Crews were setting up for something this morning on the all-new Astor Place...
Here's more about what's happening today through Saturday... a Zagat-sponsored "Tiny Cafe" concept featuring Brooklyn's Pizza Loves Emily... and chocolate-chip cookies from "Master Pastry Chef" Jacques Torres, among other items ...
Per Zagat:
At this one-of-a-kind pop-up cafe, visitors can taste these mini creations, snap Instagram-worthy photos of a tiny food display featuring additional Zagat rated restaurants such as Magnolia Bakery and watch hands meticulously assemble tiny food.
And if you need any seating options. Here's one.
Updated 9:15 a.m.
An updated look via Vinny & O...
27 comments:
Commercial takeover of our public spaces, it is no longer possible to hang out without someone advertising or trying to sell you something. We now see what this tax dollar renovation was for, not us.
Too bad Manhattan lacks any pizzerias to be included here.
Yeah, sure, now instead of Astor Place being a simple transitway for pedestrians trying to get from one place to another, which didn't garner the city anything but upkeep costs, it is - and we are - now to be at the mercy of any corporation willing to pony up enough scratch to the EDC or the BID to be given what is rightfully shared public space that our tax dollars are used to pay for and maintain. Funny how there always seems to be the manpower to put up these for-profit ventures, but not to reinstall the Alamo.
This reminds me of the old Woody Allen joke: Two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of them says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Looks like tiny portions are the new black, from micro-apartments to alcoholic beverages. At Donald Trump's new hotel bar in Washington DC they serve spoonfuls of wine for $15-$140 --per spoon! And if that's not enough to make you feel like a total rube, you can get them with a side of something called "Hipster Fries." So if things are getting smaller, how come SantaCon gets bigger every year?
screw everyone and everything
@Giovanni, I can guarantee you that the prices for this miniscule menu will not be tiny; one pays for "cute."
Tried to pass through here this morning rushing to get to work and it was completely blocked off and I had to go around the entire plaza, including being detoured into the street at one spot. Seriously, BITE ME. The plaza is done yet residents are further obstructed from using it to get from place to place? I loathe what they've done to this plaza. Once again, NYC 2016: Taking everything out of the hands of its residents to put it all into the hands of its corporate masters.
When I have walked though, it seems that the new plaza is designed for chaos. You can't get through it without being hit into by pedestrians or pushed off course. That never used to happen before. I guess the design was primarily done with food popups and tourist seating in mind.
To @Giovanni: Shades of Nouvelle Cuisine from the 80s. Die yuppie scum!
The second rate circus has arrived. Why? WHy?! WHY!!?? And who decides that second rate circuses should be there? WHO DIED AND LEFT THEM BOSS?! Did Mayor Bill ... or Brewer or Mendez do this to us? I don't remember turing over my vote to the Village Alliance(if they are in charge). GOD, WHERE ARE WE GOING. IS CITY GOVERNMENT SO INCOMPETENT?! And it's pizza from Brooklyn. BROOKLYN. There's money changing hands here, and it's at our expense. When government allows a private group to use city/public property for its own use... it's the stuff that investigations are made of... with cuff and perp walks and trials and prison sentences and elected officials denning any involvement. DENY ALL YOU WANT. GOOD LUCK MAYOR BILL AND YOUR POSSE.
Who is the Village Alliance that has brought us all this mess? According to their website: Our mission is to enhance the neighborhood’s quality-of-life by creating a cleaner, safer and more enjoyable environment.
Yeah? How's that working? How is this Zagat sponsored event improving our "quality of life?" Advertising businesses outside of our neighborhood, blocking our usage of a plaza that is supposedly designed for "us," and impeding traffic for several days?
Who does the Village Alliance answer to? If it's a community Business Improvement District program, then how does this Zagat event improve business in the EV??
Well... thank god they created an expansive cement field for the sole purpose of selling tiny cookies and popsicles. The fuck. This has to be the most ill conceived, poorly executed, waste of tax payer money I can remember. A faux log cabins selling Cookie Crisp cereal is exactly what this urban planning embarrassment deserves.
new day, same chorus of haters.
RIP East Village.
1:49 PM you are free to present your alternative view of the plaza. Personally I don't hate it, yet. Why try to stifle others?
There's nothing anchoring in this plaza minus the few cement coffins - AKA pigeon toilets - by the Chase bank. I understand it provides corporations a blank slate to bring culture and food to us uncultured and apparently starving New Yorkers, but they have yet to make use of the space in a way that evokes even the the "tiniest" bit of community. Honestly, a Red Cross helicopter air dropping sacks of white rice would make this space more welcoming than the corporate group think on display.
Some people just don't get it. Parks and open spaces are owned by the tax payers and city agencies manage them for us. When we pay for the renovation of a public place it should not be leased out to corporations blocking that space and taking it away from the average citizen or visitor to enjoy or just to walk through. Bloomberg brought Shake Shack to Madison Sq park on 23rd, the structure on the north end of Union Sq is not leased to a private business, this was open for the public before. Would you like a permanent vendor in TSP taking space that once had a green lawn or a bunch of benches? It may already may be in the planning stages.
anonymous 12:56 asked
Who is the Village Alliance that has brought us all this mess? According to their website: Our mission is to enhance the neighborhood’s quality-of-life by creating a cleaner, safer and more enjoyable environment.
guess you missed that this is trump speech.
I went there today and waited in the cold rain. Was it worth it? Not really. It is tinier than the nail of my thumb. However, the experience is fun and different. Check it out. Lots of young kids in front of and behind me. Made me feel like an old fart. Oh well.
Okay..went there on a lark and had a laugh...thought (because the portions were so tiny) that Zagats needn't have asked which sample I wanted (I tasted the "taco", my partner the "pizza"———such foreign exotic flavors for my uneducated NYC palate!) and it was hysterical because the portions were soooooo incredibly microscopic that they spoke only of the stupidity and the greed of whomever or whatever was responsible for such idiocy. That being said, in keeping with Giovanni's joke, I WANTED TO TRY EACH OF THE FOUR PORTIONS! Ah, fuck it. Too many people searching for their macro lens to capture snaps for Instagram. Epic marketing fail, Zagats. Big plaza. Tiny (cold) samples.
Good for a laugh, but doesn't work as a food sample. Spray that shit with acrylic primer and save it for the dollhouse.
Not owned by the taxpayers, owned by the government. Owned by all the people, even those who don't pay taxes.
Saw about two dozen people standing in a line in the rain and cold around 6pm so they could...what. Take a picture of tiny food? Has it really come to this? The East Village I knew would be egging the shit out of that line right now. We would never have tolerated such corporate marketing drivel in our midst. All who stood in line are obedient monkeys.
They had to have something to take pictures of to post on Facebook so they could affirm their hipness. Isn't that what life is all about now?
Village Alliance is a bid covering 44 blocks "centering" on 8th Street from 8th Ave to 2nd Ave. It apparently sees Astor Place as the terminus of 8th St, not the gateway to the East Village. There was never incentive to consider how to express the uniqueness of the EV - no financial support for Jim Power, no elements or input in the design of the plaza that would speak of the history or cultural heritage, from Peter Stuyvesant to immigrants to artists, musicians and writers.
October 28, 2016 at 7:29 AM
Anonymous Anonymous said ...Village Alliance is a bid covering 44 blocks "centering" on 8th Street from 8th Ave to 2nd Ave...
they learned from the bid on east 14th street, formerly known as "Sweet 14" which did little except prep the street for future development.
People lining up for food LOL. Pathetic. Start a band. Oh wait, none of you under 30s know how to play an instrument hence why most NYC bands are made up of 30 and up people. Years of iPhone, XBox, and dance/rap/EDM will do that to you.
Just passed by and looked at the menu. Zagat employee came up and said "isn't this cool?" I said "No, it's stupid" and before I could explain why, he walked away, told another employee and they both laughed at me.
None of the featured restaurants are in the EV or LES. Why does Zagat see fit to promote them here and not the many Zagat rated businesses right here? Not that we need a Zagat promotional giveaway at Aster Place to begin with...
You should've laughed at them so hard they cringe and walk away a la the loft scene Jamie in Bright Lights, Big City.
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