Carolina-based Southern fried chicken chain Bojangles made a big NYC comeback this week, in East Flatbush on 5910 Church Avenue, between East 59th Street and Ralph Avenue, on Monday, January 12. It’s a 24/7 location, too: the dining room closes at midnight, but the drive-thru operates at all hours.

Bojangles is best known for its chicken biscuit sandwiches, chicken tenders, and sweet berry biscuits. Habib Hashimi is running this New York franchise location through his Hashimi Holding Corporation. He’s got ambitious plans to open 19 more locations in New York, too. This isn’t the first time Bojangles has been in New York — there were locations back in the 1980s.

It could soon no longer be illegal to dance in NYC bars

New York Governor Kathy Hochul is looking to get rid of the current dancing ban at NYC restaurants that also work as bars and nightclubs.

“New York is known for its energy, and our expansive dining options and nightlife are part of what makes our state so great,” Hochul writes via a rep to Eater. “Now, we’re eliminating the killjoy, outdated restrictions on dancing and giving New Yorkers and tourists the opportunity to fully experience the vibrant spirit of New York.”

Currently, people are allowed to dance at bars and taverns, after the businesses go through the State Liquor Authority (SLA) and local community board approvals. Legally, however, people aren’t allowed to dance at restaurants. But this gets confusing for restaurants that work as bars and/or nightclubs and vice versa — the multihyphenate business model is important in attracting/keeping people around, say a daytime restaurant and nighttime club.

So now, Hochul wants to create a specific “hybrid restaurant-tavern license” for said restaurants-slash-bars/clubs, allowing for food, drinks, and dancing. These will still go through the community board application processand the SLA.

This proposal will be part of Hochul’s State of the State speech scheduled for later today. Currently, the state budget and these proposals are being submitted on Wednesday, April 1. If (and when) the proposal passes, it will be active 180 days from that date.

Manhattan restaurant’s Italian American dinner pop-up

Noho’s French Italian bakery and restaurant Raf’s is turning into an Italian American pop-up for nearly a week this month. Frank & Sal’s will serve a hearty dinner menu full of dishes like baked clams, rigatoni with red sauce, spaghetti lobster fra diavolo, eggplant Parm, skate wing, and pizza. The restaurant’s also selling special T-shirts parodying those little meatball shirts. Reservations can be booked online; it runs from Tuesday, January 13, through Saturday, January 17.