Lucky Cafe brewing up a mid-March opening on Avenue A

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

We have more details about the incoming coffee-and-matcha shop at 64 Avenue A: It will be called Lucky Cafe. 

The owner is East Village resident and artist James Phillips (below). Some readers may recognize Phillips from his skateboard artwork, which he has displayed on the SE corner of Second Avenue at Seventh Street.

Lucky Cafe is aiming for a soft opening in mid-March. The space is coming together with a green, cream and brown palette, and bench seating. Phillips also designed and made the floor tiles.

This will be the latest addition to the block-long Untitled building between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. Other new retail tenants here are Barryville General and B&H Barber Shop.

Signage alert: Sweetie’s adds candy to the First Avenue mix

Photo by Steven 

Sweetie's, offering pick-and-mix candy, is the next business for the storefront in the lower level of 93 First Ave., just south of Sixth Street. 

Many readers-residents know this space as the longtime home of Royal Bangladesh Indian Restaurant, which ran from 1978 to 2022... and as one of the three restaurants at the address — Royal Bangladesh, Milon and Panna II. 

Panna II is the sole survivor. 

This basement space was home for a minute or two to the apostrophe-free Smokers Basement, a smoke shop-exotic snack joint.

No word on an opening date for Sweetie's.

Chef Tan is closed for now on St. Mark's Place

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Chef Tan closed after service Saturday night at 37 St. Mark’s Place just west of Second Avenue.

A sign for patrons mentions a temporary closure "due to exhaust duct maintenance and repair work."

However, a tipster told us a worker described it as a “goodbye,” not a short-term closure. 

So we shall see.

The outpost opened in 2022 as the first NYC location of the Jersey City-based restaurant serving Szechuan and Hunan cuisine.

Regulars here have enjoyed the reasonable prices and generous portions.

Signage alert: Fujisan Japanese Mart on 2nd Avenue

Photo by Steven 

Signge is up now for Fujisan Japanese Mart at 159 Second Ave. on the SW corner of 10th Street. 

This will be the first Manhattan outpost from the market, which has two outposts in Brooklyn and one in Astoria. 

They offer a variety of Japanese snacks, as well as in-house-made sushi. 

The storefront was previously Yummy Hive, a market that vanished in the middle of the night last March.

Monday's parting shots

The end of "Wuthering Heights" holiday weekend at the Village East by Angelika on Second Avenue and 12th Street, where the film is playing in the classic Jaffe Art Theater that dates to 1925 (with an opening in 1926).

ICYMI: Underground Railroad safe house found at the Merchant’s House Museum

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NY1 had the story first. 

The Merchant's House Museum is at 29 E. Fourth St. between the Bowery and Lafayette. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• New 9-story development proposal raises alarms next to Merchant's House Museum

Watching the East Village in 'Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette'

The East Village has a supporting role in the new FX/Hulu series "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette," which debuted on Thursday. 

The nine-part series from executive producer Ryan Murphy follows the couple from their early-1990s courtship to their deaths in 1999.

As scenes were filmed in the East Village, we watched the first episode, in which the two are shown on a date at Panna II, the longtime Indian restaurant at 93 First Ave. at Sixth Street. 

The scene was actually filmed inside the familiar glow of the dining room. (Panna II, meanwhile, continues its real-life run as one of the surviving restaurants at the address once shared with Royal Bangladesh and Milon.)

Whether that dinner actually happened there is unclear. Biographers place their first meeting in 1992 at Calvin Klein, where Bessette worked, and their early outings elsewhere before officially dating in 1994. An AI search tells us, "The scene of them dining at the string-light-adorned Indian restaurant Panna II is a depicted, and likely dramatized, moment." (And they were known to eat at more stylish places.)

There are a few other creative liberties around here (though Panna II has long been part of the city's restaurant lore). Also in the first episode, 48 Stuyvesant St., the photogenic seven-story building at 10th Street, stands in for Bessette's actual East Village apartment building around the corner on Second Avenue. (She started living in the EV in 1989.) 

We'll see more of the neighborhood in upcoming episodes. 

Readers may recall the production filming around the East Village last summer (here, here and here), spotting cast members Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon as Kennedy and Bessette. (Pics below in Tompkins Square Park by Stacie Joy.)

The project has drawn criticism from within the Kennedy family. John Kennedy Jr.'s nephew, Jack Schlossberg, said last year that the series profits off his family "in a grotesque way." 

Early reviews have been solid — the series currently holds an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Our viewing experience involved saying "this is really awful" to no one in particular roughly every three minutes through Episode 1.

And yes, we'll watch the next eight episodes. Guilty pleasure rules apply. 

Avenue B market reopens as Miami Convenience

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

It's not your imagination: Saba Candy & Groceries is back open at 106 Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. 

The market recently opened and closed after just a few months. 

Saif, the manager (below), told us that there is new ownership...

With that comes a new name: Miami Convenience — though there's no obvious South Florida connection (yet). They are just waiting for the new sign to arrive.

Daily hours: 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.

It's a Small Village Deli after all

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Signage arrived late last week at 76 Avenue B on the NW corner of Fifth Street... say hello to the Small Village Deli. (So many markets, so few solid names left.)

We went inside for an updated look at the interior, but the owner told us to leave.

Once open, the deli will sell a variety of sandwiches, wraps and smoothies.

No. 76 was last home to the art gallery gratin, which relocated to the Lower East Side. Previously, Oda House, which served Georgian cuisine and other Mediterranean staples, closed here in August 2020 after more than seven years in service. Caffe Buon Gusto was here for a bit after the corner market, Zips.

Noted

Photo by Derek Berg 

Someone discarded the "Same Penis Forever" Just Married bouquet in the trash on Seventh Street... 

Yeah, well, forever got a lot shorter suddenly, didn't it? as Kevin Dolenz says in "St. Elmo's Fire."

More Pride at the Stonewall National Monument

Photos by Stacie Joy 

We were in the Village yesterday and stopped by the Stonewall National Monument in Christopher Park.

As widely reported on Thursday, local elected officials and activists raised a rainbow flag at the site, days after the Trump Administration removed one from the National Park Service-run site. 

The park service has said it was complying with federal guidance on flags.

Said Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal: "If you can't fly a Pride flag steps from the Stonewall monument, at the National monument for LGBTQ liberation, where can you fly it?" 

For their part, a spokesperson for the Interior Department dismissed the flag raising as a "political stunt" and described the city's Democratic leadership as "utterly incompetent and misaligned," per the Associated Press. 

The Stonewall Inn is across from the park monument at 53 Christopher St.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week include (with a photo along 1st Avenue last night, where the snow banks persist)

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• An immigration detention, a waiting room, a family in limbo (Feb. 9) 

• End of an Avenue B era for Gruppo as it will relocate to the Bowery in March (Feb. 10) 

• New 9-story development proposal raises alarms next to Merchant's House (Feb. 10) 

• 25-story residential building in the works for the NW corner of the Bowery and Great Jones (Feb. 11) 
• Financing secured for major upgrades at Campos Plaza II (Feb. 12) 

• RIP Fred Smith (Feb. 8) 

• Earth School community march calls for protection of immigrant families (Feb. 10) 

• Soft openings: Much Obliged on Avenue B (Feb. 12) 

• New signs up as Metro Acres Market nears opening on 1st Avenue and 5th Street (Feb. 9) 

• Sephora announces itself on the gateway to the East Village (Feb. 14) 

• Former Chris French Cleaners space wrapped for demolition (Feb. 11) 

• What's going on with Chomp Chomp? (Feb. 13) 

• A band playing New Colossus Festival: Loveletter (Feb. 13)

 

• Closures: Village Cafe & Grill on 4th Street (Feb. 10) 

• Signage alert: Stackie Doughnuts on Avenue A (Feb. 9) 

• A new era for Baohaus on St. Mark's Place (Feb. 9) 

• Brooklyn Dumpling Shop closes flagship East Village location (Feb. 12) 

... and something we hadn't noticed atop the First Park kiosk — a Christmas rat. God Bless Us, everyone! (Thanks to EVG reader Taz Urnov for the photo!)       

This East Village 'Bunny' is now streaming on Netflix

"Bunny," a caper set and filmed in the East Village with some familiar local faces, is now streaming on Netflix. 

It had a limited theatrical release back in the late fall and is also available on various VOD platforms. 

   

The film received some positive notices following its SXSW premiere in 2025. Per The Hollywood Reporter: 

"Bunny" successfully channels a downtown vibe that seems to be on the verge of extinction — one where neighbors of all types, shapes and sizes live on top of one another in cluttered apartments, forging a camaraderie that could only exist in that part of New York. 

The screenwriters, Ben Jacobson, Mo Stark, and Stefan Marolachakis (aka Trio Bravo) signed a deal this past week with TFC Management, per Deadline. So expect to see more from them in the future. (Stark plays Bunny while Jacobson directed and has a starring role.)

Good news: Chomp Chomp is open again

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

We were happy to see that Chomp Chomp Thai Kitchen was back in action yesterday at 78 E. First St., just east of First Avenue.

A burst pipe in the space knocked them out of commission for a few days this past week. 

The staff said they appreciated the good wishes while the restaurant was temporarily closed.

Chomp Chomp is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Feb. 14's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

For Valentine's Day today, Bloom Bloom floral design studio once again set up inside Book Club Bar on Third Street near Avenue B...

Noted

Valentine's Day at the Village East by Angelika...

Sephora announces itself on the gateway to the East Village

The Sephora signage/brandage arrived yesterday on the NE corner of St. Mark's Place and Third Avenue — an intersection that some say is the gateway to the East Village. 

The Paris-based multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products will have 7,800-square feet of space here...

As previously reported, the mall-friendly Sephora signed a lease here at the base of the 9-story office building this past September. (TRD had the news first.) 

Meanwhile, there haven't been any updates about any tenants leasing the office space, which was reportedly built on spec. 

Crews and equipment were assembled here in the summer of 2020 to start on the foundation — a process that ultimately didn't get underway until 2022. 

H/T Andy Reynolds!

P.S. 

The sign has already been tagged...

Saturday's opening shot

A view of the February mural up outside the Second Avenue F stop... swan art by Ben Keller.

Friday's parting shot

Photo by Cynthia Reynolds 

The all-day line this Feb. 13 at Sunny's Florist on the SE corner of Second Avenue and Sixth Street...

A band playing New Colossus Festival: Loveletter

The 2026 edition of the New Colossus Festival takes place in the East Village and on the LES from March 3-8. Details here. 

Until then, as we noted last week, our Fridays at 5 video clip will feature a band playing at the festival. (And there are more than 180 in total!) 

Today, we have the local trio Loveletter with the track "Follow Me."

They'll be playing Friday, March 6, at Nublu Classic, 62 Avenue C.

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Q&A with Steven Matrick, co-founder of the New Colossus Festival, taking place this week at East Village and Lower East Side music venues (Link from March 2025)