Team behind the Wayland and the Wild Son eye St. Mark's Place for 2 restaurants

[The former Mr. White on St. Mark's Place]

Robert Ceraso and Jason Mendenhall have plans to open two restaurants on St. Mark's Place.

This duo behind the Wayland (Avenue C), Good Night Sonny (First Avenue and St. Mark's Place), the Lost Lady (Avenue C) and the Wild Son (West Little 12th Street) are on tonight's CB3-SLA agenda for two spaces between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Ceraso provided a quick recap of what they have lined up...

123 St. Mark's Place, the former Mr. White

"We are planning an American grill with our partner Chad Shaner as the executive chef. Chad is an alum of Gotham Bar and Grill and Union Square Cafe and most recently with his own restaurant, Freeks Mill in Brooklyn," Ceraso said. "The grill will focus more on naturally raised meats and steaks."


[Photo by Steven]

The unnamed-for-now restaurant has proposed hours of 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., according to the questionnaire on file at the CB3 website. The space will accommodate 20 tables for up to 50 diners as well as an eight-seat bar.

Mr. White, the upscale, New Orleans-themed restaurant, closed in January after less than a year in business.

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[132 1st Ave.]

132 First Ave., former VBar, current Waiting on a Friend

On the southeast corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place, Ceraso is planning on a second location of his all-day restaurant, the Wild Son, which opened on the West Side near the High Line in June 2016.

Ceraso said the Wild Son "focuses on vegetable-driven small plates, salads, sandwiches and homemade pastas at night and breakfast/brunch foods all day seven days a week in the mornings and afternoons."

As such, the proposed hours are 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, per the questionnaire on the CB3 website.

Here's a look at the evening menu...


[Click for more detail]

The owner of the building, who was born and raised on St. Mark's Place, "was adamant that she didn’t want a nightlife concept there, so the Wild Son was a perfect fit," he said. (In addition, a partner in this project is also the GM across the street at Good Night Sonny who lives on the block "and is always available to oversee the goings on.")

The Rolling Stones-themed Waiting on a Friend opened back in the fall, taking over the space from Colibri and VBar before that. The Vbar's original 10-year lease is expiring.

Back to Ceraso and his plans: "We think that the two concepts really balance each other out and we’re excited to be able to bring both to the block."

The CB3-SLA meeting is tonight at 6:30. The location: the Public Hotel, 17th Floor, Sophia Room, 215 Chrystie St. between Houston and Stanton.

On the CB3-SLA docket tonight: Jimmy's No. 43, Luthun, Outpost Brewhouse, Headless Widow

[The currently closed Jimmy's No. 43]

Here are a few of the applicants on CB3's SLA committee docket tonight for new liquor licenses (find the full agenda at this link) ...

• Paloma Rocket, 41 E. Seventh St.

We've mentioned this one before. Jimmy Carbone is collaborating with Graham Winton of Paloma Rocket for a new venture in the currently-closed Jimmy's No. 43 on Seventh Street.

As Carbone told us last year: "Operation-wise, it will pretty much be the same — the same Jimmy's vibe." The menu will feature Carbone's pizza.

Carbone is currently recovering from a series of spinal surgeries after discovery of a previously undiagnosed staph infection that spread to his spine. Read more about his recovery here.



• Luthun, 432 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

For more, let's head over to a preview that Jennifer Gould Keil had at the Post last month:

[C]hefs Nahid Ahmed and Arjuna Bull have joined forces to open their first restaurant, Luthun, this spring.

Named for Ahmed’s mother — the name means “something new and unexpected” in Bengali — the 800-square-foot restaurant will have 30 seats in the former Teshigotoya space ...

The global menu is influenced by the countries and top eateries where the chefs have worked — from Lespinasse and Café Gray to El Bulli, The French Laundry and The Fat Duck.

The plan is to offer two tasting menus, one of which would be vegetarian, both seasonally driven and well-priced along with a small and “world-focused” wine list, the chefs say.

You can find the questionnaire with more details at the CB3 website. Here.



• Outpost Brewhouse, 503 E. Sixth St.

The applicants for this space at 503 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B were on the January docket, but scratched.

The premise has changed a bit from what we saw in January. The proposal now calls for an all-day establishment called Outpost Brewhouse.

According to the questionnaire posted on the CB3 website, the proposed hours are Monday-Tuesday (3 p.m. to 4 a.m., Wednesday-Saturday (7 a.m. to 4 a.m.) and Sunday (8 a.m. to 2 a.m.)

There's a mission statement of sorts on the questionnaire that notes: "As longtime locals, the management and owners want to create a space for young families, longtime residents and neighbors to enjoy some elements the community has been lacking over the years. We aim to implement a brighter space to a dark street and to contradict all of the dark 'corner bars' on the street and neighborhood."

They go to describe Outpost Brewhouse as "a destination for young families and professionals that enjoy some of the refined points in life in coffee, food, beer and cocktails."

The applicants have operated a handful of bars, including the Trading Post on John Street in the Financial District and the Globe on 23rd Street. Closer to home, the applicants also own Solas, a mainstay on the SantaCon circuit, on Ninth Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Cholo Noir, the Chicano-inspired bar-restaurant, was the last tenant here.


[EVG file photo]

• Headless Widow, 99 First Ave.

An applicant whose previous listed experience was as a bartender at Michael Jordan's The Steak House N.Y.C. is looking to open an establishment with a six-table sidewalk cafe called the Headless Widow. (Not sure of the origins for the name — an unpublished Washington Irving short story perhaps?)

The sample menu on file with the questionnaire shows a variety of pub-fare offerings — burgers, salads, sandwiches and main courses like the Headless Widow Fish and Chips. The proposed hours are 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., with a 2 a.m. close Thursday through Saturday.

The corner space on First Avenue at Sixth Street was previously Umm Burger for 13 months.

The CB3 committee meeting is tonight at 6:30. Location: the Public Hotel, 17th Floor, Sophia Room, 215 Chrystie St. between Houston and Stanton.

Auriga Cafe announces itself on Avenue A

It has almost been a year to the date when we first heard that a diner was coming to 198 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street.

Back on Friday, the signage arrived for Auriga Cafe. The cafe comes courtesy of David Duran, who runs El Camion a storefront away on the corner at 12th Street.

Through the grapevine, we've heard that this has been slow going here for a variety of reasons, such as waiting for city permits and approvals as well as undoing the mess that the previous tenant, Empire Biscuit, left behind.

The storefront hasn't been in use since the Biscuiteers started peelin' potatoes in January 2016.

H/T to dwg, Christine C., Gojira and Lola Sáenz!

Now the Sidewalk looks closed

A quickie follow-up post from last week ... on Saturday, someone covered the windows with paper at the Sidewalk Bar and Restaurant on Avenue A at Sixth Street, which closed on Feb. 23...



Until Saturday, the place still looked open. The lights were on inside ... and there weren't any closed signs or farewell notes to patrons on the door or windows.... we spotted several people trying the front door then peering inside.

Anyway, the bar-restaurant-live-music venue has new owners, whose plans for the space haven't been made public yet.

Durden has not been open lately

[Photo last week by Steven]

Several EVG readers (H/T Laura!) have noted that Durden remained closed through the weekend ... and paper hangs in the windows of the "Fight Club"-inspired sports bar here on Second Avenue at 13th Street.

There's no word about any closure, temporary or permanent, on the bar's website or lightly used social media properties. (Yelp lists Durden as closed.)

A closure wouldn't be a surprise. Back in December, Curt Huegel, who runs a handful of bars-reaturants around the city, including Campagnola, Printers Alley, Galli and Bill's NYC, received the OK from CB3 for a new liquor license for the space. (The application stated that the new venture will serve "classic modern American" food.)

The paperwork at the CB3 website listed this as a "sale of assets."

Durden opened in October 2013 ... in space that previously housed the Nightingale Lounge.

Noted

And on a discarded mattress on St. Mark's Place near Second Avenue, someone writes that the Sinaloa Cartel will avenge the death of recently murdered Gambino Crime Boss "Franky Boy" Cali...



Also written on the mattress: "Bed Bugs Are Fun!"

Thanks to @ImPaulGale for the photo...

Week in Grieview

[St. Patrick's Day weekend on 2nd Avenue via Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Good Records NYC is closing, though the shop will continue to sell vinyl as Stranded Records (Monday)

A visit to Sixth Street Specials (Friday)

Photos: 'Best Wishes' from Harley Flanagan at the Pyramid Club (Wednesday)

A Repeat Performance, until July 31 (Wednesday)

Art on A Gallery closing this summer after 7 years (Tuesday)

Report: New York Attorney General intervenes to stop eviction of tenants in Raphael Toledano-owned building on 13th Street (Thursday)

The Annual Mr. Lower East Side Pageant returns to the neighborhood for its 20th edition (Monday)

The FDNY honors fire marshal Christopher T. Zanetis in plaque ceremony on 2nd Street (Friday)

Todaro Bros. is closing April 2, ending 102 years of business (Thursday)

Hanoi House expanding on St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Cold case: New information sought in the 23-year-old murder of Second Avenue Deli owner Abe Lebewohl (Friday)

An outpost of Original Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches arrives on Avenue A and 13th Street (Wednesday)

Station on 10th Street along Tompkins Square Park now one of the largest in the Citi Bike system (Wednesday)

Tree Bistro is returning after October fire (Thursday)

Reminders: the Ottendorfer Library is back open (Monday)

This week's NY See (Monday)

Christmas is coming to 10th Street thanks to 'Mr. Robot' (Wednesday)

Van Đa brings modern Vietnamese cuisine to 4th Street (Friday)

Report: MTA commits to a shorter work day for the 14th Street L-train rehab (Friday)

Chinese Graffiti now open at 171 Avenue A (Friday)

Coming soon signage spotted for Plado on 2nd Street (Tuesday)

The Black Emperor has arrived on 2nd Avenue (Thursday)

The building housing the now-closed Sidewalk remains for sale on Avenue A (Wednesday)

Another look at that 5th Street ghost signage (Wednesday)

1st of the new businesses at 20 Avenue A is now open (Monday)

Wattle Cafe joins forces with Pure Green at 152 2nd Ave. (Tuesday)

Perk Espresso and Coffee Bar opens this week on 14th Street (Monday)

Former No Malice Palace for rent on 3rd Street (Monday)

... and on Friday, students from several East Village schools came to Tompkins Square Park in support of the National Youth Climate Strike ...


[Derek Berg]

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The fight to keep Church of the Nativity from becoming luxury housing

[Photo from yesterday]

ICYMI from Thursday ... Elizabeth Kim at Gothamist has a feature on the Cooper Square Community Land Trust's efforts to buy the Church of the Nativity on Second Avenue for use as low-income housing.

An excerpt:

The land trust proposed a price of $18.5 million. Of that amount, $5 million would be paid to the archdiocese upon closing. The remainder, which would use a combination of federal tax credits and state and local funding, would be paid in installments over a 20-year period.

David Brown, the church’s director of real estate, told Val Orselli [a project director with Cooper Square Community Land Trust] he would get back to him.

Several months later, Orselli returned to Brown's office. In a show of support, representatives of city councilmembers Carlina Rivera and Margaret Chin, as well as the Manhattan regional representative from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office, accompanied him.

But Brown was unmoved. The offer was insufficient, he told them. Among the sticking points was the land trust’s inability to pay upfront.

“He told me, ‘A dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow,'” Orselli recalled.

Orselli took the rejection as a sign that the church, a tax-exempt institution, was more interested in getting top dollar for its property, which has been estimated as being worth as much as $50 million.

“I was a bit naive,” he said. Referring to the land trust’s pitch to do something with the property that was aligned with papal doctrines, he added, “They couldn’t care less.”

The Church closed after a service on July 31, 2015, merging with Most Holy Redeemer on Third Street. In the summer of 2017, the archdiocese desacralized the former church, clearing the way for a potential sale of the desirable property.

The Cooper Square Community Land Trust is currently organizing a town hall this May with Community Board 3 to discuss "how decommissioned churches can be best utilized by the Archdiocese and the communities they once served." Something other than demolishing them to make way for ultra-luxury condos.

View this post on Instagram

We came across this note someone left at Nativity Church/44 Second Ave. It says, “Buyer Beware: God Still Lives Here.” . . . . . . . #nycchurch #churchforsale #nativitynyc #churchofthenativity #catholicchurch #eastvillagechurch #churchnyc #nativitychurch

A post shared by Friends of Nativity Church (@nativitynyc) on Mar 12, 2019 at 4:53pm PDT

Meanwhile, as Curbed reported in February, the Archdiocese of New York is considering a proposal to turn the 300,000-square-foot property that housed Saint Emeric on 13th Street, which includes a former school, over to a land trust for 400 units of below-market-rate housing.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at the Church of Saint Emeric on East 13th Street

From St. Emeric's to St. Brigid's

Educator: Turning the former Church of the Nativity into luxury housing would be a 'sordid use' of the property

March 17, 8:30 a.m., 15 E. 7th St.

As you may have noticed, today is St. Patrick's Day. As of 8:30 a.m., there wasn't a line [yet] for McSorley's over on Seventh Street. Everyone is at mass?



McSorley's opens at 11.

Ghost signage reveal at the former Raul Candy Store

Someone has removed the Raul Candy Store sign from 205 Avenue B between 12th Street and 13th Street.

And as this photo by Gojira shows, there's ghost signage now on the storefront for Gift Shop and Cosmetics. Raul opened here in 1981, so it's presumably from the previous tenant.

As for Raul Candy Store, Raul Santiago, 75, and his wife Petra Olivieri, 70, decided to retire, closing up on Feb. 28.

'Webster' call

Been awhile since we noted one of the 1980s-throwback murals on the gate at Mikey Likes It, 199 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street. Back on Tuesday, Andre Trenier created this mural of Webster to coincide with the ice cream shop's flavor of the month...

Saturday morning scenery

A sunrise shot from Avenue A and Seventh Street at Tompkins Square Park ... and last night's gentle downpour refreshed the restorative reflection pond along Avenue A...

Incoming

Incoming thunderstorms over #NYC.#fridaynight @evgrieve pic.twitter.com/dYHuBrtIRr

— Evan Kapitansky (@evan_kapitansky) March 16, 2019

Reptaliens: Resurrection

"Shuggie II" is the first single from Valis, the second record from Reptaliens that's out on April 26 via CapturedTracks.

You can also catch the psych-pop band on a bill at Brooklyn Steel on May 6.

The FDNY honors fire marshal Christopher T. Zanetis in plaque ceremony on 2nd Street

[Photo by Stacie Joy]

Today the FDNY and city honored Christopher "Tripp" Zanetis with a plaque dedication ceremony at Engine Company 28, Ladder 11 on Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.


[Photo by Stacie Joy]

Zanetis was a fire marshal and U.S. Air Force Major who was killed in a helicopter crash in Western Iraq one year ago today. He was 37. Zanetis was on leave from the department, where he had been a marshal in the Bureau of Fire Investigation.

After graduating from NYU, he was appointed as a firefighter in 2004, and was assigned to the station house on Second Street. He was promoted to fire marshal in 2013.

The way he lived his life will continue to inspire us all -#FDNY Chief of Department John Sudnik remembers FDNY Fire Marshal and @USAirForce Captain Christopher “Tripp” Zanetis pic.twitter.com/Q8Q2sYtXkA

— FDNY (@FDNY) March 15, 2019

[Via the FDNY]

H/T Salim!

Previously on EV Grieve:
The FDNY remembers fire marshal Christopher T. Zanetis on 2nd Street

A visit to Sixth Street Specials

Interview and photos by Stacie Joy

I’m crawling through a hole in the ground to meet Hugh Mackie, owner of Sixth Street Specials motorcycle repair shop. It’s the steep ramp underground where people bring their cycles to be diagnosed and repaired here at 703 E. Sixth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.



Apparently there is an upstairs shop, a place that doesn’t require hunkering my way down through an unlighted tunnel beyond two wooden doors (all while wearing a lot of camera equipment) but I missed the memo.

Downstairs the space is huge — it runs a reported 100 feet back — and it’s filled with cycles, parts, neatly stacked organized tools and many empty or nearly empty cups of tea. Mackie drinks a lot of tea.











Upstairs the shop is filled with more bikes, parts and tools, as well as artwork (including a signed Salvador Dali and pieces from one of Mackie’s kids) and mementos of Mackie’s many years racing and of his friends, especially Indian Larry. The place is filled with memories and stories, and Mackie is an excellent storyteller.





He introduces me to mechanic Fumihisa Matsueda, who is busy at work crouched by an Italian Laverda, lit with a portable task work lamp and a small space heater.



Mackie answers some questions I had about photos of my grandfather’s custom bikes from the 1930s, and casually continues the interview even after being stabbed in the finger by an engine part. He calmly wraps the bleeding digit with some electrical tape and tells me a bit about his history on Sixth Street.

How long have you been here?

The shop opened here in 1986, and I moved into the building [Mackie lives upstairs with his wife] in 1998. This building used to be a nail factory back in the day.

What made you choose the East Village as your shop’s home?

I’ve lived in the neighborhood since 1981. The location was abandoned empty lots back then, and squats, and the rent was good. In SoHo, lofts were filling up and artists were looking to the East Village. Typical East Village history.

We were the first business on the block that wasn’t drugs or prostitution back then. Artist Charles Keller lived on the third floor of this building and my friend Edgar lived in a blue van outside. We used to run an electrical cord to him in the winter so he could keep warm.

Do you still have customers from the early days on Sixth Street? What’s your typical customer like these days?

Very few from the old days are left. Sadly, they don’t live here anymore. The customer base changed. Still there are folks who ride vintage bikes all over the East Coast. They send their bikes here to be repaired. We make rent servicing new Triumphs. The company closed in the 1980s and revamped in the 1990s and is making new Bonneville models.

In Manhattan, if you need to service a bike you can’t do it yourself and can’t do it on the street. There are no more bike shops! Very few automotive places left at all. We’re one of the last shops. We also service older bikes to make our bread and butter. Millennials are the ones buying these new bikes. Those old enough to have graduated college and afford a bike — that helps keep our doors open.





How have you been able to stay in that space for so long with rents being what they are and buildings being sold left and right?

We have a good relationship with the landlord. It used to be back here you don’t ask for anything and the landlord doesn’t provide anything, you fend for yourself. Things are different now. Rent has gone up in quantum leaps. The landlord’s sons have taken over.

This building used to have four tenants, one on each floor. Now one is an Airbnb: things are subdivided and sublet, people taking in more roommates. When a tenant leaves or is forced out, the new tenant has to pay much more and then brings in other people to share the burden of cost. The building is overwhelmed now. Too many people flushing Bounty down the toilet pipes. Landlord profiteers and rent goes up.

As the neighborhood gets more and more gentrified, more agencies issues tickets and fines for repairs that are needed. This building has no super and I am on the ground floor so I end up having to patch things and fix those citations.



Any concerns about the shop’s long-term future?

Yes, absolutely! The last 10 years have been possible only due to the economic downturn/financial crisis in 2008. We’ve received a stay of execution.

What are your thoughts on the East Village of 2019?

It’s unrelated to what it was historically. Actually, that’s not the truth. It was built for immigrants. New people occupying everything. My own kids can’t afford to live here now.





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Sixth Street Specials doesn't have a website or social media. If you want to know more about the shop, as Mackie tells me, just pick up the phone and call. “It’s a business, I answer the phone all the time!”

Cold case: New information sought in the 23-year-old murder of Second Avenue Deli owner Abe Lebewohl

[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]

There are new reward posters up on all four corners of Second Avenue and Fourth Street... the NYPD is seeking information about the murder of Abe Lebewohl on March 4, 1996.

On that morning, Lebewohl, owner of the Second Avenue Deli, was making a $10,000 bank drop — NatWest Bank at the time — on the northeast corner of Second Avenue and Fourth Street.

Here's more via a March 2013 ABC 7 story:

"That morning he never had time to get out of his van. They got him right before he got out of his van," said retired NYPD homicide detective Jimmy Piccione.

Piccione responded to the crime scene, just a few blocks south of the eatery whose owner had become almost as famous as his steady stream of celebrity visitors.

"It was 8:30 in the morning, I remember thinking there is going to be a witness and it's going to be solved quickly, and 17 years later, here we are," said Piccione. "That morning Abe pulls up to that parking spot right there but before he gets out, he's accosted by one or more persons. He's taken to the back of the van and he's shot. Someone drives the van to First Avenue."

Abe, dying, manages to crawl out of the van onto the sidewalk.

"A passerby says, are you okay, and he says, "They got me."

The gun was found 2 days later in Central Park. It was later linked to 3 different shootings, but never to Abe Lebewohl's murder.

"We've been to Las Vegas, New Orleans, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina. We went wherever a lead would take us," said Piccione.

Piccione retired from the NYPD in 2011. In 2015, he joined his ex-NYPD partner, Jeff Salta, who had just retired and joined the Manhattan DA's office as an investigator.

As the Daily News reported this past March 4, the two remain determined to make an arrest in this case.

The Second Avenue Deli (Second Avenue at 10th Street) closed in 2006 thanks to a rent hike. There are two other locations now in the city, run by Abe's brother Jack Lebewohl with his sons.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.

Report: MTA commits to a shorter work day for the 14th Street L-train rehab

[EVG file photo]

Residents along 14th Street between Avenue B and First Avenue may now have less evening L-train construction noise to endure.

As Town & Village reports, the MTA has agreed to reduce the hours of operation as it continues to prep for the L-train slowdown next month.

Per their report:

Neighbors have said work often ends at 11 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays, although the MTA has said it tries to stop any noisy work by 10 p.m. But on Tuesday night, the MTA’s chief development officer overseeing the project, Janno Lieber, committed to stopping work by 7 p.m. at a meeting held by Community Board 3’s Transportation Committee.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to minimalize the impact of our work on neighbors, and they understandably have been asking for shorter hours,” Shams Tarek, a spokesperson for the MTA, told Town & Village.

Tarek added that the MTA wanted to first consult the contractor to make sure doing this wouldn’t lengthen the duration of the project, which includes the creation of an Avenue A entrance to the First Avenue L station. The new schedule of 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday to Friday, with possibly shorter hours on Saturday is effective immediately.

Other L-train details are still being decided, such as the possibility of exit-only stations at First and Third Avenues once the L-train slowdown officially starts later next month.

Meanwhile, on the topic of the L-train work along this corridor... a resident who lives adjacent to the construction zone, recently shared these videos from 8 p.m., showing that not everyone on the site may be all that busy after hours ...

In the first one, the operator of this diesel hydraulic excavator attempts to right a tipped rubber trash can...



...and here's the excavator trying to be a broom...



... and not sure what's happening here...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Nightmare scenario for residents who learn that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction

From bad to pretty bad: MTA releases more details on the new L-train rehab plan

Van Đa brings modern Vietnamese cuisine to 4th Street starting tonight

Van Đa makes it debut this evening over at 234 E. Fourth St. just west of Avenue B.

The project, from restaurateur Yen Ngo and Gramercy Tavern alum chef Hannah Wong, focuses on the food of Ho Chi Minh City, Hue and Hanoi.

Eater had a preview:

The duo is resisting traditional versions of pho or banh mi on the menu, with Ngo instead harking back to the food of her youth in Vietnam that she doesn’t often find here.

The menu is split into three sections of food from those three cities, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in south Vietnam; Hue, in the middle and which was once the royal capital of the country; and Hanoi up north. Ngo says that the food of central Vietnamese city Hue is very time-intensive and complex, though with gentle flavors, and she’s not seen many versions of it here. One example is shrimp and pork tapioca dumplings, which are made from tapioca flour and steamed in banana leaves. Dishes from other categories include stir-fried pho noodles and lemongrass beef tartare.

You can find their menu at this link.

View this post on Instagram

Bánh Bèo. Bánh means cake. Bèo means duckweed (a fresh water floating plant) and is the shape of this pearl-base-colored-gem. This Hue specialty will be featured on our menu, and it’s one we hold close to the heart in our stomachs. 📸 by @chazcruz

A post shared by Van Đa (@vandanyc) on Mar 6, 2019 at 7:57pm PST

The two-level space has been several restaurants in recent years, most notably The Cardinal, the Southern-style restaurant from chef-owner Curtis Brown.

Chinese Graffiti now open at 171 Avenue A

[Photos by Steven]

In other new openings, Chinese Graffiti debuted last Friday at 171 Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street.

The restaurant, described as an Asian-American gastropub, is open for now from 5-11 p.m. Monday-Wednesday; until midnight Thursday-Saturday.

Here's a look at the menu on display...



You can find some food shots on the Chinese Graffiti Instagram account here. No word at this moment who's behind this venture.

Recent restaurants here include Chao Chao, which closed without any notice to patrons in May 2017 after six months in business. Chao Chao evolved from Soothsayer, which opened in January 2016. Soothsayer, from the same operators, also closed without any notice to patrons at the end of September 2016.

And because someone will bring it up... No. 171 was once the onetime home of Rat Cage Records and 171A, the illegal club-turned-rehearsal studio that produced records by Bad Brains and the "Polly Wog Stew" EP by the Beastie Boys.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A quick look inside the new restaurant coming to 171 Avenue A

Thursday's parting shot

Spring fever on 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue ... photo by Durk Snowden...

Tonight: A discussion on the East Village in the 1960s

Happening tonight from 7-9 at Howl! Happening — "Cary Abrams: The East Village in the 60s" ...

Panel Discussion with Penny Arcade, Agosto Machado, Ben Morea, and Robert Watlington

Many fondly look back on the 60s as the heyday of the East Village when throngs of youth descended on the neighborhood. Diggers arrived from San Francisco and opened a free store on East Tenth Street, Bill Graham turned a local theater into the Fillmore East, be-ins were held in Tompkins Square Park, and artists and craftsmen offered their wares in local shops.

The arts flourished during the period, as many influential theater, poetry, and dance groups formed which helped reshape American culture — and continue today. St. Mark’s Church became a focal point for poets, political activists, radical community organizing, and dance and theater groups. Ellen Stewart started Café La MaMa, presenting theatrical works in a basement on East Ninth Street. Rock music from the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane to The Group Image bellowed from the Tompkins Square bandshell at free concerts.

While the era has become mythologized over time, this evening Howl! Happening invites a panel of intrepid souls who lived in the East Village during the 1960s to reflect on their experiences.

Check the Howl! Happening website for more details and info on the panelists. The Howl! space is at 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

East Village students taking part in tomorrow's National Youth Climate Strike

The National Youth Climate Strike takes place tomorrow (background at this link) ... and we've heard from a parent and school administrator that students from the East Village — Little Missionary's Day Nursery, Sara Curry Day School and the Earth School (and maybe others) — will be in Tompkins Square Park tomorrow morning from 8:45-9:30 to voice their support in the national conversation around climate change.

As Gothamist recently reported, more and more NYC students are coming together to press lawmakers to put an end to climate change.