Thailand Cafe will not be reopening on 2nd Avenue

A for lease sign now hangs outside what is the former Thailand Cafe here on Second Avenue between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

The inexpensive-eats spot, seemingly around for years under several different owners, had been dormant since the COVID-19-related PAUSE. The restaurant's phone and website are no longer in service.

And the rent for the 1,300-square-foot space is available upon request.

The Horsebox closes on Avenue A

A for lease sign is now draped across the front of 218 Avenue A here between 13th Street and 14th Street (the listing via Meridian Retail Leasing is not yet online).

The signage officially marks the end of the Horsebox, the sports bar that opened in the spring of 2010 ... and that celebrated its one-year anniversary with a toga party.

The bar had been closed since the PAUSE went into effect in March. This also makes the third consecutive storefront for lease on the east side of A between 13th Street and 14th Street...

Bleecker Street Bar closing on Aug. 30

Bleecker Street Bar's 30-year tenure on the corner of Bleecker and Crosby is coming to an end this month.

Yesterday, owners of the neighborhood bar announced a permanent closure at this location after service on Aug. 30. Apparently the landlord wasn't interested in a lease extension.

On the positive side, they did leave open the possibility of a return in another location. Here's part of the announcement via Instagram:

It is with a very heavy heart that we are here to announce we will be closing our doors here at 56 Bleecker Street end of day, August 30th. All of our efforts to negotiate a reasonable lease extension with our landlord have failed.

We will be looking into some possible future incarnation of Bleecker Street Bar, and we will keep fighting the good fight, but the one thing we know for sure is that our industry has taken some fatal blows, and the future is very uncertain. We have loved being a part of NoHo, watching the many incarnations over the years, even though it's painful to feel there are less and less neighborhoods for places like us to exist anymore.

But onward we go...Now we especially would like to thank the many many people who have made our bar so special over the last 30 years. It's true that the people make a place, and we have been incredibly fortunate to have the best customers, and far and away the best staff since we opened our doors in 1990. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. So come on by in the next few weeks, enjoy some outside seating, some dumplings, and raise a glass.

With love and a broken heart,
-The Owners, Managers, and Staff of Bleecker Street Bar.

The Athenian will not be reopening on 10th Street

The Athenian NYC, the well-liked Greek tapas bar on 10th Street from the team behind the Immigrant, will not be reopening. It had been shut since the COVID-19 PAUSE went into effect this past March.

"There wasn't enough clarity from the state/federal governments on re-opening plans to give us confidence moving forward," owner Jason Corey told me via email. "Although we loved our space and poured our blood and sweat into it (no tears), our lease was coming due and we decided not to renew."

The Athenian debuted in February 2018 at 224 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Before Corey opened the Immigrant Wine Bar on Ninth Street in 2009, he tended bar at Molyvos, a Greek restaurant near Carnegie Hall, and spent time there getting to know and appreciate Greek wines.

Meanwhile, the Immigrant continues on with outdoor dining (and takeout and delivery) on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. And Athenian fans will recognize Chef Max, who's now helping out behind the scenes at the Immigrant.

Karma Lounge closes after 21 years on 1st Avenue

Karma Lounge, the two-level hookah club on First Avenue between Third Street and Fourth Street, announced yesterday that the venue had permanently closed.

Ownership shared the message on their website and social media properties:

After 21 years, Karma has closed. On behalf of everyone at Karma, we thank the community, our neighbors, our patrons, and our employees for the years of support and wish everyone the best of health and happiness in the future. Thank you for being a part of our family.

Karma, which hosted a variety of DJs and comedy nights, had not reopened since the COVID-19 PAUSE went into effect back in March.

And it was one of the few places in the city where patrons could still legally smoke cigarettes inside the establishment. As the Times reported in 2010:

Opened in 1999 as a hookah bar, it was able to get the cigar-bar exemption because it served alcohol and derived at least 10 percent of its income from tobacco products by the cutoff date in 2001.

New 5th Street coffee shop closes in less than 2 months; owner says the 9th Precinct's barricades 'greatly restricted' his foot traffic

Idlewild Coffee Co., 300 E. Fifth St. at Second Avenue, closed this past Friday after service — less than two months from opening day.

It was awful timing for the cafe. We first spotted signage for the shop in late February. The COVID-19 PAUSE arrived about one month later, forcing them to hold off on a grand opening.

Idlewild finally debuted on June 15 ... nearly two weeks after this block between First Avenue and Second Avenue went on lockdown on May 30 as the 9th Precinct, located mid-block, placed barricades and an array of officers at both ends of the street to protect the station house from the threat of protesters.

A note on the door for patrons points to the ongoing presence of the barricades as the main reason behind the coffee shop's quick closure...



The letter reads in part:

These are crazy times and there have been too many things completely out of our control that have affected business. The police barriers at the ends of the block which have greatly restricted foot traffic has probably been the biggest obstacle for the entirety of our opening, so hopefully for the sake of our more established neighboring businesses, the barriers will be completely removed at some point soon so that some sort of normalcy can return to the wonderful block.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome and all the positive feedback you've given us.

Last Thursday, a member of the Save Our Storefronts (SOS) coalition spoke with Idlewild owner John Harper, who said that he ran out of cash between the COVID-19 pandemic and the 9th Precinct's lockdown. He said 10 to 15 years of his savings went down the drain.



As far as we know, Idlewild didn't send out an opening announcement — other than an Instagram post. And we didn't know the shop had opened. Our previous attempts to walk on the block were rebuffed by officers on duty who said that only residents could access this stretch.

Here's a look at the barricades the other day...





The barricades are less restrictive than they were in June and early July... and pedestrians are now OK'd to access Fifth Street ...

Whose streets? Well, not our streets. ⁦@NYPD9Pct⁩ has swiped E. 5th St. from the public. Why? Who’s gonna stop them? ⁦@NYCMayor⁩ ? pic.twitter.com/4AkV7Yx2AB

— Streetsblog New York (@StreetsblogNYC) June 8, 2020

The NYPD has barricaded Precincts citywide, as Streetsblog ... Gothamist ... and West Side Rag have previously reported.

In an op-ed published in The Village Sun on July 15, Stuart Zamsky, who owns White Trash a few doors away from Idlewild, addressed the ongoing presence of the barricades.

[M]erchants and residents on these blocks are having a hard enough time trying to survive. We should not be interrogated in order to gain entry to our homes and places of business. If police have ongoing concerns about the safety of their station houses, couldn’t they limit the enclosures to the precinct buildings themselves?

In interviews (with CBS 2 for instance), the NYPD has repeatedly said that the streets around the station houses will reopen when there is no longer a threat. As the closure of Idlewild Coffee Co. shows, the barricades remain a threat to local businesses.

Oda House closes East Village location

Oda House, which served the rare-for-Manhattan Georigian cuisine as well as other Mediterranean staples, has closed on Fifth Street and Avenue B.

Saturday saw their last evening in service. By Sunday, neighbors spotted workers discarding tables and chairs and other equipment on the curb...



While there wasn't any official notice of this closure, Oda House did confirm via a Facebook message that the East Village outpost had shut down. The restaurant will continue on with its West 73rd Street location.

Oda House founder Maia Acquaviva, a plastic surgeon by trade, moved to the United States from the country Georgia in 2007 and was said to have rediscovered her culinary calling here. The restaurant opened on Fifth and B in May 2013.

Fonda permanently closes on Avenue B

[Photo by Stacie Joy]

Fonda is the latest East Village restaurant to close amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The Mexican bar-restaurant at 40 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street shut down after service on Sunday.

A Fonda rep shared this message with us:

Unfortunately, we are closed for good. Just like many other people in our business this crisis left us with no options! It was a very hard decision to make — especially because of our fantastic and incredible staff. We had a good 8-year run in the East Village and we are very thankful to the neighborhood.

Fonda's other locations in Chelsea and Park Slope remain open. This outpost opened in February 2012, stopping the revolving door of restaurants to come and go here.

Porsena has closed for good on 7th Street

[Photo from Saturday night]

After 10 years on Seventh Street, Porsena has closed. Saturday night saw its final service out on the socially distant curbside seating.

We heard rumors that Porsena was shutting down over the weekend. Management confirmed the news yesterday in a message to us:

We are all sad. It was a sort of a quick decision when we realized our landlord would never work with us in any way. We couldn’t continue to owe more money. So so sad as Porsena definitely deserved to survive.

Sara Jenkins opened her low-key pasta-focussed trattoria here between Second Avenue and Cooper Square in 2010. It garnered positive reviews and found a loyal following. The Porsena Extra Bar debuted next door in 2012.



EVG contributor Stacie Joy took a last look inside on Saturday evening...





As The City recently reported, "many New York restaurants are within months — or even weeks — of running out of the resources needed to stay alive."

The NYC restaurant industry is being crushed by the triple whammy of high rents, ever-changing new city regulations on outdoor dining and disappearing customer base.

The Walgreens on Astor Place closes at the end of August

The Walgreens location on Astor Place at Lafayette is closing at the end of the month... signs are now up on the plywood outside announcing Aug. 31 as the last day in business...



Walgreens is transferring prescriptions to nearby stores — in this case one on West Fourth Street.

Last August, Walgreens announced that it was closing nearly 200 U.S. locations, including its Duane Reade brand, as part of a sweeping $1.5-billion cost-cutting measure.

With that, three neighborhood Duane Reade by Walgreens locations have closed in recent months. The outpost on Avenue D at Houston and First Avenue between 14th Street and 15th Street shuttered last November while the storefront on 10th Street and Third Avenue shut down in early March.

The Astor Place Walgreens had been looted in early June along with other businesses along this corridor.

Thank you to Vinny & O for the photos and tip!

Ben & Jerry's peace out of St. Mark's Place

The East Village is without a Ben & Jerry's once again. The family-owned location on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue is now officially closed. The signage came down this afternoon...



Steven took the top two photos... Lola Sáenz shared this shot...



... and via Derek Berg...



A rep for this location said that the final blow was the break-in/looting here on June 1.

This Ben & Jerry's opened at 24 St. Mark's Place in January 2018.

As noted before, there was a Ben & Jerry's outpost at 41 Third Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street for 22 years before its closure in September 2010.

H/T @mishamc!

Previously on EV Grieve:
7 years later, a Ben & Jerry's is returning to the East Village

Parlor says goodbye to the East Village after 25-plus years

Parlor, the hair salon at 102 Avenue B, has officially closed after 25-plus years here between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

Moving forward, Gwenn LeMoine⁠, Parlor's owner and founder, will be working from her Brooklyn location.

Here's part of a message on Parlor's Instagram account:

We are so grateful for our Avenue B guests, and to provide more context, back in January of this year, I made the decision to bring both salons under one roof. Once the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, my decision was further solidified. In order to ensure the safety and health of our guests and team, our work lives became more streamlined and manageable by planning to reopen only one location.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
This decision is also about our passion for developing the next generation of talented stylists. The salon environment is essential to this process, and having all team members, new apprentices and seasoned stylists, at one location will allow this side of our salon to prosper and our team’s education and craft to grow. Our Brooklyn location, due to size, has the ability to pull everyone back together in one place and at the same time provide a more comfortable work environment for our team.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
After a quarter of a century of living in the East Village, raising my children within its community and growing Parlor to where it is now, I plan to continue to grow our craft and those that love it for a couple more decades, but it will be across the East River on Atlantic Avenue in what they are now calling Greater Downtown Brooklyn.

⁠⠀


[Image via Instagram]

⁠

Le Sia has closed on 7th Street

[Photo from July 10]

Le Sia is another restaurant that will not be reopening. There hadn't been any noticeable activity inside the dining room, which served a Chinese crawfish boil, in recent months.

Eater received confirmation that the owners — citing the crush of COVID-19 — have shut it down. Per Eater:

While some tabletop grill and hotpot restaurants across the city temporary closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the East Village location of Le Sia remained open for takeout and delivery through late March. The restaurant sold its popular crab and crawfish by the pound, but that business wasn’t enough to keep the restaurant afloat, Chen says, as the East Village has been "empty."

The well-liked restaurant debuted in January 2018 here at 11 E. Seventh St. near Cooper Square.

Le Sia was previously closed for two-plus months for renovations, reopening in early February. Their Ninth Avenue location remains in business.

As previously noted, the space was home to Surma Books & Music for 98 years until June 2016. Third-generation owner Markian Surmach cited a decline in business and the expense of property tax and other charges related to owning the building. Public records show that the Surmach family sold the property to Icon Realty for $5.75 million at the time.

Closing Day at Gaia’s Italian Café

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

People, including me, are lined up and prepared to wait in the 95-degree heat on Sunday for a chance at scoring a last takeout meal at Gaia’s Italian Café.

Located for more than nine years at 251 E. Houston St. between Norfolk and Suffolk, Gaia Bagnasacco's eponymous restaurant is closing for many reasons, none of which its owner cares to discuss.

COVID-19 has not made anything easy on small businesses — ditto for the ever-fluctuating rules and regulations from the city. But there are also literal signs of a dispute with the upstairs neighbor (featuring "Vote Trump" messages), and indications that the disagreement hasn’t been helpful.



The restaurant posted this message on social media: "please be aware that the Gaia Italian Cafe due to end of the lease, eviction and to two year of harassment will close, our last day of operation is on July 26th" leaving open the possibility it will reopen elsewhere.

When pressed, Gaia would only say that she is keeping her options open, including looking for a possible take-out/to-go-only spot.







Gaia, famed for her Milanese cooking and her at-times fiery temper (she’s gotten into some scuffles online with reviewers on Yelp and Facebook) as well as in person. On this Sunday, people are lined up to, as one patron jokes, "Have her yell at me one last time before feeding me the most delicious home-cooked meal ever."

Some people have come bearing gifts, including rubber duckies, which Gaia collects.





Fellow restaurateurs, such as Yudai Kanayama from Izakaya, have come to show support.


[Yudai Kanayama]

Despite the heat, humidity and line — no one seems to be complaining.



After a long wait, I nab one of the last plates of house-favorite spinach and ricotta gnocchi in tomato sauce and a rare smile from Gaia. Worth it.



Gaia recommends keeping an eye on her website and social media presence for any potential future updates.

Last day for I Need More

[Leticia and Eddy]

In case you missed our post from Saturday... today is the last day for I Need More, the late Jimmy Webb's rock 'n' roll boutique on Orchard Street...



We stopped by over the weekend, and it was surprisingly upbeat... there were still several items for sale — including the original I Need More t-shirts (though just xs remain as of today) ... EVG contributor Stacie Joy spotted Raven a.k.a. Seaton Hancock from Murphy's Law at the shop...



The store is expected to be open today from noon to 6 p.m. or so, but you may want to call ahead before trekking down to 75A Orchard St. between Broome and Grand. While you're on Orchard Street, check out the rock-vintage goods across the street at The Cast.

Webb, who opened I Need More in October 2017, died on April 14 of cancer. He was 62.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• The final days at I Need More, the late Jimmy Webb's rock 'n' roll boutique on the LES

About the for-rent sign at Tac N Roll on 4th Street

Tac N Roll's time has come to an end here — for now anyway — at 124 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

A for rent sign arrived outside the quick-serve cafe late last week.

Earlier this month, owner Eric Wong said that he was awaiting an insurance company assessment to see if he'd be able to cover damages from a looting the shop suffered late on May 31.

"Unfortunately, we have yet to receive compensation from the insurance company for our riot claim, and rather we keep depleting our funds to an empty space we asked the landlord to attempt to rent it or we can retake the space when the claim comes through," Wong said yesterday.

So a return is possible.

Most recently, Tac N Roll was sharing the space with the pop up Black 6 Coffee Trading Co. The veteran-owned company, which was created to fund the nonprofit organization the Black 6 Project, was serving coffee and a variety of breakfast parathas.

And Tac N Roll will continue with the pop ups, taking part in one this coming weekend at 50 Avenue A, the former Villa Cemita space. Wong, a Marine veteran, is teaming up with the incoming Milk Money Kitchens, whose founder and CEO, Nancy Preston, is an Army veteran who served as a Brigade Engineer building bases in Iraq.

View this post on Instagram

Come join us July 25th & 26th from 10am-2pm for a Pop Up alongside @black6coffee and @andersons_icecream hosted by @milkmoneykitchens 📍50 Ave A, New York, NY 10009 . . . . . . #tacnrollnyc #black6coffee #andersons_icecream #milkmoneykitchens #foodporn #foodbeast #nycwff #nycfoodie #eeeeeats #foodandwine #eater #thrillist #zagat #newforkcity #foursquare #timeoutnewyork #foodnetwork #amnyeats #evgrieve #paratha #coffee #icecream #saverestaurants #toosmalltofail #supportlocal #smallbusiness #covid19 #nycsbs #smallbizsos

A post shared by Tac N Roll (@tacnrollnyc) on Jul 17, 2020 at 11:44am PDT

Wong opened Tac N Roll in December 2015.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• The Black 6 Coffee Trading Co. takes up temporary residency on 4th Street

Bali Kitchen closes on Aug. 1: 'COVID-19 was too much for us'

[Photo from November 2018 by Stacie Joy]

Bali Kitchen, one of the neighborhood's most unique and affordable small restaurants, will close after service on Aug. 1.

Owners David Prettyman and Jazz P. Souisay shared the news via email:

COVID-19 was too much for us and we have decided to close Bali Kitchen.

Sadly, Bali Kitchen will close its doors on Saturday, August 1. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers for your support over the past three years. You still have three weeks to get one last serving of Beef Rendang, Nasi Goreng or Tofu Betutu. We hope you will come see us before we close. Terima kasih banyak!

The Indonesian restaurant on Fourth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue opened in September 2017.

On top of the COVID-19-related closure, Bali Kitchen suffered other setbacks. On the day they were set to reopen in May, someone tossed a brick through their front window. Someone also smashed into the space during the rash of break-ins on the night of May 31

They are open for takeout and delivery Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. You can order in advance via the BK website. You can also call them at (646) 678-4784.



Previously on EV Grieve:
• A visit to Bali Kitchen on 4th Street

INA NYC closes 13th Street outpost

The Union Square location of INA NYC has closed, a for-rent sign hangs in the front window here on 13th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

The designer consignment store, dating to 1993, has several NYC locations. For now, just the outpost on Prince Street is open. INA expanded to 13th Street in 2014.

Thanks to EVG reader Doug for the photo!

Lions & Tigers & Squares has apparently closed on 2nd Avenue

From the tipline: The East Village outpost of Lions & Tigers & Squares has apparently closed. Workers were spotted cleaning out the space yesterday, including scraping the restaurant's name off the front windows. The phone to the restaurant here on Second Avenue at 10th Street is not in service.

The Detroit-style pizzeria from the Artichoke team debuted in this high-profile corner space back in October.

The first Lions & Tigers & Squares remains open on 23rd Street in Chelsea.

[Updated] This is the last week for Odessa on Avenue A

Updated 7/17
Gothamist now reports that the owners will just be closing for renovations. Longtime manager Dennis Vassilatos told Stacie Joy last Sunday that they were closing for good, not remodeling. Gothamist also got confirmation of the closure on Sunday.

This is the last week for Odessa Restaurant, 119 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

EVG correspondent Stacie Joy spoke yesterday with longtime manager Dennis Vassilatos, who started at the diner in 1990 when it was next door. He confirmed that Odessa was closing after service on Sunday, July 19.



He says that Odessa is shutting down solely due to the significant loss of business during the COVID-19 crisis. (Odessa reopened for takeout and delivery in early April.)

Mike Skulikidis has been an Odessa co-owner since 1980 (along with Steve Helios). Skulikidis is also the landlord of the building, so there isn't an issue with a rent increase. And about the rumors that Odessa would be closed for remodeling: The place is shutting down for good, not reopening.

Vassilatos had been planning to retire to his native Greece in the months ahead... now he says he'll be doing it sooner than anticipated. While he's not a fan of long goodbyes, he knows that regulars are going to be understandably upset by the closing news.

As one reader said to us yesterday: "Odessa was supposed to be there forever."

Here are a few scenes from yesterday...









Odessa Restaurant opened in this space in April 1995. The original Odessa, which dated to the mid-1960s, closed next door in August 2013

Previously on EV Grieve:
• A Visit to Odessa Restaurant

• Last call for the Odessa Cafe and Bar tonight