Dining at Beronberon on 1st Avenue

Beronberon opened on Sept. 11 on the northeast corner of First Avenue and 10th Street.

The Japanese restaurant, whose management team includes Yuji Umeki, a manager at nearby Kenka, features a menu (7 pages!) similar to the former tenant — Sapporo East.

To date we haven't heard much about Beronberon's food … until Robert Sietsema filed a generally positive report for Eater on Friday.

A few excerpts:

Center of the restaurant's culinary program are the cut-rate bento boxes. In its final days, these cost around $16 at Sapporo East; now the price at Beronberon is approximately $18 ... Quite a deal, and delicious!

And!

Reflecting its status as a sort of Japanese diner, the over-rice donburi selections — served with soup or salad — constitute meals that might fall in the "blue plate specials" category. The pork cutlets are profuse and of high quality, with just enough edge-fat hidden by just enough breading. The soy poured over the rice is slightly sweet, which guarantees that you'll actually finish the rice underneath. The "Mononoke special ramen" ($12), one of eight choices, was not quite as good, beginning with the noodles themselves and extending to the miso broth. You can find much better ramen at the dozen or so other places that serve it in the East Village.

You can read the whole review here.

After 30 years in business, Sapporo East closed at the end of December along with its sister establishment Shima on Second Avenue and East 12th Street, as we first reported.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Sapporo East has closed for good

A new beginning for Sapporo East?

A sad day for Mother Earth at the former Sapporo East

Beronberon opens tonight in the former Sapporo East space

Beronberon officially opens tonight on First Avenue at East 10th Street…



As we understand it, the Japanese restaurant, whose management team includes Yuji Umeki, a manager at nearby Kenka, will feature a menu similar to the former tenant — Sapporo East.

After 30 years in business, Sapporo East closed at the end of December along with its sister establishment Shima on Second Avenue and East 12th Street, as we first reported.

We're sure that one of the food blogs will have more about Beronberon's offerings.

Meanwhile, the corner certainly has a new look…



In May, workers painted over Chico's longtime "Love Mother Earth" mural on the East 10th Street side …






[Photos from May by William Klayer]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Sapporo East has closed for good

A new beginning for Sapporo East?

A sad day for Mother Earth at the former Sapporo East

A sad day for Mother Earth at the former Sapporo East

Renovations continue at the former Sapporo East space on First Avenue and East 10th Street … the 30-year-old Japanese restaurant closed for good at the end of December, as we first reported.

However, the space will remain a sushi restaurant. Yuji Umeki, who manages Kenka at 25 St. Mark's Place, is one of the principals at the restaurant that will be called Beronberon. EVG regular William Klayer, who took these photos on Friday, hears that they will be offering a menu very similar to Sapporo East's offerings.

Unfortunately, the renovation plans didn't include keeping Chico's longtime "Love Mother Earth" mural on the East 10th Street side… or the ad for Crystals Garden next door. (While the murals were nicked up, people liked them — based on how many readers passed along news of their demise this past weekend.)







Workers blacked out the murals on Saturday…


[Photo by EVG reader Fallon]


[Photo by EVG reader Fallon]

For now, just a section that reads "Love Moth" remains. We understand that workers will be adding windows in this space.


[Photo by Kevin Decatrel]

A new beginning for Sapporo East?

Sapporo East, the 30-year-old Japanese restaurant on East 10th Street and First Avenue, closed at the end of December, as we first reported.

Now it looks as if there's new life for the space. An EVG reader hears that Sapporo East plans to reopen with new owners — and the same staff. They will be seeking a new beer-wine license during the April CB3/SLA subcommittee meeting, as the notice posted on the door shows…



Sapporo East's sister restaurant, Shima, also closed at the same time. That space on Second Avenue and East 12th Street is currently on the market for $25,400 a month in rent.

Thanks to EVG reader @Breelit for the photo and info

Claim: Sapporo East has closed for good

On Friday, we noted that several readers had expressed concern over Sapporo East. The 30-year-old Japanese restaurant on East 10th Street and First Avenue has been closed the past week or so, and there isn't any sign noting a vacation or closure on the front door.

This past weekend, a very reliable source told us that Sapporo East has closed for good.

Meanwhile, in a double whammy, we understand that Shima, another sushi old-timer on Second Avenue at East 12th Street, has also closed.



Several readers noted this as well over the weekend; calls to the restaurant go unanswered. Shima opened on Waverly Place in the early 1980s, but was priced out by NYU… arriving at its current location in the late 1990s. Sapporo East and Shima share the same ownership. It's unclear if Shima will reopen in its current form.

In September 2012, Robert Sietsema at the Voice wrote about Sapporo East, which was the oldest existing Japanese restaurant in the East Village … opening in 1983.

And then along came Sapporo East. Even the facade looked jazzy and Japanese-y, and the interior, with its bobble-headed white waving cat — the first one we'd ever seen — set the standard for dozens of restaurants to follow. In fact, Sapporo East was an early harbinger of Little Tokyo, the city of young Japanese expats that lies within the East Village, and includes sake bars, grocery stores, pastry shops, hair salons, ramen parlors, sushi spots, and dozens of other institutions centering on 9th Street but spreading for blocks in several directions.

As Sapporo East has looked on and become something of the gray lady of neighborhood, the fantastically low prices have remained.

Concern about Sapporo East

A reader pointed out yesterday that Sapporo East, the always-reliable Japanese restaurant on First Avenue at East 10th Street, hasn't
been open of late. No one seems to recall the last time they were up and running. There aren't any signs on the restaurant, which opened in 1983, indicating a holiday break or closure. The phone rings and rings and is eventually answered by a generic greeting.

The restaurant closed in August 2010 for "emergency construction" … though there were signs up pointing to the temporary closure.

Anyone know what's going on here?

While writing for Fork in the Road last April, Robert Sietsema named Sapporo East one of the "Six Miracles of East Village Ungentrification."

Sapporo East closed for "emergency construction"

Here on 10th Street and First Avenue at Sapporo East...



...there are dueling signs: One apologizing for the "emergency construction" as well as a stop-work order ...



The DOB says there is no permit for the work being done here...