Rice to Riches

Rice to Riches Is Opening a New Lower East Side Location | Eater NY

"Since 2003 on Spring Street I've known a cheeky, Space Age–designed rice pudding shop that now appears to be adding a second location on the Lower East Side at Ludlow and Rivington — its first city expansion in two decades. The only Manhattan business singularly devoted to rice pudding, Rice to Riches trades on a futuristic interior theme, punny flavors like “Fluent in French Toast” and “Sex Drugs and Rocky Road,” and theatrical touches (on a recent visit screens projected, “Rice to Riches... it’s a mystery wrapped in a riddle, inside of an enigma”). The desserts are only part of the lore: two years after opening founder Peter Moceo Jr. was charged in a New York Times–reported case with running a $22-million-a-year gambling ring, and in 2005 there were investigations into possible money laundering that his lawyer denied. Despite neighborhood turnover, the original Nolita location has remained nearly unchanged, and the business has reportedly done steady sales (Nation’s Restaurant News estimated $15,000–$18,000 a week in 2005; Moceo Jr. said he turned a profit in 18 months), received $41,243 in PPP aid in May 2020, inspired a 2010 Hoboken dessert trend, was featured on HBO’s Girls, found a new audience on TikTok, and now ships nationwide via Goldbelly; it was not immediately clear whether the forthcoming LES location remains under Moceo Jr.’s ownership, and the current website refers generally to a founder described as a “rice pudding architect.”" - Emma Orlow