Monday's parting shots

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Capturing a few portraits at Superiority Burger, 119 Avenue A.

First (above) with SB regular Cáit O’Riordan. 

Owner Brooks Headley ...

... and Fowzy, who was recently promoted from bar manager to a GM...

Monday's parting shot

Superiority Burger's signage today on Avenue A paid tribute to Steve Albini, the musician-producer-engineer who would have been 62 today. 

The frontman for Shellac and Big Black worked with dozens of bands, including Nirvana, Slint, Pixies, the Breeders, PJ Harvey, the Jesus Lizard, Superchunk, Low, and the Wedding Present. 

He died of a heart attack on May 7. 

Per the Superiority Burger Instagram account: "His influence and words of advice are all over this restaurant."

Weekday lunch service begins today at Superiority Burger on Avenue A

Superiority Burger will now be open for lunch Monday through Friday, noon to 3:30 p.m. 

With the extended hours comes new menu items for the all-vegetarian diner-restaurant-hang, including grilled cheese and house fries.

Since debuting one year ago (April 1!) at 119 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, SB slowly started extended hours... with weekend breakfast-lunch service beginning in November. 

New lunch hours aside: 

• Dinner seven days a week: 5-11 p.m. 

• Lunch-breakfast Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

• Night shift Thursday-Sunday back at the bar: 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

And some Superiority Burger history... the quick-serve spot opened — primarily a to-go operation — in the East Village on Ninth Street in June 2015. News of their move to a larger space — the former Odessa — on Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place arrived in the summer of 2021. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Checking in on Superiority Burger 6+ months in; weekend breakfast & lunch and Chrissy's Pizza coming soon

Saturday's parting shot

Breakfast-lunch service started today at Superiority Burger, 119 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... as we noted would be happening a few weeks back...

Checking in on Superiority Burger 6+ months in; weekend breakfast & lunch and Chrissy's Pizza coming soon

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

After several weekends of staff training for friends and family extravaganzas, Superiority Burger officially debuted (for a few hours!) on April 1 in its new home at 119 Avenue A. 

Since then, the vegetable-centric diner-restaurant has enjoyed some positive notices in the press. For instance, in late June, Pete Wells bestowed three (out of four) stars on Superiority Burger for The New York Times ... this followed a solid review in The New Yorker. More recently, The Michelin Guide added them to its "recommended" list. 

And you've seen people waiting from time to time for the opening bell at 5 p.m.

Taking stock in this six-plus-month milestone, owner and East Village resident Brooks Headley is pleased. 

"Things are going pretty great," he said. 

Early last month, Superiority Burger recently expanded its evening service to seven days.

 

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Coming soon: Saturday and Sunday all-day service. "Breakfast and lunch will include a significant amount of breakfast items," Headley told me. (Note: this is breakfast and lunch, NOT BRUNCH. He wanted everyone to be clear about that!) 

In addition, Headley will soon be serving the popular Chrissy's Pizza on the late-night menu. Chrissy's has been making pies around the corner in the former Superiority Burger space on Ninth Street. (Headley still has the lease for the storefront, and is friends with Chrissy's founder Chris Hansell.)

 "We want people to be able to have Chrissy's Pizza and a place to sit and have a beverage," Headley said.

I then headed to the back bar — aka Fowzy's Saloon ... where bar manager Fowzy (left) and Paddy were setting up for the evening...

There is a special late-night and bar menu (lower left corner!) ...

You can get it to go too...

And if a burger isn't your thing, you can get snack mix for a quarter...

Anyway, it has been a good scene back here...

And some Superiority Burger history... the quick-serve spot opened — as primarily a to-go operation — in the East Village on Ninth Street in June 2015. News of their move to a larger space — the former Odessa — on Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place arrived in the summer of 2021.

Chrissy's Pizza taking over the former Superiority Burger space on 9th Street for its first pizzeria

Chrissy's Pizza, which gained a large following last year through a unique system (DMs via Instagram and made in the kitchen of chef-owner Chris Hansell), is popping up in the East Village next month in a familiar space. 

Hansell will make pies from the former Superiority Burger (and Salads Days!) space at 430 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. (SB's Brooks Headley kept the lease on the storefront after the move to 119 Avenue A.) 

Hansell reportedly started making about 20 pies per week from his Bushwick apartment in late 2021.

The results, per The Infatuation: 

The crust is impossibly crisp, the sauce is rich and sweet, and the cheese ratio is ideal. There's also some secret ingredient that gives this pizza a little something extra. Love? Magic? You’ll have to try it for yourself. 

Follow the Chrissy's Pizza IG account for updates.

Friday's opening shot

Photo by E. James Smith 

On Avenue A, Superiority Burger, which opened this past Saturday night as we first reported, is now hiring. Do you have what it takes???

Updated 

Closers ...

ICYMI: Superiority Burger debuts in new East Village home

On Saturday night, the Superiority Burger team unwrapped and illuminated the signage at its new home, 119 Avenue A ... officially launching a new era here between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. 

ICYMI, EVG contributor Stacie Joy got the first look at the space, the former Odessa Restaurant. You can check out our post here from yesterday for more. 

For now, SB is open from 5 p.m. to midnight, Thursday through Monday. They plan to expand the hours in the weeks/months ahead to include lunch and, one day, breakfast service. 

And about the sign: Tamara Shopsin designed it. (She and her husband Jason Fulford also created the SB placements and menus.)

First look at the all-new Superiority Burger, now open on Avenue A

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Superiority Burger rather quietly — and officially! — debuted for a few hours last night in its new home at 119 Avenue A. 

The restaurant — "the theoretical vegetable restaurant," per its Instagram account — recently passed all its city inspections and got the gas turned on after 20 long months of city bureaucracy... not to mention planning and renovations here between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. 

Before last night's opening, East Village resident Brooks Headley and his team had been hosting weekend dinners to train staff ... and develop/test out menu items...

For starters, anyone who visited SB's popular previous location, a mostly to-go operation with six seats around the corner on Ninth Street (b. 2015), will be pleased to see that there is ample room inside for dining... and the space looks very similar to the previous tenant — Odessa Restaurant (1995-2020) right down to the tables, chairs, cash register station and soda counter. (The owners of Odessa remain the landlords of 119 Avenue A.)

The new SB has a classic diner look and feel, though, with the Jam, Slant 6 and the Fall on the soundtrack. (Headley played drums in several punk-hardcore bands and seems pleased by the often-obscure playlist not above dropping in a deep cut from A Flock of Seagulls.)

During two recent EVG visits, Headley (below) seemed to be in constant motion, bussing tables, chatting with customers, fiddling with the PA's volume (it's no Key Food, he admitted of the sound system) and inspecting plates of food from the kitchen...

First, a look at some of the menu items... like the Superiority Burger ("Megamouth" size, pickles, muenster cheese, mustard, roast tomato, iceberg, mayo)...

... the Collard Greens Sandwich (slow-braised collards, Cooper sharp cheese, housemade focaccia) ...

... Yuba-Verde (Hodo City yuba, sausaged ceci, broccoli rabe, Matouk's mayo on a roll)...

... twice-baked potato ...

... burnt broccoli salad...

... and there are a lot of desserts... (check the pastry case!) and ample gelato and sorbet...

SB also has a bar — the exact one from Odessa previously — and a bar area for drinks ...

... featuring homemade bar snacks (if you have a quarter)...

Headley is particularly proud of his hard-to-get Suntory Toki highball machine that dispenses super cold and extra fizzy seltzer water — billed on the menu as Best Seltzer Ever ... (and you never know who might be serving it from the bar area)...

The restaurant has many nice touches... from the placemats featuring local businesses...

... and the menu cover that quotes reviews of the first two Ramones records, as seen in a Rolling Stone ad — "Ramones get noticed..." from March 1977 (Headley found the advertisement in a shop in Japan).

Tamara Shopsin and her husband Jason Fulford designed both the placements and the menus...
 

... to some EV ephemera on the walls... like an ad for See Hear on Seventh Street ... and a photo outside Dojo Restaurant on St. Mark's Place...

For now, SB is open from 5 p.m. to midnight, Thursday through Monday. 

Headley said they would add lunch and eventually a breakfast menu later. Oh, and no reservations.

Superiority Burger, now with coming-soon signage on Avenue A

Superiority Burger appears to be closer to an opening in its new home at 119 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... "coming soon" letters are now on the marquee here outside the former Odessa Restaurant. (The under-wraps signage arrived on Dec. 2.)

As previously reported by Grub Street, owner Brooks Headley, who called the Odessa his "dream space," will start with a dinner service and then open for lunch and breakfast inside the dining room that has retained much of its diner-ish vibes.

The SB Instagram account has highlighted some new dishes and desserts in recent weeks... such as!

 

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No word on an official opening date (please don't ask!). Per a December-time IG post: "Not open yet. But one day it will just *poof* erupt when you least expect it." 

The popular all-vegetarian quick-serve spot opened in the East Village on Ninth Street in June 2015. 

Odessa Restaurant opened in this space in April 1995 before a July 2020 closure. The original Odessa, the longtime favorite that dated to the mid-1960s, closed next door in August 2013.

Classic Odessa Restaurant signage gone for now on Avenue A; 'It's in a safe place'

Several readers noted over the weekend that the classic Odessa Restaurant signage — • Seafood • Steaks • Chops • Cocktails — has been removed (or covered!) at 117 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. 

As you probably know, Superiority Burger is moving into the space... with an anticipated opening one of these days. 

Brooks Headley, owner of the all-vegetarian quick-serve spot that was on Ninth Street, told Grub Street in August 2021 how much he loved Odessa's interior. "I find it completely beautiful — the soda counter, the satellite bar, the cash register station. I don't plan to change it at all." 

We asked SB what became of the old sign. Perhaps it will be refurbished and returned? (After all, the Seafood and Steaks lettering was peeling off.) The response via Instagram: "Don't worry. It's in a safe place!"

Odessa Restaurant opened in this space in April 1995 before a July 2020 closure. The original Odessa, the longtime favorite that dated to the mid-1960s, closed next door at 115 Avenue in August 2013.

Superiority Burger's summer salad interlude ends; full speed ahead on Avenue A

Superiority Burger's greenmarket-friendly twice-weekly pop-up (with ice cream!) has ended at 430 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

Monday was the last day for Salads Days, which launched in late May. 

Per the SB Instagram account on Monday night: 

Fun little summer interlude. Got to buy killer shit from all of our favorite farmers and sell it to you, the coolest customers. Mission accomplished. Our next step is speeding along at top speed so keep yer eyes peeled. See you on Avenue A very soon. Thank you. Thank you.

To quickly recap: Superiority Burger closed the Ninth Street HQ (but held onto it for things like Salads Days) last November ahead of a move to a larger space at 119 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place — the former Odessa.

Work is coming along inside the former diner, as you can see in this pic from Monday by Stacie Joy...        

As previously reported by Grub Street, owner Brooks Headley, who called the Odessa his "dream space," will start with a dinner service and then open for lunch and breakfast ... once the place is open, yes.

SB was recently hiring "a couple more folks to round out the kitchen, bar, dining room, gelateria, and bakery."

The popular all-vegetarian quick-serve spot opened in the East Village in June 2015. 

Top photo by Steven from June

The Salads Days of our lives

Top photo by Steven yesterday

Superiority Burger is putting its former space to use for a Salads Days pop up here on Mondays and Saturdays at 430 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

An explanation via the SB/SD Insta: 

This season's greenmarket vegetables and fruits turned into fun as hell salads and ice creams two times a week. No burgers, no beans, no baldor, no bread, nothing cooked. The ovens won't get turned on because they don't work anyway. Your *new* favorite east 9th st. storefront. 

Salads Days starts today, from 5-9 p.m. ... and will happen on Saturdays too from 2-6 p.m.

Superiority Burger closed the Ninth Street HQ (but held onto it) in November ahead of a move to a larger space at 119 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place — the former Odessa.

Here's a look inside the old Odessa the other week courtesy of Stacie Joy (and some brown paper peeled away from inside the front window)...       

No word on an opening date here. 

The popular all-vegetarian quick-serve spot opened in the East Village in June 2015. 

Superiority Burger vying for liquor license for new Avenue A space

Community Board 3 just released its schedule of meetings for October ... including the SLA & DCA Licensing Committee, taking place on Oct. 18. 

Among the items on that agenda — a new liquor license for 119 Avenue A... where Superiority Burger is taking over the Odessa space (which also had a full liquor license here) ... the public notices went on the storefront over the weekend... 

Looks as if they'll be vying for some sidewalk seating as well (sidewalk cafe is circled on the above document). We'll explore this and other applications as they are posted online. 

As you may know, Superiority Burger signed a lease for the address here between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, first reported by Grub Street in August.

Brown paper on the windows at the former Odessa on Avenue A

Photo by Steven

Former Odessa Watchers™ noted the arrival yesterday of brown paper on the front windows at the old diner at 119 Avenue A. 

As you may know, Superiority Burger has signed a lease for the address here between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, first reported by Grub Street last month.

Brooks Headley, the owner of the all-vegetarian quick-serve spot on Ninth Street, told Grub Street's Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld that he's not changing a thing:

"Odessa has always kinda been my dream space," he says. What's so dreamy about it is that besides being big, it comes completely furnished and ready to go. "It's not old and dusty and gross and needing upgrades," he says. "I find it completely beautiful — the soda counter, the satellite bar, the cash register station. I don't plan to change it at all."

So the paper on the windows is likely to provide a little privacy and keep the Former Odessa Watchers™from obsessing over every little detail. (Sample: That pen was not on the table yesterday. Also, we forgot to report that the Sanity Inspection Grade, an A, and assorted signage were removed from the front windows several weeks ago. Hopefully, all this is in the Diner Hall of Fame.)

Headley previously said that the move from Ninth Street will be several months down the road. (Given the current supply-chain issues, it may take longer for any new kitchen equipment to arrive.)

Once the new home of Superiority Burger is up and running, they'll first launch a dinner service before opening it up later for lunch and breakfast.

In July 2020, longtime manager Dennis Vassilatos said that Odessa was shutting down after a prolonged slump in business due to the pandemic. (Odessa Restaurant opened in this space in April 1995. The original Odessa, the longtime favorite that dated to the mid-1960s, closed next door in August 2013.)

However, closer to the last day, co-owner Steve Helios told Gothamist that Odessa was only closing temporarily, that the space would be renovated. The building's landlord is Odessa partner Mike Skulikidis. The closing turned out to be more than temporary.

Superiority Burger opened in the East Village in June 2015. 

Report: Superiority Burger moving into the former Odessa space on Avenue A

Photo yesterday by Stacie Joy

The former Odessa space at 119 Avenue A has a new tenant. 

Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld at Grub Street report that Superiority Burger has signed a lease for the former diner between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

For starters, Brooks Headley, owner of the all-vegetarian quick-serve spot, tells the outlet that he's not changing a thing:

"Odessa has always kinda been my dream space," he says. What's so dreamy about it is that besides being big, it comes completely furnished and ready to go. "It's not old and dusty and gross and needing upgrades," he says. "I find it completely beautiful — the soda counter, the satellite bar, the cash register station. I don't plan to change it at all."

Superiority will be making the short move around the corner from Ninth Street in the months ahead: 

Headley says that he'll need to order some new kitchen equipment and anticipates that it will take at least five months — probably more, what with supply-chain issues — until the new Superiority opens its doors. The plan is to launch dinner service first and then open for lunch and breakfast (yes, breakfast!). He will likely surrender the ancillary kitchen space he leases on 9th Street but keep the original store for purposes yet to be determined. 

In July 2020, longtime manager Dennis Vassilatos said that Odessa was shutting down after a prolonged slump in business due to the pandemic. (Odessa Restaurant opened in this space in April 1995. The original Odessa, the longtime favorite that dated to the mid-1960s, closed next door in August 2013.)

However, closer to the last day, co-owner Steve Helios told Gothamist that Odessa was only closing temporarily, that the space would be renovated. (The building's landlord is Odessa partner Mike Skulikidis.) 

The space has sat untouched since then. 

Earlier in the summer, Louis Skibar, whose Toloache Restaurant Group revived the classic UWS diner Old John's Luncheonette, which dates to the 1950s, was said to be eyeing Odessa.

Superiority opened in the East Village in June 2015. 

Superiority Burger reopens on March 12

More restaurants are working on reopening plans after a winter break.

Last evening, Superiority Burger on Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue announced that it will reopen for to-go service again on March 12. 

The popular quick-serve vegetarian restaurant went on hiatus after service on Jan. 9.

Superiority Burger has plans for some time later this year to put the former Westville Bakery space to use across the street.  

As Westville Bakery exits, Superiority Burger set to expand on 9th Street

From the EVG tipline: Westville Bakery closed as of Sunday on Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. While there isn't any official notice of a closure, temporary or permanent, the shop was not open yesterday during usual business hours ... the space also looked as if someone emptied it out.

No one from Westville responded to an email or Instagram message about the closing.

Meanwhile, the tipster tells us that Superiority Burger will be taking over this space.

And the folks at Superiority confirmed the upcoming expansion, noting that they will also be keeping their current (and original and small) home across Ninth Street. 

Superiority also confirmed that the new space will not be used for indoor seating, and they are still shaping up their future plans for the Ninth Street spaces...

Westville Bakery, which offered a variety of sweets and cafe fare, debuted here in October 2018. It appeared to have a solid following — even after Sullivan Street Bakery moved in a few storefronts away in October.

Superiority opened in the East Village in June 2015... and has pretty much been a veggie juggernaut since it unleashed its first batch of quickly vintage Yuba-verde sandwiches and, say, hakurei turnip slaw.