Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Classic Man Barber Lounge coming to 9th Street

A small sign is up for Classic Man Barber Lounge on one of the renovated storefronts at 445 E. Ninth St.

Here's more about them via their Facebook page: "A premium barber shop offering New York's professional and progressive gentlemen excellence glooming services in a therapeutic and multicultural environment." The shop's website points to an early 2018 opening.

This will be the fourth business to take up occupancy in Icon Realty's renovated storefronts here along Ninth Street at Avenue A ... joining Poke N' Roll, Beetlebug and Mahalo New York Bakery. GelARTo anchors the corner slot.

As for Classic Man, they will provide another option in a fairly crowded nearby hair-cutting market, including Neighborhood Barbers a few doors away at 439 E. Ninth St. Bonefade Barbers recently opened at 115 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. Also nearby: Three Seat Espresso & Barber at 137 Avenue A between St. Mark's and Ninth Street and Ben's Barbers at 217 Avenue A between 13th Street and 14th Street. There are three barbers/salons on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue as well as Ace of Cuts on Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Thanks to Steven for the photo!

Crunch time at the Kellogg's NYC Café on Union Square



The Kellogg's NYC Café has been up and running on the northern section of Union Square since Dec. 14.

The space on the second level of 31 E. 17th St. (above the AT&T store) offers bowls of cereal (there's a a DIY cereal-creation station) as well as Pop Tarts and a variety of coffees and teas.

EVG reader Harry Weiner stopped in for a quick look...





Harry said that the cafe wasn't crowded ... other observations: "actually an inefficient use of space in terms of seating... and merchandise for sale. I wasn’t tempted to eat anything. I can’t imagine that sales will cover the rent."

Here are the current specialty bowls of cereal via the Kellogg's NYC Café website...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Oh Gr-r-reat! Kellogg's cafe opening slightly delayed on Union Square

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Pizza Rollio bringing its skinny slices to 9th Street


[Photo via Steven]

Pizza Rollio is opening an outpost on Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, where it will sell its super-thin, arugula-topped pizza served in long strips that patrons can roll up.

The pizzeria is owned by Miyuki Talwar and her family, who run similar establishments in the Philippines.

This will be the third Pizza Rollio in the city, joining the Plaza Hotel Food Hall and on West 18th Street.

Here's more about their pizza from the Daily News in 2016:

In a city with pizzerias on almost every corner, Pizza Rollio serves the seemingly impossible: a totally unique pie. Its rectangular creations are light and delicate — built on paper-thin sheets of dough that are baked and sliced into wide ribbons perfect for wrapping around peppery bites of alfalfa sprouts and arugula, the salad-y condiment served with every order.



And via DNAinfo when Pizza Rollio opened an outpost on West 18th Street early this year:

In addition to its classic margherita pie, Pizza Rollio serves specials like “The Godmother" topped with fig, gorgonzola and mozzarella; the “Eggs Benedict” topped with Canadian bacon, fresh egg, chives and hollandaise sauce; and the “Mushroom Truffle Madness,” with mushrooms, truffle oil and mozzarella.

This storefront on Ninth Street was previously the longtime home of the salon Crops for Girls.

Malcriada morphing into Bar Taco on Avenue C



Malcriada, a self-described "Latino Gastropub," is closed for now at 185 Avenue C near 12th Street.

There's signage up for a new venture called Bar Taco. Not sure if the same operators are behind the next iteration of this space.

Malcriada opened on Super Bowl Sunday, replacing Kaz, which closed after nearly seven months in December 2016. Before that, Cafecito operated for 14 years. The Cuban-specialty restaurant closed at the end of January 2016.

Report: The SBS15 has the worst on-time arrival in the MTA fleet


[Old EVG photo]

Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office released details back on Friday on the city's slowest and most chronically late bus routes.

A familiar route is atop one of the lists. As the Post reported, the analysis tagged the SBS15, which goes between East Harlem and South Ferry via First or Second Avenue, with the worst on-time performance: 34 percent.

You can read Stringer's full report here.

Former Wall 88 space for rent on 2nd Avenue



The for lease sign arrived late last week at 104 Second Ave. at Sixth Street, where Wall 88 last conducted bar-restaurant business.

This officially brings an end to Wall 88, whose gates closed for good in late October. However, there was never any official closing announcement ... and the agency Wall 88's owners hired to do their social media apparently never got the news... generic happy hour and brunch messages continue to populate Wall 88's Facebook...



The restaurant serving pub fare opened back in March. There was a quick turnaround here after Lions BeerStore closed following 16 months in operation.

P.S.

Bring back Bamboo House to this corner (because someone always brings this up)!


[Photo via Jeremiah Moss]

Window watch at 32 E. 1st St.



Here's an end of the year look at 32 E. First St. (aka 24 Second Ave.), the 10-story 31-unit condoplex at the site of a former BP station... the windows are (mostly) all in... soon enough, we'll see that advertised limestone exoskeleton ...



Sales started in September, with homes ranging from $1.175 million to $8.7 million. There will be ground-floor retail too.


[Via CityReality]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Check out the new 10-story building for the former 2nd Avenue BP station

2nd Avenue residential complex now complete with renderings on the plywood

Out East remains closed on 6th Street

As noted back on Thursday, Out East has been dark in recent nights during announced business hours here on Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

The closure continued through the weekend ... and still without any note to patrons on the door or the restaurant's website and social media platforms. Meanwhile, OpenTable shows that reservations aren't available at Out East until Jan. 13.

As Eater noted: "It hasn’t been the easiest eight months for the restaurant, with at least two head chef shuffles already occurring."

Monday, December 25, 2017

Free scarves along the East River Promenade



EVG reader Bill Buchen spotted these today along the East River Promenade (in the high teens)... there are Ziplock bags filled with scarves made by students at the United Nations International School... a note on the bags say that the scarves are free for "people in need" ...



Per Bill: "A wonderful seasonal thought ..."

The remains of the Union Square Holiday Market



The Union Square Holiday Market ended its 6-week run last night at 8 ... and as these photos by EVG reader Harry Weiner show, the place was quickly torn apart for the season ...