Essex Squeeze bringing coffee, juices and smoothies to 5th Street

Updated March 9, 2022: The shop is now open!

Essex Squeeze, which started at the Essex Market last year, is opening a shop on Fifth Street just steps east off Second Avenue...

The cafe, run by LES natives and childhood friends Cedric Hernandez and Charles DeLaCruz (previously an operations manager at Katz's), specializes in a variety of fresh-made juices, smoothies and bowls ... not to mention coffee. You can check out their menu here. 

This space was previously Idlewild Coffee Co., which closed after just two months in business during the summer of 2020. The owner blamed the presence of the 9th Precinct's police barricades at the time for greatly reducing his foot traffic.