The former Gaia Italian Café is for rent on 3rd Street

Photo by Stacie Joy 

A for-rent sign now hangs in the front window at 226 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C ... presumably marking the official end of Gaia Italian Café's time on the block.

On Dec. 6, we noted that the landlord was now in legal possession of the storefront. 

An Instagram post noted the following about the situation: "Our location has been closed due to, again, malicious situations that jeopardized the business after we reopened with so much effort." The message states the business will continue online, including "the delivery of Christmas dinner for two." (Find the delivery link here.)

Chef-owner Gaia Bagnasacco opened here in June 2022... after nine years at 251 E. Houston St. between Norfolk and Suffolk. 

Hopefully, she'll return with a new space in the area in 2024.

A bad sign at Gaia Italian Café

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Updated: There's now an Instagram post about the situation: "Our location has been closed due to, again, malicious situations that jeopardized the business after we reopened with so much effort." The message states the business will continue online, including "the delivery of Christmas dinner for two."

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A notice from the Marshal on the front door at Gaia Italian Café on Third Street states that the landlord is now in legal possession of the storefront...

As we've seen from time to time in the past, the tenant and landlord have been able to work something out in this situation. Hopefully, that can be the case here. 

Chef-owner Gaia Bagnasacco opened at 226 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C in June 2022.

After nine years, Bagnasacco closed her popular business on July 26, 2020, at 251 E. Houston St. between Norfolk and Suffolk. 

Bagnasacco then created pasta, meal kits, and sauces that she sold via an online shop, all available for local delivery from a space on the Lower East Side.

Gaia Italian Café set to debut on 3rd Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Updated 6/7: Certified open

Neighborhood favorite Gaia Italian Café is expected to have a soft opening this week at its new home at 226 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

 

For now, the Café will be open for a few weekdays at lunchtime (no weekend hours yet) with a limited pickup-takeout menu while chef-owner Gaia Bagnasacco and sous chef Kevin Espinal adjust to this new adventure.

An assortment of Italian shelf-stable products (sauces, truffle polenta, grilled artichokes, imported Italian pastas, vinegar and oils) will also be for sale, in addition to a new line of ice cream and house-made treats.

And the duckies have returned to decorate the kitchen.

In an interview, Bagnasacco said she created the storefront “as a tribute to Earth [Gaia is the Greek goddess of Earth], that will have the face of a shop or to-go ‘Gastronomia,’ focusing on serving the community, awareness of Earth matter, and on a style of eating that follows the Mediterranean diet as a primary source in the homemade Italian tradition of the cafè.”

You can follow the Gaia Instagram account for updates. 

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Previously

Gaia Italian Café Shop is coming to the East Village

Photos by Stacie Joy

Gaia Italian Café Shop has a new home base that East Village fans will appreciate for its proximity.

Coming soon signage is up at 226 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C... for, presumably, what will be a takeout space/shop for Gaia and a home base for the online business...

After nine years, Gaia Bagnasacco closed her popular business on July 26, 2020, at 251 E. Houston St. between Norfolk and Suffolk. 

Bagnasacco then created her pasta, meal kits, and sauces that she sold via an online shop, all available for local delivery, from a space on the LES.

There's no word just yet on an opening date for Third Street. You can follow the Gaia Instagram account for updates ... and order food for delivery here. 

H/T Krikor Daglian

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Closing Day at Gaia's Italian Café

Happy returns: New location of Gaia Italian Café — REVEALED!

After closing nearly one year ago on East Houston Street, the new shop and takeout location for Gaia Italian Café has been revealed.

EVG reader Jonathan Calvenna shared this photo of Gaia Bagnasacco's new outpost here at 119 Essex St. between Rivington and Delancey.

Per Jonathan:

Stopped by to check it out yesterday just as Gaia was walking up the block. She invited me in for a look and said it would likely be a smaller operation than her previous spot on Houston Street, focusing on takeout at first. However, that could change. Ideas are in the works. She anticipated being open by August. Google currently shows her as open at that address, but that's not the case just yet.

So no indoor dining in the new space. 

Bagnasacco closed her popular business on July 26, 2020, at 251 E. Houston St. between Norfolk and Suffolk after nine years. 

At the time, Bagnasacco recommended following her social media accounts for updates on a possible encore for the cafe. She teased the new space in the late spring without revealing the address. 

In the interim, she has been selling her pasta, meal kits and sauces via an online shop — and all available for local delivery.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Closing Day at Gaia’s Italian Café

Gaia Italian Cafe teases a return

Last July, Gaia Bagnasacco closed her Gaia's Italian Café at 251 E. Houston St. between Norfolk and Suffolk after nine years in business. 

At the time, Bagnasacco recommended following her social media accounts for possible updates on an encore for Gaia's.

And anyone who did so was rewarded the other day on Instagram with this news of a Gaia's return ... there's a to-go spot in the works at an unnamed location ...

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gaia Italian Café (@gaiaitaliancafe)

Previously on EV Grieve:

Closing Day at Gaia’s Italian Café

Closing Day at Gaia’s Italian Café

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

People, including me, are lined up and prepared to wait in the 95-degree heat on Sunday for a chance at scoring a last takeout meal at Gaia’s Italian Café.

Located for more than nine years at 251 E. Houston St. between Norfolk and Suffolk, Gaia Bagnasacco's eponymous restaurant is closing for many reasons, none of which its owner cares to discuss.

COVID-19 has not made anything easy on small businesses — ditto for the ever-fluctuating rules and regulations from the city. But there are also literal signs of a dispute with the upstairs neighbor (featuring "Vote Trump" messages), and indications that the disagreement hasn’t been helpful.



The restaurant posted this message on social media: "please be aware that the Gaia Italian Cafe due to end of the lease, eviction and to two year of harassment will close, our last day of operation is on July 26th" leaving open the possibility it will reopen elsewhere.

When pressed, Gaia would only say that she is keeping her options open, including looking for a possible take-out/to-go-only spot.







Gaia, famed for her Milanese cooking and her at-times fiery temper (she’s gotten into some scuffles online with reviewers on Yelp and Facebook) as well as in person. On this Sunday, people are lined up to, as one patron jokes, "Have her yell at me one last time before feeding me the most delicious home-cooked meal ever."

Some people have come bearing gifts, including rubber duckies, which Gaia collects.





Fellow restaurateurs, such as Yudai Kanayama from Izakaya, have come to show support.


[Yudai Kanayama]

Despite the heat, humidity and line — no one seems to be complaining.



After a long wait, I nab one of the last plates of house-favorite spinach and ricotta gnocchi in tomato sauce and a rare smile from Gaia. Worth it.



Gaia recommends keeping an eye on her website and social media presence for any potential future updates.

Gaia Italian Cafe expected to reopen today after a short break; but for how long?

Local favorite Gaia Italian Cafe has been closed for a break since the end of service on July 28. They are expected to reopen today. (Gaia is closed on Mondays.)

Two EVG readers pointed us to the basement-level space here on Houston between Suffolk and Norfolk...



One reader, a longtime fan of Gaia's, found the note for patrons — presumably from proprietor Gaia Bagnasacco — especially worrying...



According to the note, they were taking a little break after being overwhelmed the past two years by the ongoing construction of Samy Mahfar's controversial 14-floor residential building — called Sioné — next door "that has made our business full of problems and from the space above us that gave us other problems too." (Not sure what exactly is in that upstairs space with the American flag in the window. Weeks back a reader mentioned MAGA signage inside the space.)

The Gaia note concludes with: "We need to think about the future of the cafe in which directions [we] should go for the time that we are living and for the money power that is taking this city to craziness."

This isn't the first time that the 8-year-old cafe discussed closing shop. In late 2013, Bagnasacco posted on Facebook that Gaia was "closing probably forever." Thankfully that didn't happen, as we need more affordable and quirky places like this in the neighborhood.

H/T Steph!