Monday, March 19, 2012

Reposts: A campaign to save Kate's Joint on Avenue B

[File photo via @HanserHanser]

We posted this on Saturday morning...

Kate is currently in arrears with the landlord. Eviction notices have been sent, court appearances have been made, and if a substantial amount of money is not raised by April 11th, the next court date, the doors will shut permanently at Kate’s Joint.

There's a campaign to help the save the space at Indiegogo here. We had a few comments on the post, and not everyone was very sympathetic.

Meanwhile, during the weekend, our friend @jarak made a good point via Twitter: "Vegpocalypse? Counter, Curly's, Quantum and maybe Kate's dunzo? Anti-soyite landlords?"

Counter on First Avenue closed last year... Quantum Leap closed on First Avenue in November... Curly's, then its replacement, the 14 Carrot, both closed on 14th Street this year... Coincidence... or perhaps a larger food trend at work here?

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it is hard for these restaurants to survive because a lot of my vegetarian and vegan friends eat most of their meals at home or prepare food to take with them for the day. A lot of us can't afford to eat out a lot, and while none of these places were outrageously priced, they also weren't cheap.

marjorie said...

I'm sympathetic...but this isn't where my EV activism would go. Twice last year tried to eat there with my veggie mom and they simply weren't open (this was at 11; various web sites said they opened at 9 or 10). Later I saw a young woman opening up, and asked what had happened, and she was all blankly rude: "Yeah, no, we weren't open." Uh, thanks? I used to go there a lot with a vegan friend -- the service was often deeply spacy to downright rude, and not apologetic about mistakes, and lots of stuff on the menu wasn't available at a given time. When the friend was willing to make the transition to Caravan of Dreams, we did. I wish Kate all the best, but this ain't my fight.

LvV said...

I agree with Anon 8:48. I'm a longtime vegetarian and prepare probably 90% of what I eat myself. Also, a lot of vegetarians are health nuts, and Kate's is junk food. If I want something "bad," I'm goin' to Pommes Frites.

What I find kind of crazy in this whole situation is that they asked their supporters to raise 30K in two weeks. Surely they knew the problems were going on long before two weeks ago, and that's an outrageous sum to ask other people to contribute to you in such a short time.

But I also think the EV is changing (obvs) and the slow-witted noobs in the neighborhood are clearly more comfortable with booze-infused bacon-topped pancake burgers than tofu, even if it is deep-fried.

Big Brother said...

Finicky food served by finicky people in a finicky restaurant. What could go wrong?

evflip said...

I am a vegan and love Kate's. Or rather, I WANT to love Kate's. I go there and it's like they just don't care. Where is the management in this place? The service is HORRIBLE! When you walk in a restaurant, you should be greeted IMMEDIATELY. Even if the staff can't see to you right away, the customer MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED. I am NEVER greeted when I enter. I have to ask if I can sit anywhere, I have to ask for a menu, and they are often out of things. The waitstaff seems bored and/or distracted. I don't blame the them, it is not their fault, there should be a presence there to make sure that they are lively and efficient. Whoever is running Kate's...ISN'T. This restaurant is doing badly because they have dropped the ball...no other reason. And please understand. I GO to Kate's. I support them as much as I can, I just wish they'd meet me halfway.

Anonymous said...

If I want spaced-out vegan waiters/waitresses who are in desperate need of animal protein but don't know it, I'll go to Caravan, Angelika's Kitchen or Souen in the EV, where the vegannazi servers are still annoying, but at least the food is delicious.

glamma said...

i eat at kates all the time and it would be a huge loss to the neighborhood to see them shut down. such nice people too. very sorry to hear about this and i wish them the best of luck in beating this!

Anonymous said...

Sucks a vegan spot's closing but the service is terrible. Of they hired a new wait staff who knew what the F they were doing, just at least halfway, I think a lot of their problems would be solved.

East Village Feed said...

http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/all-areas/east-village/vegan/

Should we start a checklist?

Anonymous said...

I like Kate's, and I like the "mentality" of the spot.
I am disgusted at places like Poco and the clientele they bring (though Poco has a pretty cool staff).

I am not sure what to think though about bailing them out because they'll end up needing it again in the near future, I'd imagine. And it's in recent years it seems that people think it's ok to just ask for money when they don't have it, as opposed to working for it (i.e. most people using kickstarter - why should I pay for YOUR art project or whatever when others including myself always work hard and use our money wisely to do it?).

MkeLuv said...

I've never had a problem with the service at Kate's; maybe I'm just not that fussy? I've always been treated extremely kindly there, and hope that by some miracle they survive. They're the kind of people who remember your face and whether you like soy milk or regular milk in your coffee. I'm sad for those of you who have never gotten the chance to experience this positive side of Kate's that I've enjoyed for many years, and hope that by some miracle the place survives so that others can have the kind of great experiences I've had there.

Anonymous said...

Losing Counter was tough. I felt mildly guilty for not eating there more often but, alas, it was just out of my price range. Regardless of the pricing, which wasn't bad for the quality and all, Counter was unique and generally elevated the quality and variety of food in the neighborhood.

I don't hate Kate's and I wish them well but I also wish Kate's had shown that _they_ care over the years. Kids from the middle school across the street used to have special meals there in the late afternoon after, say, a big exam, or the end of a semester, but they stopped that when they felt the place didn't treat them with a bit of respect. Kate's could have been a neighborhood institution but they settled for, I dunno, neighborhood color. I'm okay with vegan junk food and I miss their tofu scramble breakfasts but there are other, much more thoughtful places around. Chao for Now, for example.

Twenty years or so ago, there was a brief city-wide discussion about rent control for some street-level retail spaces. If it was a voting matter, I'd vote for it. I could live with a few more marginal businesses in exchange for business owners having some very basic protections from bad/greedy landlords. Stable retail is good for neighborhood stability.

Anonymous said...

The sad part is that a business owner would ask for a 30k bailout without a hint of how they will change their business practices to resume profitable operation. That's partly why the EV is changing. These small business, albeit scrappy, can't find ways to maintain their identity while adapting profitably to a more cutthroat and better funded competitive landscape.

Anonymous said...

It was one thing to help Ray, the guy on Avenue A. He is running a tiny shop on his own, and he is a senior citizen, and I was happy to help him get through a rough patch. But it is another thing to ask the public to bail out Kate's Joint. I feel for them. It is hard to survive in this economy, but the restaurant business is challenging to begin with, and you need to step up everything from food selection to customer service if you want to stay in business. Being a part of the neighborhood for a long time isn't going to cut it.

Anonymous said...

Place always had poor service, can't say I feel sorry for them.

Nathan said...

I've enjoyed Kate's Joint in the past, although as others have noted, the service is hit-or-miss.

But the last couple times I wanted to order take-out from them, I called, and no one picked up the phone. I don't know if they were closed unexpectedly (this was relatively early on a Saturday evening) or if they were really busy, but whatever the case, I couldn't get food from them. Which means that I stopped thinking about them when it was time to order food....

marjorie said...

So glad someone mentioned Ciao for Now -- they really work hard at being part of the community (donating food for public school events, and gift certificates for fundraising auctions). They've earned our patronage.

And OMG their little scone-y things.

Like Anonymous 4:05, I see a distinction between fundraising for Ray and fundraising for Kate. I don't wish Kate's Joint ill, but you gotta earn the love. (MkeLuv: I'm not fussy! Just be open when you're supposed to be open, don't be surly, smile at me now and then, and get the orders right most of the time, and I'm good!) Being around since '96 just isn't enough. I've been around since the late '60s and nobody's handing me $30K.

Anonymous said...

Majorie, your quip about being around since the late '60s and nobody handing you $30,000 made me smile. Good one. ;)

addambombb said...

two words :

vegan disco fries.

and seriously, what's this about Kate's having bad service?

the best thing about Kate's is that the waitstaff leaves you the fcuk alone, but they always seem to magically appear when the coffee needs filling, don't they?

if you don't like a place where they treat you like you're in new york, go uptown and get your a$$ kissed at the hard rock cafe, your cred sucks anyway, lol.

Anonymous said...

I've eaten at Kate's many times and honestly have not had a problem with service. Busy or not, we have always gotten our food in good time. Wait staff are always helpful. I'm not saying the poor service didn't happen for others, but here's my vote for Kate's: good service, attentive staff.

Vegapocalypse? Doesn't seem like it. At least not if you have money. Check out various sites like happycow or supervegan. More and more strictly vegan places opening all the time, although most are are not cheap. Maybe the problem here is that supply is, for the time being, outstripping demand?