On tonight's CB3 docket: New homes for B Cup Café and B-Side

Here are a few items on tonight's CB3-SLA committee meeting (there are more applicants for places below Houston). 

New Liquor License Applications 

• Corp to be formed by Drew Popkin, 29 2nd Ave (op)

For starters, this makes the Bad Hombre closure official (photo above). 

The owners of Cask on East 33rd Street and Bar Bonobo on Eighth Avenue are looking to open an Italian restaurant bar called Bambino between Second Street and Third Street. 

Find the Bambino application (PDF!) here, which includes a sample menu showing their brunch and dinner offerings. 

• B Side (Flam Able LLC), 131 Ave C (op/removal from 204 Ave B) 

After a fire at 204 Avenue B in June 2023, B-Side and the building's landlord parted ways later that fall. 

B-Side's owners want to open a new bar at 131 Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street.

No. 131 has been vacant for some time. As far as we can recall, Babel Lounge & Hookah Bar was the last tenant, closing in 2017. (Babel had the storefronts at 129 and 131.) 

You can find the B-Side questionnaire at this link. B-Side debuted on B in 2003 ... with the new owners taking over in January 2021.

Items not heard at Committee

• Alison St Marks (Disfruting Two LLC), 110 St Marks Pl (wb) 

Alison St. Marks is the name of a full-service restaurant that will serve lunch, dinner, and brunch at this spot between Avenue A and First Avenue. This link has the questionnaire. 

Ownership also runs Alison on Lexington Avenue in East Harlem. 

At No. 110, David's Cafe closed without any notice to patrons over the summer after nearly nine years in service. 

Photo of No. 110 by Stacie Joy 

• G&I Food Hospitality LLC, 204 Ave B (wb) 

As previously reported, B Cup Café is moving to a renovated 204 Avenue B, located just several storefronts south of its longtime home on the SW corner of 13th Street. 

B Cup owner Guy Weizmann told us they will be expanding the café's menu and have later hours with the addition of a beer-wine license here at the former home of B-Side. 

Tonight's meeting is at 6:30. Find the Zoom link here. This is a hybrid meeting, and there is limited seating available for the public — the first 15 people who show up at the Community Board 3 Office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

B-Side will not reopen at 204 Avenue B

B-Side will not return to 204 Avenue B, which has been closed since a fire this past June 30.

As previously reported, Sabina Brunetti, the co-owner of B-Side, the bar in the building's retail space, said they were having a new air conditioner installed. A worker was using a torch for welding, and the insulation went up in flames. The fire marshal deemed the blaze accidental.

The fire badly damaged the bar and the apartments of the three tenants who lived on the upper floors, including the unit of the building's owner. The tenants (plus a dog) got out safely. The building here between 12th Street and 13th Street remains under a full vacate order.

In a series of messages on Instagram (and Facebook) last week, B-Side announced: 

"The ownership and managing party for the building have expressed that it's in their family's best interest to sever ties and by exercising a clause in our lease, thereby terminating it."

"Ownership of 204 Avenue B is well within their right, and we respect their decision. We'd like to take the opportunity to apologize to Sandy [the landlord who lived upstairs], her tenants, and our employees for the resulting displacement due to this fire."

The bar hopes to reopen in a new location in the future. In the interim, they will host parties and events at Revision Lounge and Gallery at 219 Avenue B.

B-Side had been closed for the first three months of 2023 for renovation. 

Fire damages B-Side bar on Avenue B

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Updated July 3: There's now a GoFundMe for bar employees here.

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The FDNY responded to a report of a fire just before 1 p.m. today at 204 Avenue B between 12th Street and 13th Street. 

The department's Twitter account deemed the fire under control in 45 minutes.

Sabina Brunetti, the co-owner of B-Side, the bar in the building's retail space, said they had a new air conditioner installed. A worker was using a torch for welding, and the insulation went up in flames. B-Side was not open at the time.

The fire marshal deemed the blaze accidental. 

The four-story, three-unit building is now under a full vacate order. There weren't any injuries, thankfully, and all the tenants (plus a dog) got out safely. For now, the residents have a place to stay, but there isn't an estimate to how long repairs will take. The apartments were said to be badly damaged.

Meanwhile, the bar will also be out of commission for an unknown amount of time.

B-Side was closed at the start of the year for an extensive deep clean and renovations, including a new ceiling.

"We put so much blood sweat and tears into the space — it's really emotional. Our regulars are like family," a visibly upset Brunetti said. 

She was especially concerned for her staff, some of whom do not have other jobs. She also is worried about the tenants whose homes were damaged, including the landlord who lives right above the bar.

Despite the setback, she vowed to return.

"We absolutely plan to rebuild," Brunetti said. "Again and again."

The return of B-Side

Photos by Stacie Joy 

B-Side returned to service this past Saturday night. 

The neighborhood bar, 204 Avenue B between 12th Street and 13th Street, closed for a deep clean at the start of 2023. The work took longer than expected, and ownership ended up putting in a new ceiling...

Stacie Joy stopped by to meet co-owner Sabina...

... and Bubs the bartender...

B-Side is open from noon to 4 a.m. daily.

The bar debuted in 2003 ... with the new owners taking over in January 2021.

Spring cleaning this winter at B-Side

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Updated: B-Side reopened on Feb. 25!

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Paper covers the windows now at B-Side at 204 Avenue B between 12th Street and 13th Street... causing some speculation among a few readers that the neighborhood bar had closed. 

Not to fear. 

In an Instagram message, ownership told us: "We'll be back in a week or two. Just doing a deep clean for the spring." Which they admitted it needed after 20 years in service.

The bar opened in 2003 ... with new owners taking over in January 2021.

H/T Sonya

The return of B-Side

B-Side, the neighborhood bar on Avenue B, closed back in March after 17 years here between 12th Street and 13th Street.

At the time, we were told that new owners were taking over the space.

However, those plans never further materialized and B-Side's ownership has announced that the bar reopens today with curbside seating. (They also unveiled B-Side t-shirts for sale.) Hours: 2-10 p.m.

In other reopening news nearby, 11th Street Bar between Avenue A and Avenue B returned yesterday, pouring its first pint of Guinness in 109 days. The bar is open from 2-10 p.m. for limited curbside seating and take-home drinks.

Updated:

A look at their curbside space...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bside (@bsidenyc) on Jul 4, 2020 at 12:52pm PDT

B-Side has closed for good on Avenue B

[Image via @bsidenyc]

After a few weeks of rumors, B-Side officially announced on March 11 that the 17-year-old neighborhood bar on Avenue B was closing at the end the month.

They had planned for a few closing festivities leading up to this past weekend.

However, B-side's end came sooner than expected after Mayor de Blasio announced that, starting on March 17, NYC's bars and restaurants would need to close — save for food delivery and takeout — during the coronavirus crisis.

A tipster tells us that new owners will be eventually be taking over the space, though they don't plan on keeping the pool table.

B-Side opened in 2003 here between 12th Street and 13th Street.

B-Side turns 9 today

EV Grieve reader Michael notes the above sign... B-Side on Avenue B between 12th Street and 13th Street... celebrating an anniversary today... always a solid bar... and one that we haven't written about too much.

Oh, and hurry on that happy hour...