Wednesday, September 21, 2011

No 7-Eleven for former Graceland; and the return of Houston Deli & Grocery

In June 2010, EV Italian eatery guru Frank Prisinzano said during a CB3/SLA committee meeting that the landlord of the former Graceland space on Avenue A and Second Street had four prospective tenants: Frank's fast-food Italian joint, a bank, a 7-Eleven and a bank.

Which caused us to play with PhotoShop.



Anyway, on June 22, 2010, the full Community Board 3 denied Prisinzano's application to open a fast-food style Italian restaurant here.

And the space has sat empty ever since... However, workers have been splitting up the space. There are now three different storefronts.



Anyway, remember that The Houston Deli & Grocery on Avenue A and Houston had to close in the spring to make room for the new fancy Union Market...?

EV Grieve reader Josh saw one of the fellows inside the corner space at the old Graceland. Per Josh: "The really nice guy who ran the corner market on Houston and A ... is opening up on the corner of 2nd and A at the old Graceland space. Says by the end of the month. Glad to see he'll be back in the neighborhood."

Not sure if they'll actually still be called Houston Deli & Grocery seeing as they're a block to the north... Still, we'll take it.

And no word yet on the tenants of the other two storefronts...
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10 comments:

  1. VH McKenzieSeptember 21, 2011 at 7:51 AM

    Hey 9th Street Espresso has a shop on 10th Street so I can live with Houston Deli being a block north.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ken from Ken's KitchenSeptember 21, 2011 at 8:55 AM

    Thank heaven for no 7-Eleven!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 21, 2011 at 9:15 AM

    People did the right thing by opposing the RaguBoy. He has since then moved his operation to the other side of Houston Street where nobody opposes. Good. Lets take care of what is right in front of us first, meaning the East Village. Prisinzano's new restaurant "Sauce" should be open soon. It's going to be this big thing with outdoor seating, open till 4am. Glad it's not on A. The split up is good because it doesn't allow for a big douchey restaurant filling the street with more screaming idiots.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 21, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    OM pease no super bright flueorsecent lighting and I'll go. I hate that shit at 5am.

    ReplyDelete
  5. glammaSeptember 21, 2011 at 11:22 AM

    great to hear this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rocky RaccoonSeptember 21, 2011 at 11:41 AM

    Rocky remembers this epic showdown between Frank and residents. Frank threatened residents who opposed his full liquor license that if they didn't support him they would be stuck with a 7-11. In response to that people started, including many on the Grieve, bashing residents and referring to them as "activists" as being an activist is a bad thing. Well how about that, people stand-up for what is right and now a displaced local bodega has a new home. So Rocky is doing a little raccoon dance in his den in honor of those activists and wants to say thanks to them for getting petitions signed, staying a CB meetings until 1 am and standing up for themselves. It may not seem like a big deal, but it is to the folks who live in that neck of the woods.

    Hey Grieve: How about a story on all the new small businesses in the EV that are not restaurants or bars like Ben's Barbers and that Dance Studio on C?

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousSeptember 21, 2011 at 12:11 PM

    I wonder what the other two storefronts will be? you know what would be good is another ice cream place.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Laura Goggin PhotographySeptember 21, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    I'm so glad these guys will be back!

    ReplyDelete
  9. EV GrieveSeptember 21, 2011 at 3:25 PM

    Good idea, Rocky. I have mentioned new businesses here and there, like the Dance Studio.

    I wanted to start a new feature spotlighting an EV business... in a Q-and-A format. Pretty straightforward. Approached 3 small businesses. I got a no thanks, a blow off and a non-response. Perhaps I should revisit this and find businesses who would like to be featured....

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rocky RaccoonSeptember 21, 2011 at 5:02 PM

    Grieve:
    I was thinking a list like came from the "east village pep talk diaries".

    Did you approach Ben@Ben's barbers?

    ReplyDelete

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