Avenida Cantina is now Eastpoint on Avenue B

Avenida Cantina is in the final stages of a renovation/rebrand over at 25 Avenue B.

Several tipsters yesterday shared photos of the newly painted marquee for Eastpoint.

In an email from March, management said that they would be changing names in the near future: "Still doing Tex-Mex, however slightly more elevated."

More elevated might appeal to the writers at The Infatuation, who once filed one of the more scathing reviews about Avenida Cantina ...

At a real Tex-Mex place, tortillas are soft, fluffy vehicles for taco nirvana. At Avenida Cantina, tortillas are dry, except for the spots where they’re wet, presumably because someone tried the flick-it-with-water-then-nuke-it trick. Or because they dropped them in the sink. At a real Tex-Mex place, the refried beans should taste like fat, salt, and glory. At Avenida Cantina, they look like a poop emoji and taste much less cute.

Avenida Cantina opened in January 2016 ... after several dubious concepts under different ownership at the address, including Matty's, Station B and Billy Hurricane's.

Maybe you'll have a Whalebone of a good time at this pop-up bar on Avenue B

On Monday afternoon, EVG contributor Stacie Joy spotted signage going up at 25 Avenue B for something called The Boneyard... which the signage makers described as a coming-soon pop-up bar in the basement space at Avenida Cantina here between Second Street and Third Street...



Bedford + Bowery had more on the establishment: Whalebone Magazine — a Montauk-based publication and lifestyle brand — is behind the project. Per B+B: "On the heels of its dive-bar issue, the outlet ... teamed up with Seagram’s 7 to really celebrate the grunge and grease of America’s favorite hole-in-the-walls."

The Boneyard will be open until Oct. 6.

That basement space was once Save the Robots... and much more recently Idle Hands and The Mockingbird. Upstairs at No. 25 has seen the likes of Billy Hurricane's and Matty's come and go in the last few years.

Avenida Cantina starts serving Tex-Mex on Avenue B tomorrow

[Reader-submitted photo]

As we've been reporting since August, a new bar-restaurant called Avenida Cantina is in the works for 25 Avenue B between East Second Street and East Third Street. Notes posted on the front window announce that the bar will officially open tomorrow (Saturday!).

Here's more about Avenida Cantina based on information on their website:

Three Texans and a New Yorker meet in a bar...

For years, southern transplants in New York have proclaimed the need for REAL Tex-Mex in NYC. Tex-Mex, as southerners know it, does not consist of tiny tacos in corn tortillas or $15 guacamole.

You cried out. We listened. This is not another fancy, overpriced Mexican restaurant. This is your friendly, neighborhood home-cooking, tequila and beer, East Village-charming Tex-Mex experience you crave.

Welcome home.

Here's a look at the menu...


[Click to go big]

Avenida is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. The bar is open until 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

In addition to Avenida, there's a speakeasy in the basement space called The Mockingbird. Per the website:

No sign in the sky will tell you where The Mockingbird is nested. Just look for the silhouette on the door in the underbelly of New York’s indelible East Village.

Through that door lays an eclectic bar and lounge serving up tequila-centric cocktails with the gritty swank of a classic Manhattan speakeasy. Built by the hands of local artists, The Mockingbird provides a cozy, yet untamed atmosphere suited for every occasion, from first dates to birthday parties to private events.

That basement space was once Save the Robots... and much more recently Idle Hands.

No. 25 has been several bars in the past few years... It was home for two months to Matty's, which shut down last February ... and, earlier, Idle Hands, Station B and Billy Hurricane's.

A few CB3 watchers have emailed us in recent weeks asking how/why this item was never heard before the Board's SLA committee. Despite the new concept and 100 percent turnover in corporate partners, this item was not heard at the committee this past September.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something new in the works for 25 Avenue B

Signage arrives for Avenida on Avenue B

Signage arrives for Avenida on Avenue B

[Photo yesterday via EVG reader David]

Several readers pointed out the arrival of the Avenida name at 25 Avenue B this past weekend.

According to the questionnaire (the PDF is here) that was filed ahead of the September CB3/SLA committee meeting, there was a 100 percent corporate change for the business, from the short-lived Matty's to a new venture/bar called Avenida Cantina.



However, despite the new concept and partners, this item was not heard in front of the committee. The paperwork shows that the new proprietor served as manager of East End Bar & Grill on First Avenue between 86th Street and 87th Street. (Not sure what East End is like these days. In July 2010, CB8 unanimously rejected the bar's application for a sidewalk cafe. According to DNAinfo, "Neighbors at the public hearing testified that the post-college age crowd drunkenly wrestles in front of the bar and sometimes urinates on their doorsteps.")

In recent years, this space between East Second Street and East Third Street was home for two months to Matty's ... and, earlier, Idle Hands, Station B and Billy Hurricane's. (And upon a time — Save the Robots.)

Avenida Cantina will just be one of the new occupants along this part of Avenue B.

The pet store next door is closing, and the space is for rent...



And the former deli next to Cornerstone closed earlier in the year... the space was gutted and glammed up...



...and is now on the market...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Whatever happened to simple bar names...concepts?

Billy Hurricane's looking to hire attractive, sexy, fun, loud and pushy female bartenders who are still in school — and rock

Something new in the works for 25 Avenue B

[EVG photo from April]

After just two months at 25 Avenue B, Matty's shut down back in February. There's now a new applicant for the bar space between East Second Street and East Third Street.

According to the questionnaire (the PDF is here) on file ahead of the September CB3/SLA committee meeting, there's is a 100 percent corporate change for the business... and a name change to Avenida Cantina.



However, despite a new concept and partners, this item will not be heard in front of the committee. There isn't any other information at the moment about what to expect from the new venture.

In the past few years, 25 Avenue B was home to Idle Hands and Station B and Billy Hurricane's.

A listing for the bi-level club shows an asking price of $299,000 with a monthly rent listed as $16,882.63.

The SLA meeting is at the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

25 Avenue B is on the market

The for sale sign went up last week at 25 Avenue B between East Second Street and East Third Street.

Tower Brokerage has the listing, which shows an asking price of $299,000 for the bi-level space. The monthly rent is listed as $16,882.63.

The previous bar here, Matty's, closed after just two months. In the past few years, the space was home to Idle Hands and Station B and Billy Hurricane's.