Monday, August 29, 2011

East Village IHOP passes first major test; plus, a sneak peek inside!

The incoming EVIHOP on East 14th Street apparently has a hurricane-tropical storm proof awning...

[Photo taken yesterday]

And let's take a look inside...



...complete with "rooty tooty fresh n' fruity" signage...


Previously.

14 comments:

  1. Rooty Tooty? Their sugar-n-fat menu isn't infantile enough, and they have to resort to baby talk?

    "Excuse me, miss. When you get a chance, mee wanna frooty booty tooty wawa googoo. Baba googoo weewee froofroo. And the sauce on the side, please. Thanks."

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  2. Can't say that I'll be checking this place out when it opens, but if this was open back when I was a teenaged freshman at NYU, I would've been all over this. I wonder if this is included in NYU's meal plan?

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  3. Yep looks just like every other IHOP. blah.

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  4. I think it's great that this place is providing 200 jobs, but I detest the attempt to turn Union Square outskirts into little Times Square.

    I was bitching about it recently to a younger friend who grew up in the South. He said IHOP was where he and his friends hung out in high school while they were planning their escape to NYC. Aw. I grew up in the dirty Jerz so I asked, why didn't you just go to a diner? But where he was, there was really no other game in town but IHOP.

    Me: I'm just so mad about all this fat-people food invading New York! It's all cupcakes and pancakes and bacon and booze-soaked bacon cupcakes! New York used to be famous for its authentic international cuisine!

    Him: Hell-o, it's the International House of Pancakes!

    lolz

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  5. What's with all the snobby contempt for this place? A chain breakfast restaurant, is it really that horrid? If you don't like it, don't go.
    I'm personally more concerned with the asshole investment bankers who still keep moving into the neighborhood even after unsuccessfully playing "creatively" with other people's money. They drive up the rents, inspire asshole overpriced pseudo-foodie restaurants and banks into the local storefronts who can no longer afford to stay in the 'hood.
    Then again, maybe these anti-IHOP crusaders all work in the Lehman Brothers mail room together?

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  6. Unless you live just above it - then your place will have that lovely bacon and pancake smell 24-hours a day.

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  7. I couldn't agree more with Dick Hell. At least nothing they serve is artisinal or weird like bone marrow and they don't sell booze or play bad dance music. That should keep the Yunnies away and after-all some us still need cheap places to eat and hang-out because we can't all afford a 5$ skim mocha chino latte.

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  8. And as far as the "job creation" argument goes, if you look at what chains have done in cities over time, these places ultimately cost far more jobs/businesses than they save. and when a mom and pop dies, there is a ripple effect through the rest of their chain of commerce/production/etc/ I know that everyone needs to eat, but people please, don;t forget about the bigger picture here. Look at Wallmarts business model, it's the same for most MNC's, kill the competition, capture the market, raise prices. All these guys care about is the bottom line and will gladly feed you poison if it helps their bottom line and the FDA/USDA look the other way. anyone who can afford to protest chains in the EV, should!

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  9. Yes, obviously IHOP is arm in arm with Wal(l)mart in "feeding poison" and destroying all restaurants in the EV and beyond. God, how I wish that 24 hour adult video and toy shoppe still resided on that hallowed block.

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  10. The bankers may be responsible for driving up rents, but replacing snooty restaurants or any local business with national chains is certainly not going to bring rents back down. The overpriced mediocre restaurants fail on their own. The good ones survive. But chains can always afford to pay inflated rents and soon they're the only ones moving in, changing the entire character of a neighborhood. Have you seen 8th Ave in Chelsea lately? Nothing but pharmacies and banks. It's become one of the city's most unattractive, boring neighborhoods - a far cry from the Chelsea 10-15 years ago. What a shame to see this happening on 14th St too.

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  11. May I recommend for breakfast the Lower East Side Coffee Shop between Avenue A and First Avenue (very close to Avenue A). They have great breakfast specials from 7 AM – 11 AM daily. The food quality is your standard diner fare (fine for breakfast). And the service is great. I even bought my 85 year mother in law there and she gave the place a thumbs up.

    In 1960, in his book, "Travels with Charley: In Search of America", John Steinbeck gave this critique of the American restaurant landscape:

    “Can I say that the America I saw has put cleanliness first, at the expense of taste? . . . If this people has so atrophied its taste buds as to find tasteless food not only acceptable but desirable, what of the emotional life of the nation?”

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  12. It's true that chain stores are in a position to take advantage of high rents, but they aren't the engine driving them. The luxury branding of the neighborhood that attracts people with money is what makes it expensive to live in the area. Chic restaurants, cute bakeries, hip bars and high-end retailers are part of that brand. IHOP and Subway are not.

    People mentioned on another thread that it was surprising to see a 7-11 planning to open in a luxury building. Chains may be able and eager to open in the area but they are more of a countervailing force to what is making the neighborhood upscale than an accomplice.

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