Another item we meant to note sooner... Nino's Pizza, a longtime favorite hub on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place, closed at the end of October. There's paper over the windows, and we saw the tables and chairs stacked up on the sidewalk.
Back in March, we noted that Nino's was for sale. According to the listing, "owner retiring and looking for a quick sale." No mention of key money, though the rent was listed at $13,200 a month...
We heard that another pizza place was taking over, but no one has officially confirmed that... hopefully it won't be a franchise (Papa John's, etc.) and that the new owners keep the walk-up window. Ray's is the last one left on Avenue A.
Updated 9:25
Added a photo of Nino's fountain drinks machine... Gojira mentioned it in the comments.
And via a reader in the comments:
[The new owner] He said he will still have pizza and mediteranean food and that it will still be fast food. He said that they were going for an industrial look with a communal table.
He said that he would apply for a beer and wine.
It's a damn shame to see it close, Not alway's the best pizza. But like an old friend it was alway's there for you... Especially at 3 in the morning. Not much left of the neighborhood I knew.
ReplyDeleteI loved their italian ices at the walk up window, too!
ReplyDeleteAnd when my kids were small and playing in the park, Nino always let us make use of the bathroom for a quick pitstop -- none of that "for customers only" business. Hope it doesn't go all high-end on us. Boooooo.
Sitting with a slice at one of the window seats on a Friday night made for some classic people watching. Hope it stays a pizza place.
ReplyDeleteThe new owner was doing illegal construction in the space during our time of grief.
ReplyDeleteHe said he will still have pizza and mediteranean food and that it will still be fast food. He said that they were going for an industrial look with a communal table.
He said that he would apply for a beer and wine.
I tend to think that what he means by fast food is really small plates.
The guy from the ground floor realtors on St. Marks
Place, the one next to the bookstore and Mogador was there helping the new owner. When my friend and I walked by and asked what was going on he got nasty and agressive.
When I was a kid, every NYC pizza joint had the "orange soda/grape soda" counter dispenser with the sodas running continually inside them. Nino's was the only place left that *I* know of that still had that - I'll miss having a totally chemical but totally delicious grape soda with a slice there. Thanks for the years, guys.
ReplyDeleteI sort of freaked out when I heard from EV that Nino's was closing. I wondered if it was true because that was so long ago.
ReplyDeleteLast night I saw that it was gutted and my friend went in to ask and they said it is still Nino's. They are just re-modeling. THANK GOODNESS!
I second the people watching from the window counter - best in the neighborhood! I'll miss almost everything about Nino's, except for what became the year-round Xmas window decorations and the turn-of-the millennium Internet station.
ReplyDeleteI second Gojira on the drink fountain machines -- quintessential NYC pizza joints.
ReplyDeleteThat's a prime corner to be luxufied and a bargain at $13,200/month in this day and age in the EV. Maybe the new place will keep the drink fountain machines and have appletinis and cosmpolitans in place of the grape and orange sodas (Saxon + Parole has manhattan on tap, so you never know).
Love those soda dispensers. I remember my local pizza joint had those with orange drink and Hawaiian Punch in them. There is nothing like a slice of pie and a Hawaiian punch from one of those machines. DAMN!
ReplyDeleteveselka has faux lime ricky in one of it's chemical drink dispensers.
ReplyDeletelike the looks, not the contents.
" . . . . an industrial look with a communal table . . . ." doesn't sound promising.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely devastating news.
ReplyDeleteI heard this from the guys there over the summer and then they hung on anyway....
Thanks for all the amazing 5 am pizza and for being a pillar of the common man in an increasingly unrecognizable new york city.
When it comes to "pizza losses",the closing of Five Roses on First Ave some time back was far more detrimental(although,once the Polish women started doing the majority of the cooking,it did lose a little). I always liked it when the space which is now Nino's was a bodega,and Avenue A Sushi wasa pizzaria.That's probably because it was so many years ago,I was a kid,and none of you were there to ruin it for me.
ReplyDeleteNOOOOOO!!!! This was one of my favorite pizza places of all time! It's bad enough i still don't have heat or hot water and now this! I'm going to explode!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fountain photo, Grieve.
ReplyDeleteThis totally shakes me up. Nino's has so many memories for me. Going to clubs years ago and getting a slice on the way home. Years later, my son ate there every week for about 10 years as a little boy playing in the park or coming home from school. This sucks.
ReplyDeleteLiked Nino's enormously. This is sad news.
ReplyDeleteWhy does this space need a beer and wine license?
THIS IS A RESOLUTION AREA!!!
ReplyDelete