[209 E. Second St. from April 2011]There is activity in the storefront at 209 E. Second St., the renovated building at the southeast corner of Avenue B. In recent weeks, workers have put up paper over the windows. The retail space had been for rent starting last spring.
A reliable tipster says that Thomas DeGeest, founder of Wafels & Dinges, will open his first café based on the same concept as his popular food trucks in circulation around the city.
DeGeest didn't respond to a message that we sent via Facebook asking for comment.
Anyway, years back, as Andrew Roth pointed out in "Infamous Manhattan," the intersection of East Second Street and Avenue B "probably saw more heroin retailing than any other spot on Earth." Until the NYPD launched Operation Pressure Point in early 1984.
I'd rather heroin.
ReplyDeleteall these foodie things are such gimmicks.
ReplyDeletewhile i am a fan of food trucks it is getting out of hand
ReplyDeletei guess you can make a lot of money on them
their truck was on first avenue and 14th street yesterday afternoon, behind the mister softie
rather expensive for the folks that shop that area, except maybe stuyvesant town
Good to see a small business growing. I have never tried the truck, and it doesnt really sound like my bag, but Im certainly not the arbiter of taste for the EV or anywhere else. Will be good to have something in that corner, maybe they will have good coffee.
ReplyDeleteGeeze! It's typical frickin street food from a foreign country. Some other foreign country it might be a falafel truck. Get over yourselves. You'd think they were serving caviar with keep-sake gold spoons.
ReplyDelete"A waffle?! Golly-gee dangit! That's some dang fancy fixens right dar!"
That building has been like it is today for; what?... 5? 6? years? I figure it's good to stay like that another 5 or so.
ReplyDeleteWhat works in a goofy truck at Union Square may not work at a brick and mortar store situated in a less trafficked neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteYuk!
ReplyDeleteThe dealers are still there, just moved up Ave B a bit. They hang out in front of the stores between Duane Reade and Croxleys, stand there long enough and somebody will pull up next to you on a bicycle with a "lookin for someone?" expression.
ReplyDeleteBut I thought it was just for weed, not smack.
Yeah, an upscale waffle shop one block away from Clinton Street Baking. I'm sure no one will be interested in that. (eye-roll)
ReplyDeleteCan somebody tell me if Vazacs closing down? Evie do you know? I heard Ernie and Edward Vazac sold the place.
ReplyDelete@ anon 2:17
ReplyDeleteHaven't heard that one.
I wish there was a store that sold nothing but gumballs because I have the palette of an 8 year-old.
ReplyDelete@ Liberation
ReplyDeleteYou are so cute!
I never understand the uproar against businesses like this. It's (so far) not a noisy bar, not a 7-11, not a bank or any of the other targets of gripe we see. Seeing a food truck's demand turn an empty storefront into a local business that will hopefully employ some neighbors isn't the end of days. If the local market doesn't support it, it will go away. As long as they don't claim the waffles are "artisan" and the condiments are "curated" I'll give it a shot. And if those apartments start to smell like waffles I might become RyanAvenueB.
ReplyDelete@Ryan
ReplyDeleteSpeaking for myself. I'd rather see something more useful like a decent butcher shop. There was a great one on 1st at 13th but it's now a GNC.
A neighborhood can't sustain itself on come and go trends like smoothies, fro-yo, cupcakes, macaroons, and waffles. There's only so much children's food one can take! :)
I'm usually the first (or second) to complain about this sort of thing, but...they're pretty damned good waffles. And it's not a bar. Yes, I'd love a butcher, but we have a very good one in the Essex Street Market. A fishmonger would be useful, though. However I'd still rather waffles than another Hurricane Fratties or another glassy, chill-inducing bank branch.
ReplyDelete"A butcher shop". Now, THAT'S "artisanal".
ReplyDeleteThat's not a realistically sustainable business in this city (unless you can turn reality back into the 1950's. See... they have these places now called "Supermarkets". That's where people get their butcher goods. (like it or not)
I walk past that empty space every day. It's on my corner. I was hoping for something fun. Waffles are fun!
ReplyDeleteThe meat was fresher and the prices were cheaper at the butcher shop we once had. Hardly comparable to the crap at Associated or the Gristedes that's now a Duane Reade.
ReplyDeleteButcher shops WERE sustainable until landlords forced them out because corporate chains could pay higher rents. Don't be so naive to think we all eat dinner from a truck.
ReplyDelete@Anon 242 WHAT a crock! Butcher shops were VERY sustainable businesses until the huge wave of transients came post 9/11. Before they came we survived quite well with out Mac N Cheese sheds, popcorn tacos and the rest of the rediculous and gimmicky crap we have today. You want waffles for dinner? Go dine at the food court back in the suburban mall that aborted you.
ReplyDeleteWhat Mark T said!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat I would love on that corner:
ReplyDeletefishmonger, yes!
butcher
bakery
bookstore
newsstand
record store
non-chain shoe store
nonprofit theatre
nonprofit arts
art gallery
What I would not like:
Wafles and dingos
more pretzels
mac and cheese
artisanal burgers
anything that serves "tail to nose" or whatever endless pork fad
300 bourbon bar
What I would hate:
bank
fro-yo
CVS
whoever the guy is who took over bleecker st--kenneth cole? No. Marc something. Marc Jacobs!
nail salon
hair salon
enough fucking salons!
Don't forget *pet* salons! The neighborhood could sure use more of those. ::eye roll::
ReplyDeleteNo more food. The people who own and live in this building are a bunch of assholes. While they may go against another club or lounge, they see a place like this harmless. Well it's not. This is how they do it. They first open up like this and then the next month apply for a beer and wine.
ReplyDeleteEven if they don't make it as a restaurant the beer and wine license will remain in perpetuity.
This neighborhood is like the boardwalks of New Jersey.
What do you want. an ice cream, a pretzel with cheese sauce, sweet buns.
Unfortunately the people who live here now love all of this shit.
Tell the moneyed condo owners who took over that once working class building to not allow for any food. I guess it's too late now, so how about no beer and wine.
What would be helpful there? How about a hardware store, or a photo shop.
This place is big. Once this wafels place doesn't work, then gets a beer and wine, then transfers it to some high falutin sustainable restaurant then the people in the the building will be happy.
@anon 12:13 A photo lab is a great idea!
ReplyDeleteNot sure why people think the herion stopped in 1984. I have been on 2nd between A and B since 1988 and there was atleast 50 guys selling heroin all day long on the block well into the late 80s early 90s. NYPD would only sweep the block once a month when their arrest quota was due. Dealers never bothered me and kept the block safe from muggings since they were bad for business. One funny thing was I used to see people I knew on the block hanging out to score. I used to say "what's up, waiting for a bus". (There are no buses on 2nd st...) I also remember the "works, steel works" or "DAO" line they used to whisper at anyone who passed, even my 75 year old mother :) Cool block back then. Better dealers than Iphone wielding idiots.
ReplyDelete