Mid-afternoon squab break

A moment with Christo, one of the resident red-tailed hawks in Tompkins Square Park... photo today by Steven...

The return (again) of indoor dining

Indoor dining resumed on Friday in NYC at 25-percent capacity. 

Gov. Cuomo originally ended indoor dining in the city in December after two-plus months ahead of an expected holiday-related spike in COVID-19 positivity rates. 

Now, with a decline in the positivity rate and with hospitalizations, Cuomo eased restrictions, including pushing back the curfew by one hour from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. 

A take on all this via Eater: 

Not surprisingly, differing opinions abound on how to handle the latest return to indoor dining. Some owners are grateful for any loosening of operating restrictions and look forward to offering a handful of seats for customers, others are opting to take a wait-and-see approach before reopening their own establishments, and still others are planning not to reopen until COVID-19 vaccinations have been more widely distributed.

This past holiday weekend, EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by a handful of East Village establishments that were welcoming back diners inside ... starting with Il Posto Accanto on Second Street (above).

What follows are some snapshots of the first weekend of indoor dining in 2021 ...

... Book Club on Third Street...

... Subject on Suffolk Street near Houston...

... Remedy Diner on East Houston...

... Bin 141 on Avenue A at Third Street...

... Takahachi on Avenue A...

... Upstate Craft Beer & Oyster Bar on First Avenue ...

... Panna II on First Avenue (which is also open in the former Milon space) ...

... Royal Bangladesh on First Avenue...

... Nón Lá Vietnamese Kitchen on Fourth Street...

... Popeyes on First Avenue ...

... Divya’s Kitchen on First Avenue ...

... Bibi Wine Bar on Fourth Street...

... 5C Cultural Center & Cafe on Avenue C at Fifth Street ...

... San Loco on Avenue C...

... and Lavagna on Fifth Street near Avenue B...

Happy Presidents Day

From the shelves at the Essex Card Shop on Avenue A... with Abraham Lincoln (right) and ... there was some debate over who the JFK looked more like. Someone suggested Seth Meyers.

Sunday's parting shot

Photo today by Derek Berg...

Head over heels: Happy Valentine's Day

As seen today on Third Avenue just steps past St. Mark's Place...

If you read this post, then you know what this is about. 

Photos by William Klayer... 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• About that rolled-up carpet in the crosswalk

Week in Grieview

Posts from this past week included ... (with a photo of the basketball courts in Tompkins Square Park earlier in the week by Vinny & O) ...

• Local elected officials, NYCHA reps get firsthand look at the problems at Mariana Bracetti Plaza (Tuesday) 

• City's first plant-based community fridge is up and running outside Overthrow on Bleecker Street (Monday) 

• Essex Market regulars Davidovich Bakery opening an outpost on Avenue A (Friday) 

• A labor of love: 3rd and B'zaar's latest seasonal pop up open through February on 3rd Street (Wednesday) 

• Our dwindling number of diners (Monday) 

• Gallery Watch heads to Half Gallery (Wednesday) 

• So much face-touching in this week's NY See panel (Thursday) 

• Police searching for suspect in 1st Avenue assault on Wednesday afternoon (Friday) 

• New photos of suspects wanted for brazen attack last month on 3rd Street and 1st Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Black Seed Bagels and chef Bobby Hellen launch Black Seed Pizza (Thursday) 

• A Valentine’s Day pop-up: Never Ending Taste coming to Yellow Rose (Friday) 

• Construction watch: 302 E. 2nd St. (Wednesday) 

• Construction watch: 298 E. Houston St. (Thursday) 

• Kyuramen debuts on 14th Street (Monday) 

• Mi Salsa Kitchen, serving Cuban cuisine, announces itself on Houston and Allen (Thursday) 

• Superiority Burger reopens on March 12 (Wednesday) 

• Reader report: A mini return of the former Stuyvesant Market on 14th Street and Avenue A? (Tuesday) 

• Casse-Cou Chocolate bringing vegan treats to 4th Street (Monday) 

• A new tenant for the former JAM Paper & Envelope space on 3rd Avenue (Wednesday)

• Succession to the throne on 2nd Avenue (Tuesday) 

• Village Dream Tattoo & Piercing shop has apparently closed (Tuesday) 

• How about some more bubble tea for St. Mark's Place (Thursday)

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Gov. Cuomo extends closing time for bars and restaurants by 1 hour

On Friday, Gov. Cuomo announced that closing times for restaurants and bars will be extended from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. statewide beginning today. 

Cuomo set the 10 p.m. curfew in mid-November as the number of COVID-19 cases continued to rise in New York. 

The rollback of the curfew was due, he said, to the decline in hospitalization and infection rates throughout the city and state. 

Per his announcemnt:

"Our decisions are based on science and data and we adjust as the virus adjusts. The infection rate and hospitalizations have continued to significantly decline. Accordingly, we have adjusted with arena and catering hall openings with rigorous testing and limited capacity indoor dining openings in New York City. We will also move the restaurant and bar closing hour from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. statewide on Sunday. We will continue to follow the science and react accordingly. If we keep the infections down and vaccinations up, we will continue to stay ahead in the footrace against this invisible enemy."

On Friday, Cuomo said that the NYC daily positivity rate was 3.91 percent — the lowest percent since Dec. 19. 

As Eater noted, some in the restaurant industy were hoping for a midnight curfew. (Some are also hoping for a return of overnight subway service — especially for restaurant workers.)

News of the curfew rollback came on the same day as indoor dining — at 25 percent — returned to the city.

Image by WindAwake

Sunday's opening shot

As seen today (Valentine's Day!) at the Ninth Street Community Garden and Park on Avenue C...

Saturday's parting shots

New work by Manco Studio in Tompkins Square Park today... photos by Derek Berg...

EVG Etc.: Making it work at Theater 80; Celebrating the Lunar New Year

• Local chefs from 886, Málà Project, Fish Cheeks and Nowon have teamed up to raise awareness about the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans (Eater)

• Police say a few protestors from the Black Trans Liberation NYC rally on Thursday night vandalized Jackdaw on Second Avenue and 13th Street (Daily News) 

• Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village resident Janice Rosario, a choreographer and teacher, launched a nonprofit to help those in need in public housing (Dance Magazine) 

• Study shows that the Second Avenue F stop has some of the highest levels of air pollution in subway system (The Guardian) 

• Restaurants left vulnerable after NY's commercial eviction moratorium lapses (Eater) 

• A feature on the College Student Pantry at Trinity Lower East Side on Avenue B and Ninth Street (B+B ... previously on EVG)

• Theater 80 on surviving during the pandemic (NY1)

• Katz's made it through the 1918 pandemic. Here's how the deli managing COVID-19 (CNBC)

• Where to eat and celebrate the Lunar New Year (Gothamist) 

Photo from last night at the New York City Marble Cemetery on Second Street

Some love for the late Sylvain Sylvain on Valentine’s Day

An array of artists and musicians are taking part in a tribute to the late Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls tomorrow evening. 

The virtual show will feature a mix of stories, performances and videos from David Johansen, Debbie Harry, Thurston Moore, Henry Rollins, Clem Burke, Lenny Kaye, Bob Gruen and many more. 

"A Celebration of the Musical Life Of New York Dolls' Sylvain Sylvain" is being presented by Rolling Live Studios and the Bowery Electric. Tickets for the show, which starts at 7 p.m., are $15. (Find the link here.) 

Sylvain, co-founder and guitarist of the New York Dolls, died on Jan. 13 of cancer. He was 69.

Previously on EV Grieve:

On the phone with Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls 

A Valentine's weekend pop-up market at Ace Bar

Ace Bar is playing host to a group of local vendors-artists this Valentine's weekend... items for sale will include homemade jewelry, silk flowers... and love spells! 

The Valentine's pop-up is today from 2-7 p.m.  ... and 1-6 p.m. tomorrow.

Ace Bar is at 531 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

In other Ace Bar news... someone stole one of the outdoor heaters in the bar's curbside space...

An employee said the man first checked out the heater at 10:30 Thursday night, then came back yesterday morning at 8:30 with the tools to remove it.