Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Steven 

The Mudspot Family Christmas Wreath went up outside the cafe at 307 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

Meanwhile, the usual holiday lights aren't expected on this block this year... word is the lighting company wanted to charge too much — more than the store owners could reasonably pay...

Wednesday's parting shots

The holiday MUD Coffee wreath at Mudspot on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ...

Photos by Steven...

Mudspot Café closes for the week

[Photo today by MP]

Mudspot Café has announced that it's closing for the week here on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Aside from coffee, Mudspot had been selling a variety of pastries, grocery items as well as beer and wine in recent weeks.

Here's part of their message via Instagram:

Dear mudpeople,

we are taking a breath and closing for what is expected to be a pretty tough week in nyc. we aim to re-open monday 4/13.

thank you to our amazing staff for their unmatched endurance and beautiful souls. and thank you to all the health care and essential workers on the frontlines, who don’t have the luxury of staying home this week.

we all owe you a debt of gratitude...

Meanwhile, their online shop will continue to ship coffee.

Noted

EVG reader MP spotted this outside Mudspot Café on East Ninth Street this morning.

[Helpful background]

[Updated] For the Mudtrucks, chrome is the new black

[Via Mudspot's Facebook page]

Well, it looks like Mudspot Coffee has retired their familiar orange ... the Mudtrucks, which have been around since 2000, have a new look as of yesterday ... @sammers133 spotted the new chrome model on Astor Place today...
‏


Nice! But will the truck absorb too many rays reflecting off of 51 Astor Place? May need some better AC come summertime.

Updated 4:30

We checked in with Mudspot General Manager Yasmina Palumbo about the change.

"Well, it kinda just happened. We were part of an event that asked us to go chrome for the day. We did it and we liked it so much we decided to keep it — but just for a minute. Mudtruck Orange will be back — way before the melting sun of summer!"

Mudspot Café now open in First Park

Mudspot Café is now open for coffee business in the kiosk off of East Houston and East First Street.

As we first reported on Oct. 10, the East Ninth Street-based café was taking over the food and beverage service from S'MAC, which left the space back in July.

EVG reader Jennifer Spero, who took the above photo, notes that they had muffins and other breakfast items as well as a full coffee/espresso menu.

Updated 12:30 pm

Sorry! Not First Park! But Mud Park!


[Photo via @shmnyc]

Previously on EV Grieve:
More about S'MAC's decision to leave First Park

Mudspot Café opening at the First Park kiosk next month

Mudspot Café prepping kiosk for service in First Park

Mudspot Café prepping kiosk for service in First Park

As we first reported on Oct. 10, Mudspot Café was taking over the food and beverage service from S'MAC in the kiosk off of East Houston and East First Street.

As you can see, there's a lot of progress to report here in First Park ... or, perhaps, Mud Park...



Updated 9:45 a.m.
Mudspot General Manager Yasmina Palumbo told us that they hoped to be open in November. From the looks of things, it's possible that it could happen sooner rather than later... said that Mud Park will be ready to serve in just a couple more weeks.

"We must look more ready than we realized because we've had a lot of people try to order coffee in the last few days!"

Previously on EV Grieve:
More about S'MAC's decision to leave First Park

Mudspot Café opening at the First Park kiosk next month

Mudspot Café opening at the First Park kiosk next month

Looks like the Mudtruck will have another sibling in the family.

Back in July, S'MAC decided to discontinue its service at the First Avenue kiosk. At the time, Caesar Ekya, who owns and operates S'MAC with his wife Sarita, said that they were hoping to find another vendor to assign the lease to here off of East Houston and East First Street.

And they have: Mudspot Café will soon be operating from this location.

"Yes, it's happening," Mudspot General Manager Yasmina Palumbo confirmed to us via email. "[We're] hoping to open sometime in November."

Ekya said that sales at First Park were sluggish, and that they needed to focus on their original location on East 12th Street and new branch in Murray Hill. He had said finding another vendor for First Park was preferable to turning the lease back over to the city, which would then open up a potentially lengthy bidding process.

"It would have been in everyone's best interest if we assigned the lease instead of giving it back to the city," Ekya said."And Mud was the best fit for that location."

S'MAC opened the satellite location here in January 2012. Prior to this, Veselka had the space for five years until June 2011. Mudspot's original location on East Ninth Street will remain.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More about S'MAC's decision to leave First Park