Avenida Cantina is now Eastpoint on Avenue B

Avenida Cantina is in the final stages of a renovation/rebrand over at 25 Avenue B.

Several tipsters yesterday shared photos of the newly painted marquee for Eastpoint.

In an email from March, management said that they would be changing names in the near future: "Still doing Tex-Mex, however slightly more elevated."

More elevated might appeal to the writers at The Infatuation, who once filed one of the more scathing reviews about Avenida Cantina ...

At a real Tex-Mex place, tortillas are soft, fluffy vehicles for taco nirvana. At Avenida Cantina, tortillas are dry, except for the spots where they’re wet, presumably because someone tried the flick-it-with-water-then-nuke-it trick. Or because they dropped them in the sink. At a real Tex-Mex place, the refried beans should taste like fat, salt, and glory. At Avenida Cantina, they look like a poop emoji and taste much less cute.

Avenida Cantina opened in January 2016 ... after several dubious concepts under different ownership at the address, including Matty's, Station B and Billy Hurricane's.

Avenida Cantina starts serving Tex-Mex on Avenue B tomorrow

[Reader-submitted photo]

As we've been reporting since August, a new bar-restaurant called Avenida Cantina is in the works for 25 Avenue B between East Second Street and East Third Street. Notes posted on the front window announce that the bar will officially open tomorrow (Saturday!).

Here's more about Avenida Cantina based on information on their website:

Three Texans and a New Yorker meet in a bar...

For years, southern transplants in New York have proclaimed the need for REAL Tex-Mex in NYC. Tex-Mex, as southerners know it, does not consist of tiny tacos in corn tortillas or $15 guacamole.

You cried out. We listened. This is not another fancy, overpriced Mexican restaurant. This is your friendly, neighborhood home-cooking, tequila and beer, East Village-charming Tex-Mex experience you crave.

Welcome home.

Here's a look at the menu...


[Click to go big]

Avenida is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. The bar is open until 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

In addition to Avenida, there's a speakeasy in the basement space called The Mockingbird. Per the website:

No sign in the sky will tell you where The Mockingbird is nested. Just look for the silhouette on the door in the underbelly of New York’s indelible East Village.

Through that door lays an eclectic bar and lounge serving up tequila-centric cocktails with the gritty swank of a classic Manhattan speakeasy. Built by the hands of local artists, The Mockingbird provides a cozy, yet untamed atmosphere suited for every occasion, from first dates to birthday parties to private events.

That basement space was once Save the Robots... and much more recently Idle Hands.

No. 25 has been several bars in the past few years... It was home for two months to Matty's, which shut down last February ... and, earlier, Idle Hands, Station B and Billy Hurricane's.

A few CB3 watchers have emailed us in recent weeks asking how/why this item was never heard before the Board's SLA committee. Despite the new concept and 100 percent turnover in corporate partners, this item was not heard at the committee this past September.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something new in the works for 25 Avenue B

Signage arrives for Avenida on Avenue B