to their beer & wine license. Photo: Alex Staniloff
Even with only beer, wine, and low-ABV products permitted, David couldn’t resist creating a cocktail list. “It was really limiting and challenging,” he said. “How do you make a martini that feels like a martini without 40% alcohol? So we did some sneaky little things, like freezing it instead of diluting it.” The result is a list of spritzes, aperitivo-style drinks, and clever workarounds — a little Monkey Thief spirit peeking through.
Chef Sullivan’s menu stretches from mezcal-granita oysters to perfectly fried drumsticks to cavatelli with bomba calabrese to shrimp toast with yuzu kosho — global flavors with wine-bar ease. “It doesn’t all have to be cheese and charcuterie,” David said.
Chef Sullivan’s menu stretches from mezcal-granita oysters to perfectly fried drumsticks to cavatelli with bomba calabrese to shrimp toast with yuzu kosho. Photo: Alex Staniloff
But as much as Same Same is a success story, the big neighborhood news is what happens next.
“We just signed a purchase agreement in the neighborhood to move Monkey Thief,” David revealed. The team has acquired three spaces on W51st Street — a cluster of venues that will allow them to bring back Monkey Thief, launch a pizza concept and later debut a Mexican restaurant.
“It hasn’t been officially announced yet, but it’s official,” he said. “We’re supposed to be on the Community Board agenda next month. We’ll take over in January, do a Monkey Thief residency in one space while we build out the permanent bar and open the pizza bar at the same time. Then once Monkey Thief moves into its final home, we’ll reopen a Mexican concept as well. One step back, four steps forward.”
He knows how eager neighbors are. “People keep coming in asking, ‘What happened to Monkey Thief? Where’s the monkey?’ So we’d love, through you, to let the community know the plans.”
And the most important question of all: Where is that giant monkey painting?
The answer is very Hell’s Kitchen.
“It’s actually in our bartender Alec’s apartment on W47th Street,” David laughed. “It’s huge. I didn’t want to store it downstairs with all the boxes — I didn’t want it to get wrecked.”
The giant painting of a monkey holding a cocktail by Eileen Coyne is being safely stored at barteder Alec’s W47th Street apartment. Photo: Dashiell Allen
People have already tried to buy it. “I’ve had so many calls: ‘Is the painting for sale?’” he said. “But no — it’s still coming back. Don’t worry.”
Same Same may be the new name on W47th Street, but the story here — much like the wine list — is never quite the same twice. Monkey Thief is returning. A pizza bar is coming. A Mexican spot is in the wings. And for David and his team, Hell’s Kitchen is now home for their businesses.
“Hospitality is hard,” he said. “But this is where we belong.”
Same Same at 401 W47th Street (just west of 9th Avenue) is open Tuesday through Thursday, from 5pm to midnight, Friday-Saturday, from 5pm to 1am, and Sunday from 5pm to midnight with reservations available via Resy. Follow along on Instagram at @samesamewinebar.
Same Same is located at 401 W47th Street. Photo: Phil O’Brien