Peels closed for good yesterday on the Bowery; casual Italian next?

Apparently those rumors about Peels closing were true. In a statement to Grub Street yesterday, owners William Tigertt and Taavo Somer said: "We've had a great run and thank all of our staff, the neighborhood and customers for the years of support and memories."

The restaurant on the Bowery at East Second Street closed yesterday morning after breakfast service.

We'd like to thank our staff and our customers for the years of support and memories. We’ll miss everyone, but we have to say goodbye.

— Peels Restaurant (@PeelsNYC) January 22, 2014

The rumors surfaced when the address also showed up on this month's CB3/SLA committee docket. (The item was scratched from the agenda ahead of the meeting.)

In a comment on Jan. 13, an EVG reader said that Serge Becker and Josh Picard, who are taking over the 7A space, will be the new operators "for ... casual Italian. Just like Gemma a block away." Eater hears that it's Picard and Andrew Carmellini planning the restaurant in the space.

The building was sold last summer for more than $9 million.

Peels opened to much fanfare in August 2010. Their early drink menu included The Joey Ramone … made with apple brandy, lime juice and concord grape juice (or concord grape wine??)


Perhaps this inclusion made some sense as the restaurant did share a corner with Joey Ramone Place.

The Peels sign has come down at the future home of Bar Primi on the Bowery

An EVG reader asked what was going on over at Peels, where workers removed the former restaurant's sign back on Friday…



Peels closed on Jan. 22 after three-plus years in business.

As Eater first reported, restaurateurs Andrew Carmellini, Josh Pickard and Luke Ostrom will open a casual Italian restaurant here called Bar Primi … with a possible summer opening date.

Paperwork filed ahead of last month's CB3/SLA meeting showed that Bar Primi will have 22 total tables, seating 94 people as well as two bars good for 41 seats. (They also plan to have an outdoor cafe, just like Peels.) CB3 ultimately OK'd the new license.

On the Peels drink menu: The Joey Ramone (aka, this week's sign of the apocalypse)

A reader sent along a photo of the Peels drink menu... Hmm.

Booze-infused milkshakes ... The Bond Street Swizzle.... Purple Lady ... Jamaican Bug Juice ... Corn N' Oil ...

The JOEY RAMONE?!?!? With apple brandy, lime juice and concord grape juice (or concord grape wine??). I don't get it.

[Silence]

Anyway, the reader also noted that the food is really good at Peels.

[UPDATED]

Hmm... been more discussion on this than I anticipated.... And one reader thinks this makes sense since Peels is on the corner of the Bowery and Second Street — aka Joey Ramone Place.

Enjoy this Avenue B apartment, just some 20 blocks from Peels

Was trolling some East Village apartment listings... found a new one for a nice apartment at 204 Avenue B between East 12th Street and East 13th Street... (2 bedrooms; $3,000 per month, etc.)

For some reason, the main photo accompanying the listing is of ... Peels, located nowhere near here on the Bowery at East Second Street...

And that Peels shot just looks so... staged. Some sort of fantasy urban retreat where everyone eats quinoa and recycles. Why not show the exteriors of the actual block? The apartment here in question is above B-Side...

EV Eatery Etc.: Rhong Tiam scrubs its old exterior; Peels tosses some planters?

King Gyro on First Avenue recently opened... quite a lot on the menu...




...and awfully green inside ...



The old Rhong Tiam exterior on Second Avenue and Fifth Street got a scrubbing...

Jan. 10!



Now!



The DOH shutters Montein Thai Cuisine on Third Avenue near 12th Street...



A reader noted that these planters were lined up by the curb outside Peels on the Bowery this past weekend... Was Peels tossing them?

And BoweryBoogie noted that GWAR frontman Oderus Urungus is hosting a happy hour tomorrow at Idle Hands on Avenue B.

A few details about Bar Primi, coming to the former Peels space on the Bowery

Peels closed for good on the Bowery on Jan. 22.

A "casual pasta shop" called Bar Primi is on the way in the space at East Second Street from restaurateurs Andrew Carmellini, Josh Pickard and Luke Ostrom, as Eater first reported.

The group goes before CB3's SLA licensing committee on Monday night for a new liquor license for the address. The paperwork (PDF!) that the applicants filed at the CB3 website ahead of that meeting provide a few scant details on what to expect… The proposed hours are 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. seven days a week. The paperwork shows 22 total tables, seating 94 people as well as two bars good for 41 seats. (They also plan to have an outdoor cafe, just like Peels.)

Hmm, what else… Bar Primi will employ between 50-60 people… and "management will be charged with the responsibility of operating a restaurant that does not disturb its neighbors."

Eater noted that if all goes well for the trio, then Bar Primi will open this summer.

Bar Primi neon arrives on the Bowery

The transformation of 325 Bowery continues … as workers turn the former Peels space into Bar Primi … aside from a paint job, the new neon Primi sign is now up here on the corner of Joey Ramone Place.

As Eater first reported, restaurateurs Andrew Carmellini, Josh Pickard and Luke Ostrom are opening Bar Primi, a casual Italian restaurant.

Peels closed on Jan. 22 after three-plus years in business.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A few details about Bar Primi, coming to the former Peels space on the Bowery

Confirmation on what's next for the former Peels space

At the Post today, Steve Cuozzo reports that Andrew Carmellini and business partners Luke Ostrom and Josh Pickard have taken over 325 Bowery, which housed Peels until its sudden closure last week.

Per Cuozzo:

The new eatery, likely to be an Italian trattoria in some form, reflects the Carmellini-Pickard empire’s swift growth.

The chef also operate Manhattan hits Locanda Verde, The Dutch, Joe’s Pub, The Library at the Public, and the newest, Lafayette.

Eater first reported this Peels rumor on Jan. 14.

Updated 11:45 a.m.

Oh! Eater has the scoop on exactly what's next here — a "casual pasta shop" called Bar Primi.

Peels now has a Peels sign

The crew put it in place last night at the recently opened diner here on the Bowery and Second Street.

You will now be able to enjoy your Joey Ramone on Joey Ramone Place

Peels, home to the Joey Ramone and situated on Joey Ramone Place, received the OK from the CB3/SLA committee Monday night to put out a sidewalk cafe. As Eater reported, "Peels' sidewalk cafe will be particularly large with an additional 46 seats outside."

46 seats? Will this make it the largest sidewalk cafe on the Bowery? Gemma, DBGB or Pulino's don't seem quite big enough for 46. I dunno. What do you think? Gemma does seem pretty big.

Peels unveils it sidewalk cafe

Here on the Bowery at Second Street... Not quite the tropical paradise of the DBGB sidewalk cafe, but the tables just went up...

Peels is now the seventh eating-drinking establishment with sidewalk seating on the Bowery between Third Street and Houston... joining Gemma, DBGB, Agozar, Think Coffee, Double Crown and Slàinte.

Applicants for 7A, Odessa Cafe & Bar highlight February CB3/SLA docket

[The former 7A on Tuesday via Bobby Williams]

The February CB3/SLA licensing committee meeting will be split over two nights. Items of interest this month include the mystery applicants for two former Avenue A mainstays — 7A and Odessa Cafe & Bar.

Here are some of the highlights from each night.

Monday, Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m. Community Board 3 Office, 59 E. 4th St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. (btwn 2nd Ave & Bowery)

Renewal with Complaint
• Mama Bar LLC, 34 Ave B (op)

Applications within Saturated Areas
• ABC Beer Co (Alphabet City Beer Co LLC), 96 Ave C (wb/extend license to backyard)


[EVG file photo]

• Avenue A Project LLC, 117 Ave A (op) (Odessa)

We're curious to see what is taking the space that belonged to the Odessa Cafe & Bar, which closed for business last Aug. 31. Previous plans for the space fell through.

• Klong (Auanthai Inc), 7 St Marks Pl (op)

Sidewalk Cafe Application
• Mama Bar LLC, 32 Ave B

New Liquor License Applications
• To be Determined, 600 E 14th St (op) (Alphabet Cafe)

• Eric Thant Corporation, 57 1st Ave (wb) (Pudgie's)

Oh! A taker for the former Pudgie's-Nathan's-Arthur Treacher's action-packed combo!

• To be Determined, 325 Bowery (op) (Peels)

Eater reported that Andrew Carmellini and business partners Luke Ostrom and Josh Pickard are opening a "casual pasta shop" called Bar Primi at the now-shuttered Peels.

Corporate Change (not heard at committee)
• Euzkadi Restaurant (PYB Inc), 108 E 4th St (wb)

• New 7A Cafe LLC, 109 Ave A (op)

The 24-hour restaurant closed for business after Sunday. The rumor is that bold-face namers Serge Becker and Josh Pickard are opening some kind of Southern-themed restaurant here.

-----

Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m. -- University Settlement at Houston Street Center - 273 Bowery

New Liquor License Applications
• To be Determined, 117 2nd Ave (wb) (Picnic)

A taker for the very short-lived Picnic on Second Avenue and East Seventh Street.

----

b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations

Looking for Joey Ramone Place

I wrote about the Joey Ramone drink at Peels on Monday.... some people pointed out that this actually made some sense seeing as Peels is on the corner of Second Street and the Bowery — aka Joey Ramone Place.

True. So I thought I'd walk by and check out the street sign. Don't recall seeing it lately.... So I looked...



...and looked...



...and looked...



....and...



...and...




Oh! There it is way up there!




For a moment, I thought the sign had been ripped off again. (Or removed by the city.) How many times has it been stolen anyway? Five? So now it's up there pretty high ... out of the reach of thieves... The sign first went up in November 2003.

Also, the Times has a great piece from October 2001 ... when the idea of Joey Ramone Place came before CB3. According to the article: "only two of the eight board members said they had heard of his band, the Ramones." They even asked for a Ramones primer...

RIP David Peel

[Photo in Tompkins Square Park in 2010 by Shirley Dluginski]

Musician David Peel, a longtime East Village resident and fixture at marches and demonstrations the past five decades, died today. He was 73.

Last Friday, Peel suffered a massive heart attack and was in critical condition at the VA Hospital. He was expected to have bypass surgery this week.

He is best known for his seminal counter-culture albums, such as 1968's "Have a Marijuana" on Elektra Records, with his band the Lower East Side.

His 1972 record "The Pope Smokes Dope" on Apple was produced by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

He was born David Rosario on Aug. 1, 1943 in Brooklyn. He served for several years in the Army.

According to an obituary at Celebstoner:

With the '60s countercultural revolution beginning to take shape, Peel moved to San Francisco, where he dove into the new hippie scene. When Peel came back to New York, he picked up a guitar and started writing songs and leading singalongs in Washington Square Park.

Peel took the name because he was prone to smoking banana peels. "It looked like grass," he told High Times in 1977. "We kept it in vials and called it banana grass."

One day in 1968, Elektra Records A&R rep Danny Fields heard Peel and his gang of protestors singing in the park. In the 2015 documentary, "Danny Says," Peel recalled:

"I met Danny Fields in 1968, He brought me to Max's Kansas City and bought me a steak dinner. How could I say no to a steak dinner when I was used to eating pizza all my life on the street?"

Fields signed David Peel & the Lower East Side to a two-record contract.

An April 2012 feature in The New York Times noted how a new generation had discovered Peel.

He was a regular last fall at the Occupy Wall Street movement’s Zuccotti Park encampment, and now shows up in Union Square to jam with the Occupy protesters there.

Peel was also a regular during the summer concerts in Tompkins Square Park. He lived on Avenue B. He was unmarried and didn't have any known family members.

His friend Steve Bloom wrote for Celebstoner:

Wherever Peel was, with his loud voice and boisterous personality, you couldn't miss him ... Peel, who answered the phone, "Yo, yo, yo" and had a characteristic stutter, will be missed.

The Times article from 2012 noted that "he planned to continue to sing on the streets and in the parks downtown 'until the day I drop dead and go to rock ’n’ roll heaven.'"

Updated: Billboard published an obituary here.

Thank you David Peel. You made a difference to this Big Apple teenager.
I was proud to be a New York City Hippie!https://t.co/9Ya2ooR2Sl

— Jody Denberg (@JodyDenberg) April 6, 2017

Very sad to hear that #DavidPeel passed away today. RIP David, and may you #HaveAMarijuana where ever you land🙏 photo taken LES pic.twitter.com/xkTb944rDx

— dina regine (@dinaregine) April 6, 2017

A part of my childhood is gone. RIP #davidpeel

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) April 6, 2017

Peels by numbers

On the Bowery at Second Street today. (At first look, I thought the artist was drawing the dumpster... but it's just the angle of the easel...) Photo by Bobby Williams.

Things that go boom in the night: As Bush Tetras prepare for their 40th anniversary show

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

There’s another band practicing in Rivington Music Rehearsal Studios at 188 Stanton St., Room 3 on Friday night at 6, which is when NYC legends Bush Tetras are supposed to begin their own two-hour rehearsal.

The four members of Bush Tetras are prepping for their upcoming 40th anniversary show at le Poisson Rouge on Feb. 21 with 75 Dollar Bill opening.

The post-punk no-wave band, with roots in the East Village, is Dee Pop, Val Opielski, Cynthia Sley and Pat Place. While waiting for the room to open up they decide to sign a copy of their 2018 album Take the Fall.





I get a sneak peek at the big show’s potential setlist before Dee alerts the current members of Room 3 that they are officially over time.



Once inside, Cynthia sets up some percussion instruments on a shelf and tosses down a pack of cough drops while Pat tries out her new guitar strap and sets up her foot pedals. Val takes off her shoes and pads around the space barefoot setting up her much-loved bass, which she tells me she once left on the subway accidentally (it was returned!). Dee peels some tape off the drum kit to help Cynthia hold up the show flow and they all settle in to start the business of rehearsal.


[Cynthia Sley]


[Dee Pop]


[Pat Place]


[Val Opielski]

The space is tiny, and the time is limited so after snapping some shots (and one quickie video clip of “Snakes Crawl”) I head out. Room 3 isn’t soundproofed, so I get to hear the band as I walk toward the front door, stopping to take a photo of the band’s RMRS portrait, which hangs in the hallway.









You can keep up with the band at this link. And you can hear them live on WFMU's The Evan "Funk" Davies Show next Wednesday night at 9.

Action-packed November CB3/SLA agenda: The Bean wants booze; so does Japadog

[Via The Bean on Facebook]

Woo. Here we go.

SLA & DCA Licensing Committee
Monday, November 14 at 6:30pm — JASA/Green Residence, 200 East 5th Street at Bowery

Renewal with Complaint History

• The Porch (The Porch Inc), 115 Ave C (op)

The Porch closed up last month, as Dave on 7th pointed out. We heard that the Porch was moving and an Indian restaurant was taking over... perhaps from the same owners?

• Kelly's (Diddler Doyle Corp), 12 Ave A (op)

• Kenka (Hinomaru Inc), 25 St Marks Pl (op)

• Diablo Royale (East Village Café & Restaurant LLC), 167 Ave A (op)

Arrive early for a good seat. This will be dramatic, perhaps.

Applications within Resolution Areas

• Cafetasia (Cafetasia Inc), 85 Ave A (up/op)

Seeking 100-ounce vodka tubes too?

• Essbar (102 Ave C LLC), 102 Ave C aka 230 E 7th St (up/op)

Edi & the Wolf upgrading...

• Nublu, 151 Ave C (op)

Nublu temporarily moved to under Lucky Cheng's back in August ... as the Nublu blog said during the summer, "last week we got our liquor license taken away due to an anonymous complaint that we are too close to a House of Worship." You can read about it all here.

• Pouring Ribbons (Lead to Gold Inc), 225 Ave B (op)

Anyone know what's going on here... the White Noise space?

• To be Determined, 116 Ave C (op)

The former Lava Gina space.

• Japadog Inc, 30 St Marks Pl (wb)

As we first reported last month, Japadog, the crazy popular Vancouver-based artisanal hot dog stands, is opening its first NYC outpost here.

• Alphabet City Beer Co (Alphabet City Wine Co LLC), 96 Ave C (b)

Looks like a beer companion to Alphabet City Wine... 96 Avenue C has been a vacant storefront for some time... we'll have more on this later...

Alterations/Upgrades

• Cien Fuegos (Cien Fuegos LLC), 95 Ave A (alt/op)

• Peels Restaurant (Radley Realty Corp), 325 Bowery (alt/op/additional standup bar)

New Liquor License Applications

• Shoolbred's, 197 2nd Ave (op)

• Nevada Smiths (92 Nunz Walk Inc), 100 3rd Ave (op)

Maybe they're not closing after all!

• The Bean (54 2nd Ave Bean LLC), 54 2nd Ave (wb)
The Bean (147 1st Ave Bean LLC), 147 1st Ave (wb)

Interesting... What do you think about The Bean also serving wine and beer at its new locations?

• Nicoletta (Letta #1 LLC), 160 2nd Ave (wb)

A taker for the former Cafe Centosette space at 10th Street.

• Ichibantei LLC, 401 E 13th St (wb)

This is the the eatery that serves a range of Japanese "soul food" just east off First Avenue. A scratch from previous agendas...

• Golden Cadillac, 446-448 E 13th St (op)

The (now former?) Mug Lounge.

---

b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations |up=upgrades

New Bowery diner insensitive to people with sunburns

As Grub Street reported on Friday, Peels is the name of the new diner from the Freemans gang coming to Bowery and Second Street...



As someone who has been sunburnt, I find this name offensive. Days after the sun exposure, my skin has peeled, and seemingly no amount of aloe and lotion has... Ha... but seriously, according to Grub Street:

Co-owner Taavo Somer affixed a short, blank-slate name to a modern, utilitarian design: a to-go counter situated to expedite takeout orders, communal seating for quick lunches, and an upstairs dining room equipped with booths of all sizes. The all-day menu offers egg dishes like the Yosemite (poached, with succotash), a “build-a-biscuit” program, and blueberry-and-corn shortcake, plus soda-fountain drinks and Stumptown coffee. Dinner ... to come

Meanwhile! Yesterday, as Eater noted, the plywood covering the windows came down...



The sign on the door reads "opening soon."