East Village cafe AO Bowl closes, owner blames Sen. Schumer

Updated: See the comments for more from Zach the owner.

The Japanese health-food cafe AO Bowl has closed at 82 St. Mark's Place on the southwest corner of First Avenue. 

The quick-serve establishment, which offered a variety of bowls, smoothies and juices, opened in early 2021 (after a few delays). 

In a goodbye letter left on the door for patrons, ownership puts the blame on Sen. Charles Schumer...

The letter reads in part: 

Sen. Schumer stabbed us in the back after first promising and then failing to replenish the SBA Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF). This would have reimbursed us for costs we had to bear from the government-mandated closures. Many large restaurant chains got millions from the RRF while small businesses like us got nothing, even after being approved... 

Over the last year of hanging on, Sen. Schumer continues to use as as a bargaining chip and recently attempted to kill RRF replishment by taking it out of the budget to secure other projects. Small businesses and restaurants should not be political pawns. Business owners should not have to incur tons of debt and get thrown into bankruptcy territory because of government negligence and mismangement.

You can read the latest on the RRF funds here.

We first mentioned AO's arrival in July 2019 (previously going as 

Eiyō Bowl). The AO Instagram account listed an October 2020 opening, though that was pushed back several months. According to an announcement about AO, this was the "first-ever cafe in the U.S. to use vacuum blenders to create vacuum-pressed smoothies and juice on premise."

In 2019, workers gutted this single-level structure on the corner ... and divided the storefront into several retail spaces. The other new tenant here is the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop.

The former occupant, Foot Gear Plus, closed in July 2018 after nearly 40 years in business.

Sen. Schumer talks K2 on 2nd Avenue

[Photo by Steven]

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer held a press conference this afternoon outside the Orpheum Theater on Second Avenue to discuss his proposed drug legislation in the aftermath of the recent K2 mass overdose in Bed-Stuy.

Here's more from the Associated Press:

Schumer is pushing legislation to add 22 substances to the federal list of banned drugs following a mass overdose in Brooklyn last week that sent 33 people to hospitals.

Schumer's bill would ban substances, including three derivatives of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, and 19 others that are used in efforts to mimic the main psychoactive ingredient of marijuana.

He says that since 2015, more than 6,000 synthetic drug-related emergency department visits in New York City and two confirmed deaths have been blamed on K2.

An aide told EVG correspondent Steven that Schumer picked the East Village for the press conference because it's a diverse neighborhood and K2 is a problem affecting everyone.

And some reaction via Twitter...

Thx @SenSchumer for staging K2 press conference in the drug infested East Village. Hopefully it'll send a message to realtors to stay away!

— Jena Friedman (@JenaFriedman) July 17, 2016