[Photo by Pinch]
Back on Friday, workers hoisted the new Artichoke Basille's Pizza signage at 321 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue — across the way from their current location that has been closed since the fire on May 26.
[Photo by KT]
We first spotted plans for the new location this past November.
Team Artichoke hasn't offered up much about the new 14th Street Artichoke. Co-owner Francis Garcia told Eater in April that the lease is up at No. 328, "so they took that as an opportunity for bigger and better. The new location will allow for expanded offerings, like cauliflower fritters, broccoli rabe sandwiches, and more."
There also hasn't been much more on the fire, which started as the pizzeria was closing up for the night/morning. An FDNY source told the Post that the fire didn't appear to be suspicious.
The Department of Buildings issued a partial vacate order on the building:
DUE TO FIRE DAMAGE 2 STORES AT LEFT AND RIGHT OF 1ST FLOOR, 10 FRONT APTS AT LEFT AND RIGHT SIDE FROM 2ND STORY TO 6TH STORY, 4 APTS AT MIDDLE OF RIGHT SIDE OF BUILDING FROM 2ND STORY TO 5TH STORY
It's not clear how many residents are currently in the building.
Artichoke's first location opened on 14th Street in 2008. There are now eight other locations, in Brooklyn, Queens and Berkeley, Calif.
In addition, the Artichoke website is featuring information about franchising...
Thank you to EVG readers Pinch, KT and Tyler for sending photos!
I hope this space is a lot bigger than the old one with actual tables to sit down. For such a high traffic and high volume pizzeria, dealing with that narrrow doorway and those steps is going to be challenging, especially when there are lines. I don't want to be the guy who stumbles up those steps and drops my slice on the pavement, or have to deal with all the drunks tripping and falling down.
ReplyDeleteGreat now they get to make residents in the new building have sleepless nights. I don't understand how a restaurant is allowed to have customers hang out in the front of their establishments late night into the early morning.
ReplyDeleteFOURTEEN APARTMENTS are under a vacate order; those tenants don't get to just move across the street, do they? While everyone is commenting on the pizza, etc. there are people's lives that have been utterly upended by this fire, and I don't see any details or reporting on that.
ReplyDeleteI think this business has a lot to answer for, but hey, they're too busy franchising.
I stopped eating here a long time ago after I heard how they tortured the residents of the building, and I am definitely not going to patronize the new location. The residents of the new location need to get in touch with their landlord and the city now and demand confirmation that everything is up to code and done by the book.
ReplyDeleteWe are all alone. Our politicians and police have abandoned us. We are the Pisshead Paradise - not safe if your head isn't pissed. God, did I say that?! YeahYeah. And I mean it!!!
ReplyDeleteWait, so now people are going to show some concern for the tenants when this place has been an all night noise fest and shitshow since Day 1? We have been harping on that issue for years. We already have all the available facts about the fire. EV Grieve has reported as much news about this fire as anyone. What is mysterious is the Fire Department never said what that cause of the fire was. But how is news or commenting on a blog supposed to help these people? Maybe if the Artichoke owners did a fundraiser for the tenants affected from the fire which started in their store that would help, because I doubt dipping into the EV Grieve Emergency Fund will do much good unless we take everyone to dollar pizza and all share the 2 slices and a soda deal. Let's face it, we are living in a Pinhead paradise. Where is Pinhead anyway?
ReplyDeleteThe new sign is too fucking bright! It shines into the window and door of Nowhere on the south side of the street.
ReplyDeleteHow long before some drunk bros try to do pull-ups on that giant light up artichoke over the front door? That is an accident waiting to happen.
ReplyDelete