Someone stole the Burger Shop sign on St. Mark's Place

The Burger Shop opened on St. Mark's Place back in the fall of 2011 ... it is owned by Gregory Nardello and his father, who hail from Queens... While the place recently changed the name to The Village Joker, the Burger Shop sign was left hanging to help during the transition period.

But! Gregory Nardello shared this with us.

"Some time between Sunday night and Monday morning that sign was stolen off the building. Although I was planning to take the sign down soon anyway, I was really hoping to keep it for a couple of reasons. One being that this is the first restaurant I have ever opened and that was the only signage that I have remaining. The second reason is that I made the sign, and I really would of liked to hold on to it for sentimental value."

So, he would love to have the sign back... "if the person who took it would anonymously be willing to give it back. I am willing to offer a small reward for it."

Village Joker signage appears at The Burger Shop on St. Mark's Place

And on St. Mark's Place, a new sign has appeared above the 14-month old Burger Shop ...

The Village Joker. Sounds like the, say, 6th stop on a pub crawl.

No one was around to ask about the name change. The Burger Shop sign remains...

The Burger Shop, sans burgers, now open on St. Mark's Place

Well, we were a little surprised to walk by 115 St. Mark's Place on Friday and find something called The Burger Shop up and running... Most recently, Michael "Bao" Huynh ran DOB 111 and then BarBao here. A tipster had said that Bao was opening another corny-sounding eatery here... (Turns out a father-son team from Queens is running the place.)

We stopped by and learned that they opened Halloween weekend... and that they weren't serving any food yet — likely have the kitchen in operation this week ... for now, just $10 pitchers of PBR all day/night... as well as a 2-for-1 beer happy hour... and organic wines...

So far, they are keeping the Beau art on the gate that went up in January for Barbao...

Then!

Now!

Anyway, trying to recall a little liquor license history here... In April 2010, the CB3/SLA committee rejected Huynh's request for a beer/wine license for DOB 111.

The six-foot bar at DOB had six seats, and was mainly used for people waiting for tables. However, several Board members looked through the pile of signatures that Huynh brought, noting there were only 29 signatures from residents who lived on that block from Avenue A to First Avenue. Board chair Alexandra Militano scolded an increasingly incredulous-looking Huynh for not doing better community outreach, something that a well-known restaurateur should know.

Plus, this permit request was within the so-called resolution area... because there are 18 liquor licenses or so along here on St. Mark's Place...

Anyway, we don't recall seeing this item on the CB3 agenda... There was something called "The Saint Mark's Red House (TTD& G LLC), 115 St Marks Pl (wb)" on the agenda in June, but that was a scratch. There's now an active liquor license here ... and one more place for a 2-for-1 happy hour.