FDNY firefighter brings artistic touch to Engine 28, Ladder 11 on 2nd Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

If you've seen Engine 28 or Ladder 11 rolling through the East Village lately, you might have noticed their sharp new mudflaps. 

That's thanks to Michael "Mikey" Borriello — an FDNY firefighter who is also the resident artist at Engine 28, Ladder 11 on Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Borriello has been with the company since 2015, and when two brand-new trucks arrived this past December, their blank mudflaps looked a little too plain. 

"There are companies you can pay to do it,” he says, "but I've always been artistically inclined, and I do it for fun, as a hobby." 

So he recently got to work, painting Ladder 11's flap with its "Lucky 11" nickname and Engine 28's with a bold "Alphabet City."

Why Alphabet City? "Our slogan, 'Los Bomberos Primero,' didn’t fit," he says. 

Borriello did it all freehand, layering on eight coats of marine-grade paint designed to flex and handle tough conditions — crucial since the mudflaps bend whenever the trucks pull in and out of the station. 

He stuck with a traditional Old English style, matching the original lettering for 28/11. 

He's also responsible for the striking Maltese Crosses inside the firehouse, which are repainted every four years to represent the current crop of firefighters.

Next up? Borriello plans to paint a quote across the beam at the firehouse entrance: "Let no man's ghost come back to say my training let me down."

Andy Boay's new record inspired by and crafted in the East Village

Photo by Valerie Kamen 

East Village-based musician Andy White, who performs under the name Andy Boay, is set to release a new LP tomorrow (July 11).

White crafted the avant-pop record — titled You Took That Walk for the Two of Us — over the past two years in a small office space he rents inside the New York Center for Creativity and Dance (NYCCD) on the NW corner of Avenue A and 10th Street (the former Boys Club), a multi-use rehearsal and studio building operated by the Joyce Theater Foundation. 

"The album was born over the time that I came to call the East Village my beloved neighborhood," he told EVG. "I will always associate these recordings with late nights at the NYCCD studio building, and listening to demos while walking around Tompkins at dusk." 

The one-sheet for the new releases suggests the following RIYL: Arthur Russell, Spacemen 3 and Roy Montgomery. You can hear for yourself.

He also filmed a video inside the NYCCD. Check out "One & One" below.

   

White's music career began as a teenager in Orlando, Fla. He played in the duo Tonstartssbandht with his brother Edwin and also spent six years playing guitar in the touring band for Mac DeMarco. 

He plays an album release show at Union Pool in Brooklyn tomorrow evening.

Openings: Ops on 2nd Avenue

Ops debuted its East Village outpost in late June at 176 Second Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street. (We first mentioned this pending arrival last September.) 

Ops introduced its leavened sourdough pies in Bushwick back in 2016 and became "a real-deal pizza destination." (Ownership is also behind the pizzeria Leo in Williamsburg.) 

According to Resy, Numero 28, the previous tenant here, left behind its built-in wood-fire oven, which is being put to good use. Specials here include a square-cut tavern-style pizza. (Grub Street had a feature on the business last month.) 

Ops, a full-service restaurant with a 60-seat dining room (plus a bar), is open Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5 to midnight.

Thanks to the EVG reader for the pic!

'Caught Stealing' catches eyes with new poster

Poster courtesy of Sony 

After 347 posts on the filming of "Caught Stealing," we thought you might like to see the new poster. ⬆️

The black comedy-crime thriller from Darren Aronofsky (based on Charlie Huston's novel) is set (in part) in the late 1990s East Village. 

Austin Butler, playing an East Village bartender, stars alongside Bad Bunny, Zoë Kravitz, Griffin Dunne, Matt Smith, Regina King, Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio, among others. 

"Caught Stealing," set to hit theaters on Aug. 29, was filmed throughout the neighborhood this past fall.

No word yet if the film will have its own specialty popcorn bucket.

Home cook heads to PBS to share her family's recipes — and her love of the East Village

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Longtime East Village resident Anika Chowdhury is bringing a taste of her neighborhood — and her heritage — to national television this summer. 

Starting on Friday, she is serving as a contestant on the fourth season of the PBS series "The Great American Recipe," a cooking competition that celebrates home cooks from across the country. 

Born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Chowdhury grew up in a home where food was an expression of love, care and celebration. Her parents often hosted dinners built around fresh, seasonal dishes, sparking her passion for cooking and her belief that food can bring people together. 

Now in the East Village, she balances her career as a director of project management with an active life exploring global cuisines, hosting and sharing recipes on her blog, Kitchen Gatherings. 

She has lived in the East Village for 17 years (and first called it home nearly three decades ago), where she has grown Bangladeshi vegetables in her local community garden and often cooks for her siblings and friends.

"I'll be representing both my heritage — Bangladesh — and my home, New York," she told me. 

When we recently caught up with her, she was gathering herbs in the 6 & B Garden — a turtle in tow — before heading to Duals on First Avenue for ingredients (the turtle still in tow).

On "The Great American Recipe," Chowdhury proudly represents both her Bengali roots and her NYC home, talking about the East Village and its community gardens on the show.

Season four of "The Great American Recipe" premieres on Friday, July 11, and runs through Aug. 15, 9-10 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS app.

The Art of Unease: ABC No Rio’s 'PEST' continues on at The Clemente

The latest ABC No Rio in Exile show remains on view at The Clemente (above) through Aug. 3. 

Here's more about the group exhibit: 

The ABC No Rio Visual Arts Collective presents "PEST." An exhibition that examines what unnerves us most, what makes us uncomfortable, irked, annoyed, eerie, or just creeps us out. We endure pests and we fight them, yet they never seem to quite go away. "PEST" explores notions of pests, how we feel about pests, our interactions, and our relationships to them. 

And the featured artists: Mike Estabrook, David B. Frye, Robert Goldkind, Vandana Jain, Katarina Jerinic, Mark Power, David Colosi, Jordan Segal, Fly, and Fernando Pintado.

The fourth-floor gallery hours are the same as the Clemente hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. 

The Clemente is at 107 Suffolk St. between Rivington and Delancey on the Lower East Side. 

Meanwhile, less than a block away, construction is progressing at ABC No Rio's new building, located on the site of its former headquarters at 156 Rivington St.

The environmentally friendly new structure, designed by architect Paul Castrucci, will include a computer lab, print shop, and a zine library, among other amenities. (Find more details here.) The city is contributing $21 million to the project through the Department of Cultural Affairs. 

ABC No Rio's previous four-story building on the lot, which was reportedly in disrepair, was demolished in the spring of 2017, forcing its programming to relocate to other arts organizations around the city.

Cabin on 9th under new ownership

Cabin on 9th has been closed for several weeks at 312 E. Ninth St., leading many to believe the coffee shop was gone for good. 

However, according to an Instagram message, new owners have taken over the space between First Avenue and Second Avenue and will reopen soon. 

The previous owners, recent college graduates who opened Sippy Café in Greenpoint and Brooklyn Heights in 2021, debuted Cabin on 9th in July 2023. 

H/T Steven

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

A crew filmed Ray outside Ray's Candy Store today on Avenue A for a Japanese TV program ... we'll try to get more details on this...

Suburban Speed at Baker Falls

Photos by Stacie Joy 

We dropped by Baker Falls this past Thursday, where EVG fave Suburban Speed (below) opened a night of music at the Allen Street venue between Houston and Stanton.

Carson Walsh (vocals, guitar, sax), Seth Sosebee (bass, keyboards), and Dalton Patton (drums, theremin) comprise the Brooklyn-based band.

Suburban Speed plays an unconventional, quirky punk noir that feels tailor-made for a hot summer night's drive through nowhere, chasing ghosts along empty roads...

They are also a good fit for the fever-dream mansion vibe of Baker Falls...

We had to leave before we could see Fine Mess, a new band featuring (in the middle below) Julia Pierce of TDA and Dustin Dollin, an Australian skateboarding legend.

You can catch both Fine Mess and Suburban Speed Saturday night at Alphaville in Bushwick.

Baker Falls is at 192 Allen St. (as of January). Check out their calendar of bands, open mics and other events. They are also open during the day for coffee service.

Cleanup proposed for contaminated Avenue D site, future home of affordable housing

Cleanup plans are advancing for the long-contaminated property at 181 Avenue D between 12th Street nd 13th Street under New York's Brownfield program.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, along with the Department of Health, is reviewing a plan to remove polluted soil from the former site of the St. Emeric church and school, located adjacent to the Con Ed power plant. Officials say the site "does not currently pose a significant risk to public health or the environment." 

Officials are accepting public comments on the proposed cleanup through July 26. See this PDF for details. 

Community Board 3 will hear more about the remediation work tonight during the Transportation, Public Safety, Sanitation & Environment Committee meeting. 

The roughly 1.4-acre property has been in the spotlight since June 2024, when developers Spatial Equity and Community Access reportedly signed a contract with the Archdiocese of New York to buy the site for $58 million to $68 million. They plan to build two fully affordable housing buildings totaling about 570 apartments. 

City Council will need to approve a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure application for the lot, as the space is not currently zoned for residential use.

The property was once part of the East 11th Street Works, a remnant of the area's industrial past. (The nearby Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village were built on the former Gas House District.) 

According to a 2007 report prepared for Con Ed, the operations began some time between 1859 and 1868 and were shut down in 1933. Per the report: "Over its operational period, the Works consisted of 17 gas holders ranging in capacity from approximately 50,000 cubic feet to 5,000,000 cubic feet. Several of the gas holders were converted from gas storage to liquid storage of naphtha, tar or gas oil." 

Similar remediation work was completed in 2023 on the southwest corner of 14th Street and Avenue C — now home to the soon-to-open 24-story residential building called The East.

The now-deconsecrated St. Ermeric church merged with St. Brigid on Avenue B in early 2013. Here's some history of the parish via Wikipedia: 

The parish was established in 1949. The Rev. V. J. Brosman had a brick church built in 1949 to designs by Voorhees, Walker, Foley & Smith ... for $300,000. The cornerstone was laid in 1950. The church is now covered in ivy. A two-story school building was erected in 1952 to designs by the same architects for $240,000. 

The Brownfield Cleanup Program "works with private developers to encourage the voluntary cleanup of contaminated properties known as 'brownfields' so that they can be reused and developed. These uses include recreation, housing, and business." 

The hybrid CB3 committee meeting this evening begins at 6:30 at the CB3 office, located at 59 E. Fourth St., between Second Avenue and the Bowery. You can also take part via Zoom.

The Lower East Side Lidl opens on Aug. 1

Photo last month by Stacie Joy 

Lidl will open its long-awaited Lower East Side food market on Aug. 1, the company has announced, bringing the German supermarket giant's global footprint of over 12,000 stores to 408 Grand St. at Clinton. 

The company signed a lease last summer for the 23,000 square-foot space — formerly a Rite Aid — on property owned by the affordable housing nonprofit Grand Street Guild. 

Here's what to expect on Day 1, as per the Lidl U.S. website: 

Are you ready for fresh, high-quality groceries at incredibly low prices? The moment you’ve been waiting for is almost here! 

We're excited to announce the grand opening for our newest New York location is Friday, Aug. 1. Score free samples, Lidl swag and more! Come early — the first 100 customers in line will get Lidl gift cards ranging from $5-$100. 

The grocery's initial hours are daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

There are several outposts of the discount grocery stores around NYC, including in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island ... with a location also slated for Chelsea. 

H/T EVG reader Patrick!

DOT proposes Avenue B makeover, looks to residents for guidance

Photo by Stacie Joy

The Department of Transportation is inviting residents to share feedback and ideas on the future of Avenue B.

The DOT "is proposing a street improvement project on the Avenue B Open Street between East 14th Street and Houston Street." 

The Avenue B Open Street Project Proposal has the following goals:

• Build on the success of the Open Street, provide permanent public space and ease operations for larger events 

• Improve safety on the corridor, focusing on schools 

• Create safe cycling connections 

• Calm traffic on the corridor to prioritize pedestrians and cyclists 

• Replace Open Street barricades with design treatments. 

A copy of the survey is here. 

Here are a few of the ideas from the proposal...

While there isn't a deadline for sharing thoughts on the proposals, organizers of Loisaida Open Streets have informed us that they hope to receive as many comments as possible before tomorrow evening's Community Board 3 Transportation, Public Safety, Sanitation, and Environment Committee meeting. 

There is an item on the docket related to preliminary findings for the Avenue B Open Street. The hybrid meeting starts at 6:30 at the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. You can also take part via Zoom. 

This stretch debuted as an Open Street during the spring of 2020. 

Per the program overview: 

New York City's Open Streets program transforms streets into public space open to all. These transformations allow for a range of activities that promote economic development, support schools, facilitate pedestrian and bike mobility, and provide new ways for New Yorkers to enjoy cultural programming and build community.

St. Mark’s Place corner vendor hub demolished

Workers have finished demolishing the building extension on the southwest corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue...

We haven't received any updates on the plans for the newly created space. (Perhaps sidewalk cafe space for tenant Poetica Coffee?) 

As we first reported on June 9, the longtime vendors here left earlier in the year... as the building's new-ish landlord planned for removal.

For decades, vendors sold items such as sunglasses, floppy hats, wigs, umbrellas, and novelty holiday merchandise from outside the corner mainstay Gem Spa. (These items are still available outside Funky Town, mid-block, and at the kiosks closer to Third Avenue.)

Prior to the vendors, the wall housed a bank of payphones (which we also miss!) — a location for New York Dolls photo shoots. 

Here's a bonus mid-demolition shot, courtesy of Steven...

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• A belated farewell to a familiar fixture of St. Mark's Place

Openings: Andrea's Pizza on 2nd Avenue

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Andrea's Pizza debuted at 50 Second Ave. late last week. 

Signage hasn't arrived yet here between Second Street and Third Street, though owner Andrea Kenuti hopes it will be here soon. (Ditto for delivery service.) 

As we previously reported, this is the first solo venture for Kenuti, a veteran of Scarr's Pizza on Orchard Street, where he worked for seven years, and L'Industrie in the West Village.

He is joined by Nathan Cole at the counter...

As for the pizza...

I tried a classic slice and it was great — thin crust with a hint of char, mildly sweet tomato sauce, and perfectly salty, delicious cheese. I'm no food critic, but I can tell you it hit the spot.

There are several booths inside for dining in (and a handful of tables outside).

Andrea's is open from noon to midnight Monday through Thursday, noon to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and noon to 11 p.m. on Sunday. 

There is no website yet, although an Instagram account is available.

Signage alert: Kebabishq on 2nd Avenue

Photos by Steven 

Signage is up for the incoming tenant at 128 Second Ave. — Kebabishq.

The logo features the words "Bold," "Skewered," and "Indian." We were unable to find any information about the business.

There have been solid quick serve places here between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, but, unfortunately, no one has had great success over the past nine years: 

• Seasoned Vegan Real Quick, 20 months (closed April 2025) 

• Tony's Pizza, 20 months (closed April 2023)

• Nolita Pizza, 12 months, (relocated to Kenmare Street in June 2020) 

• Kati Roll Company, 29 months (closed in April 2019) 

The Stage, the 35-year-old lunch counter, closed in March 2016 following an ongoing legal/eviction battle with landlord Icon Realty. 

Icon bought the building in the fall of 2013 for $7.5 million.

76 Avenue B is for rent

A for-rent sign has arrived on the storefront at 76 Avenue B on the NW corner of Fifth Street.

Not particularly newsworthy unless you wondered what happened to the art gallery that occupied the space for nearly three years. Gratin has relocated to the Lower East Side — 291 Grand St. 

Gratin arrived in late 2022. Previously, Oda House, which served Georgian cuisine and other Mediterranean staples, closed here in August 2020 after more than seven years in service. Caffe Buon Gusto was here for a bit after the corner market, Zips.

Sunday's parting shots

This evening from Tompkins Square Park... and on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...

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