Rossy’s Bakery & Café is still open (for now) on 3rd Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

 

Back in May, we reported that Rossy's Bakery & Café, located at 242 E. Third St., between Avenue B and Avenue C, would soon be closing after 15 years in business.

Owner Roselia "Rossy" Caba cited rising costs and her mother Norma Ortiz's planned retirement as reasons for the closure. 

As the end nears, Rossy wants people to know the doors stay open — and she hopes neighbors will continue stopping by to order her food while they can. Norma is still in the kitchen, baking cakes, though Rossy isn't sure for how much longer. 

The business, minus the name, is available for sale as a turnkey operation, complete with the lease, equipment, and location. (Find the listing here.) 

Over the years, Rossy's has built a loyal following with affordable lunch plates, including BBQ ribs and baked chicken with rice and beans, as well as empanadas, smoothies, and, of course, Norma's Dominican-style cakes. 

For now, the family-run café is still here — one more chance to get a plate, a pastry or a slice of cake before the lights go out.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Rossy's Bakery & Café to close after 15 years on 3rd Street

Catching up with Bella McFadden of iGirl

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

We stopped by the new iGirl shop the other day at 166 Orchard St., between Stanton and Rivington. 

The all-new storefront debuted on Sept. 2, after a quick two-week renovation, and marks a move from Third Street, where Bella McFadden — aka Internet Girl — had been for nearly 16 months.

The new space is much larger than the previous shop. 

"Since we use the space for admin and we needed a stock room for order fulfillment, this was the ideal street and size," McFadden said. "There is more foot traffic here. Orchard Street is a destination. Third Street was a more residential block."

The expansion coincides with iGirl moving further into apparel. McFadden is particularly proud of a new collaboration with Lip Service, while the shop also now carries Leg Avenue tights — something many customers had asked for.

iGirl continues to showcase McFadden's jewelry, accessories, and designs, which reflect Y2K emo, mall goth, and punk subcultures.

The shop is open daily from noon to 7 p.m.

Current vendors say goodbye to The Bowery Market

According to two now-former vendors at The Bowery Market, the open-air space on the NW corner of Great Jones is closing. 

Yesterday was the last day for the vendors, including The 88 Coffee Company, which said in an Instagram post that "the Bowery Market is also closing to evolve and change for the better."

In its Kettl Tea Substack published on Monday, owner Zach Mangan wrote: "This week marks the end of a chapter for Kettl as we serve our final guests at our Bowery outpost. The owner of the market has decided to sell the space to a developer and pursue a new direction." 

Kettl Tea has a new home in the works on Great Jones, "a true Manhattan flagship — one that builds on the foundation we created at Bowery and keeps us rooted in the neighborhood that has supported us for five years." 

There were no messages from Twig'm, which serves Korean street food, or The Alchemist's Kitchen, which was not open yesterday.

Real estate developer Scott Marano opened the year-round outdoor food market in July 2016, with spaces for up to five new or established food businesses. 

In an email to EVG in May 2019, Marano shared his vision for the space, a former auto-body shop:

Creating The Bowery Market was a very important, long-held goal of mine. I have been part of the neighborhood since I was a child and I have seen how it has changed. There are a lot of great restaurants in our neighborhood, but there are not many places that serve really good food in a very casual environment or on the go. 

I wanted to create a place that people could come to several times a week at different times of the day to satisfy them and their guests. I also know the real estate market and how expensive and risky it is for a food producer and operator to open a brick-and-mortar. 

Therefore, I created small kiosks that provide a lot of exposure and opportunity to the operator, but are also easy and inexpensive to fit out. I wanted this to be somewhat of an incubator for food creators who don't have a lot of financial resources. I also wanted to provide an opportunity to do some fun short-term seasonal or experimental types of concepts. For this reason, I license the spaces on a mostly short-term basis. However, there are times we renew for additional lengths of time. 

We reached out to Marano yesterday for more details on what might be next for the corner space and the garage adjacent to it.

Closings: Chakra on 5th Street

Chakra, the no-frills restaurant on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, has shut down.

Someone has cleared out the space and removed the signage and menu from outside. There is no mention of a closing, permanent or otherwise, on Chakra's website and social media.

Chakra, which opened in late 2023, served vegan and vegetarian Thai dishes ... as well as a Jain and Swaminarayan menu. They also offered gluten-free and low- or no-oil meals.

It was the kind of hidden gem that never got its due. Great food, sure ...though eating there often felt like pulling up a chair in someone's under-decorated apartment.

The same owners also run May Kaidee on the Lower East Side. 

Openings: Seald Cafe on 9th Street

Seald Cafe is set to debut today at 312 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

The shop will offer a variety of coffee and matcha drinks, as well as breakfast items and desserts.

 

This space was previously Cabin on 9th, whose owners sold the business earlier this year. 

If you're on Instagram, you can follow the shop here.