Ruby’s Cafe bringing its Australian vibes to the former Martina space on 11th Street

Ruby's, the popular all-day café with two NYC outposts, will open a new location at 198 E. 11th St. at Third Avenue — in the former Martina space.

There's a Community Board 3 notice on the door now for an upcoming SLA committee meeting (no date has been released for the August meeting). The Australian-inspired Ruby's Cafe is applying for a beer-wine license for the space. (Martina also had a similar license)...



A rep for Ruby's confirmed their arrival here in an email to me, noting: "We can't wait."

Ruby's first opened in 2003 on Mulberry Street between Prince and Spring (they expanded next door in 2014) ... with an additional cafe on Third Avenue between 30th Street and 31st Street arriving in 2016.

Martina opened in August 2017 in this newly created space at 55 Third Ave., aka Eleventh and Third, the 12-floor residential building on the corner. The pizzeria, from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, never caught on, and closed this past March.

Thanks to the anonymous reader who shared the news of the Ruby's CB3 notice!

Report: Danny Meyer is closing Martina on 11th Street

In case you missed this from back on Friday, Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group announced that it is closing Martina, the high-profile pizzeria on 11th Street at Third Avenue, Eater first reported.

March 31 24 is the last day. In a statement, Meyer said that "despite numerous efforts to turn around Martina's financial performance around ... we were not able to succeed at developing a large enough audience to sustain the business."

In December, Meyer and Co. changed up formats for this offshoot of Marta, switching from a quick-serve format to table service. (The pizza reviews had been so-so.)

Martina opened in August 2017 in a newly created space at 55 Third Ave., aka Eleventh and Third, the 12-floor residential building on the corner.

Martina opens this weekend (and the sidewalk planters have arrived)

[Photo from Sunday]

Martina, the Roman-inspired pizzeria from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, opens Saturday on 11th Street at Third Avenue.

Grub Street had the news, speaking with Nick Anderer, the former chef at its sister pizzeria-restaurant, Marta.

Unlike the wood-fired pies at the mothership, Martina’s are smaller, cheaper ($7 to $12), cooked in a gas oven in about two minutes, and doled out counter-service style. But they share Marta’s ultra-thin-crust DNA: Martina’s four-slice pies use the same dough, the same California tomatoes, the same Di Palo’s mozzarella. One of those vibrating pager thingamajigs Danny Meyer popularized at Shake Shack will buzz you when your pizza’s ready ...

Also, there won't be any delivery...

But when it comes to one particular in-demand amenity, Anderer won’t budge: delivery. “I want my food to be enjoyed at the best possible moment,” he says, though he will allow takeout.

You can find a PDF of the Martina menu here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group planning Martina for 55 3rd Ave.

Meanwhile, on 11th Street...

The M-A-R-T-I-N-A signage is going up at the Roman-inspired pizzeria from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group... 11th Street at Third Avenue.

Thanks to the tipster for the photo!

Here's Martina

Just a quick post to note that the plywood came down last week outside Martina, the Roman-inspired pizzeria from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group that's opening next month on 11th Street at Third Avenue...



The previous Martina post (here) had a few more details on the place.

Eventually the space will look like this rendering...



Meanwhile, the corner slot on 11th and Third — the former M2M — still has the plywood treatment while workers carve out the incoming Wagamama.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group planning Martina for 55 3rd Ave.

More about Martina, Danny Meyer's 'fine-casual pizzeria' coming to 11th Street

Martina, the Roman-inspired pizzeria from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, is opening next month on 11th Street at Third Avenue ... in the former lobby of Eleventh and Third, the 12-floor residential building here.

Esquire profiles the executive chef, Nick Anderer, and provides a few more details on Martina — "a fine-casual pizzeria with a paired-down, cheaper menu, as well as service at a counter instead of table side."

To an excerpt:

With Martina, Anderer will experiment with hospitality — he wants to figure out how to toe the line between serving customers food quickly, but not making them feel like he made their meal before they walked in the door. That means snacks and drinks ready right after you order and take your buzzer.
Meatballs, Martina Mista salad, seasonal vegetable dishes (starting with zucchini), potato croquettes, etcetera.

For booze, Anderer wants to offer the same quality of craft wines and champagne as his recent spots. "So if somebody does want to go high-brow, low-brow and have a seven-dollar pizza with some awesome champagne they can do it without breaking the bank," he says. Not to mention that gelato machine, serving a basic vanilla flavor that he'll use to make desserts like affogato.

#capricciosa

A post shared by Martina (@martinapizzeria) on Jul 14, 2017 at 7:34am PDT

Previously on EV Grieve:
Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group planning Martina for 55 3rd Ave.

Danny Meyer's incoming pizzeria looking for CB3 approval for a 4-table sidewalk cafe

One more quick note about tonight's CB3-SLA committee meeting... as previously noted, Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group is opening Martina, a pizzeria, at 198 E. 11th St./aka 55 Third Ave.



They are on this month's docket to get approval for a four-table (eight seat!) sidewalk cafe ... here's a rendering (PDF) via the CB3 website... showing off that Mmartina lettering...



The street-level pizzeria proposes to operate the outdoor seating Sunday-Wednesday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Thursday 11 a.m. to midnight, and Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.

CB3 OK'd the beer-wine license back in November. Apparently this didn't include the sidewalk cafe. Not sure!

The CB3-SLA meeting is tonight at 6:30 in the Thelma Burdick Community Room, 10 Stanton St. (corner of the Bowery).

Previously on EV Grieve:
Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group planning Martina for 55 3rd Ave.

Plywood arrives on 11th Street outside Danny Meyer's incoming restaurant Martina

While here on 11th Street at Third Avenue... workers yesterday erected the plywood on 11th Street outside the under-construction new restaurant from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group.

Martina is the working name for the space, which is in the former lobby of Eleventh and Third, the 12-floor residential building here.

The group applied for a beer-wine license last November (they were approved). The application (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website showed that the space will hold 13 tables with a sidewalk cafe with four tables. (The overall capacity was listed at 75 or below with nine employees.) The proposed hours were 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday; until 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

In approving the applicant, the CB3 minutes refer to Martina as "a full-service pizza restaurant."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group planning Martina for 55 3rd Ave.