Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a waiting room photo at East Village Smiles on Avenue B by Edmund John Dunn)... 

• City using the former St. Brigid School to help asylum seekers with transportation (Tuesday) 

• Honest Chops Butchery has left 9th Street (Friday) 

• A round-up of the old-school Chinese restaurants in the East Village (Wedensday) 

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

• A "boutique micro hotel" is in the works for this former Bowery flophouse (Monday)

• Openings: Ayat on Avenue C (Tuesday) 

• Report: LLC pays $44 million for the loan to the former P.S. 64 (Wednesday) 

• You will be able to hone your comedy skills at a former 7-Eleven with the Upright Citizens Brigade (Monday) 

• 1 week in on the reconstruction of the Tompkins Square Park multipurpose courts (Monday) 

• At the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade (Sunday) 

• 14th Street wishes you an early happy holiday season (Saturday) 

• A bust at LA Convenience on Avenue A (Thursday) 

• Montauk's Memory Motel is popping up on 3rd Avenue and 13th Street (Thursday) 

• This East Village building is now Untitled (Monday) 

• A quick look at Manhattan Pawffice, opening next week at 20 St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) 

• Momofuku Ko is closing in Extra Place (Wednesday) 

... and St. Mark's Place lives thanks to the ongoing events at Village Works at 12 St. Mark's Place... Eden shared this clip from Friday night...

 

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A post shared by Eden Brower (@edenbrower)

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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.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo of Ray at Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A by Roflo) 

 • Iconic gay dive bar the Boiler Room is closing later this year ahead of a move to a new East Village space (Tuesday) 

• About The Pastry Box, now open on 12th Street (Thursday)

• The Regal Union Square multiplex is not closing after all (Monday) 

• Openings: Caffe Corretto on 12th Street (Tuesday) 

• At the start of the 2023 Drag March in Tompkins Square Park (Saturday) 

• Someone placed an ad for AMC's 'The Walking Dead: Dead City' over the George Floyd mural on Houston and the Bowery (Monday)

• At MoRUS, a new exhibit explores the network of community fridges in NYC (Friday) 

• The arrival of the smart composting bins in the East Village (Thursday) 

• The Zine Fair has been rescheduled to July 8 (Friday) 

• Salter House bringing sustainable housewares and clothing to 2nd Street (Thursday) 

• Residents eager to track down the source of this 'loud mechanical sound' in the East Village (Saturday) 

• "Make Me Famous," a documentary on 1980s-era East Village-based painter Edward Brezinski, debuts  (Monday) 

• Watch Kim Petras (or her stand-in!) walk around the East Village in medieval-style armor (Wednesday) 

• A subway ride from Union Square to Coney Island on this day in 1987 (Tuesday) 

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

• Lower East Side venue Rockwood Music Hall crowdfunding to stay alive (Saturday) 

• The East Village Panda Express is hiring (Tuesday) 

• Reaching the top of the 21-story 360 Bowery project (Tuesday) 

• More unlicensed cannabis shops busted in the East Village (Thursday) 

• 1 St. Mark's Place looking a little close to beaming up (Wednesday)

• Closings: Sauced Up! on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• About the new tenant at 37 Avenue A (Wednesday)

• A Smoke House for Avenue A (Friday) 

• A transformation for the Ugly Duckling on 3rd Avenue and 13th Street (Tuesday) 

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About the In-N-Out Burger ads for 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

An EVG reader shared the above photo from today on the NE corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place for In-N-Out Burger NYC 2023. 

The plywood surrounds 132 Second Ave., where Dallas BBQ closed last December after decades in business here. Legal notices via the State Liquor Authority here mention that hospitality vet Curt Huegel is opening a new bar-restaurant in the space. 

Anyway, as far as anyone knows, In-N-Out Burger doesn't have any plans for an NYC outpost ... with the furthest eastern outpost arriving in Tennessee sometime in 2026.

Fake In-N-Out Burger ads have made the rounds in NYC through the years (like here and here), much to the chagrin of the chain's many fans. So this is likely a gag... (and so far away from April 1). Updated: The company told Eater the ads are FAKE!

In-N-Out Burger opened up in 1948 as California's first "drive-thru" hamburger stand.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from Tompkins Square Park at 7th and A...) 

• RIP Leonard Abrams (Tuesday) 

• A look at Theatre 80 last night before marshals seize the historic East Village venue (Wednesday) ... Theatre 80 is closed up for now (Thursday) 

• A visit with Chris Santana, the bookseller of Astor Place (Friday) 

• 'Around the Corner' with Bill Rice at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects (Thursday) 

• Food City coming to Avenue D (Tuesday) 

• This is the new projected opening date for Panda Express (Wednesday) 

• A sidewalk bridge for the vacant storefronts along Stuyvesant Street (Thursday) 

• Paper trail: Yaeji at Astor Place (Wednesday) 

• A new corner of the 'Star Wars' galaxy (Tuesday) 

• Funzi's Pizzeria next for 36 St. Mark's Place (Thursday) 

• ICYMI: Superiority Burger debuts in new East Village home (Monday) 

• Memphis Seoul unveils signage, storefront (Wednesday) 

• Report: Jimmy McMillan is back in his East Village apartment (Friday) 

• Captain Cookie takes a break on Astor Place (Tuesday) 

• About 325 E. 14th St., now on the sales market (Thursday)

• On Avenue A, Two Hands turns over to Korean Street Foods (Monday) 

... and a Holy Week discard on 13th Street at Second Avenue (thanks, Uncle Pete!) ...

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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.)

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from 3rd and B by Stacie Joy) 

• First look at the all-new Superiority Burger, now open on Avenue A (Sunday) 

• RIP Joseph Bellaflores (Wednesday) 

• The 2nd Avenue gas explosion — 8 years later (Monday) 

• More about the return of Bereket to the Lower East Side (Tuesday)

• At the rally to save Theatre 80 (Saturday) 

• You can vote on what neighborhood projects receive capital funding from City Council (Monday) 

• The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black headlines celebration for the East Village Eye (Monday) 

• There she goes again: Tammy Faye Starlite returns as Nico at Joe's Pub (Thursday)

• Thanks to Rihanna, this East Village deli has become a go-to spot for streetwear events (Thursday) 

• Village Works is moving to St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) 

• Tompkins Square Bagels debuts on Union Square (Thursday) 

• Kinka bringing art, food and plants to 7th Street (Wednesday)

• Green days: About the GetLocalEV small business sustainability campaign this April (Friday) 

• Board report: Former Dallas BBQ prepped for renovations (Wednesday) 

• Thursday's parting movie recommendation (Thursday) 

• What's up with Two Hands? (Tuesday) 

• The cheese slice is $1 at the just-opened 99¢ Pizza (Monday)

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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.

What's going on with Pop's Eat-Rite on St. Mark's Place

Workers recently removed the Pop's Eat-Rite signage outside 123 St. Mark's Place. 

The quick-serve plant-based burger joint had been closed the past year, prompting occasional queries from several EVG readers. So we reached out to Robert Ceraso, owner and creative director of the Endless Hospitality Group, about the status of Pop's, which debuted in September 2020. 

For starters, he said that this was always meant to be a temporary pop-up between Avenue A and First Avenue ... "utilizing the space during the pandemic and getting our employees back to work following the shutdown." 

However, Pop's did build a following during its time here. 

"We have been talking to some landlords in the neighborhood about a smaller space to re-open Pop’s. We think that it would be better served in a smaller space with fewer seats inside and more of a focus on to-go and delivery," said Ceraso, whose other East Village establishments include the Wayland, Good Night Sonny and the Wild Son. "People still ask about it all the time, and we would love to get it back open as soon as possible."

Week in Grieview

Posts that past week included (with a shot of the neon goodness at Block Drug Store on Second Avenue and Sixth Street)... 

• Report: The Regal Union Square multiplex to close after bankruptcy filing (Thursday) 

• Sealing up the former Charas/P.S. 64 on 9th Street (Wednesday) 

• There won't be a last-minute reprieve for Commodities (Wednesday) 

• Openings: Caleta and Bad Habit on Avenue A (Friday) 

• Let's go to the Stuyvesant Casino! (Monday) 

• Report: Incoming legal cannabis dispensary drawing opposition on 3rd Street (Tueaday) 

• Döner Haus bringing 'real German kebabs' to 14th Street (Tuesday) 

• Current Coffee debuts in The Bowery Market (Thursday) 

• Superiority Burger, now with coming-soon signage on Avenue A (Thursday) 

• On the January CB3-SLA docket: fresh bread, vinyl records and the members-only FlyFish Club (Tuesday) 

• That's all for Tony's Famous Pizza on 1st Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Greenwich Marketplace closes on 4th Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Signage alert: Sushi Fan on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• Report: Junoon owner bringing a new Indian restaurant to the former Momofuku Ssäm Bar (Friday)

• Bait & Hook has not been open lately (Wednesday)

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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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A post shared by @superiorityburger

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.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with an autumnal Key Food scene via Stacie Joy) ...

• Remembering Manny the Peddler (Wednesday) 

• About those fireworks last night on the East River (Thursday)

• A new mural honoring Mahsa Amini (Saturday) 

• Scenes from National Pierogi Day at East Village Meat Market (Monday)

• Lighting up the 7th and A entrance to Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday) 

• Empanada Mama debuts on 14th Street and 1st Avenue (Tuesday) 

• Nomad is closed for now on 2nd Avenue while owner takes a 'much-needed break' (Thursday)

• Dumpling Lab, recipient of a new Bib Gourmand, has closed on 9th Street (Tuesday) 

• Picture this: an art gallery for 5th and B (Thursday) 

• Public art returns to the former CHARAS/El Bohio Community Center (Sunday) 

• Celebrating 60 years of Alex Harsley's photography (Friday) 

• A 14th Street storefront is available to rent for the first time in 63 years (Wednesday) 

• A sidewalk returns to full view and use along St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

• A familiar new rendering for 3 St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• The remains of a charred Acura on Houston (Tuesday) ... City removes charred and tagged Acura from Houston Street (Wednesday) 

• Will we be posting a lot of snow photos this winter? (Tuesday) 

• Openings: Íxta on the Bowery (Wednesday) ... Le Burger on 5th Street (Thursday)

• Glosslab nails down new 4th Avenue storefront (Tuesday) 

... and in recent weeks, workers have removed the sidewalk bridges from Village View — between Second Street and Fourth Street ... the labyrinth remains up on the north side of Fourth to Sixth Street and along the Fifth Street walkway...

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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.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from Cooper Square Friday evening by Carol from East 5th Street) ... 

• Help for Chino Garcia (Friday) 

• The Trader Joe's Wine Shop on Union Square has permanently shuttered (Thursday) ... Here's the midnight email that employees of the Trader Joe's Wine Shop received about the closing on Union Square (Friday) 

• A visit to Aliens of Brooklyn on 9th Street (Thursday)

• On 5th Street, some residents say they want green space and not senior housing (Monday, 84 comments) 

• Cafe Mocha, destroyed by fire in 2020, is reopening in a new East Village location (Monday) 

• East Village cafe AO Bowl closes, owner blames Sen. Schumer (Monday) 

• A memorial for Jack the cat on 7th Street (Wednesday) 

• A look at the remaining red-tailed hawk fledgling in Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday) 

• TabeTomo owners have new venture planned for St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• El Primo Red Tacos primed for 151 Avenue A (Wednesday) 

• Here's info about a Virtual Rat Academy for East Village business owners, gardeners and residents (Tuesday)

• Signage alerts: Hi-Note on Avenue B; Le Burger on 5th Street (Wednesday) 

• iSouvlaki has closed on 12th Street (Thursday) 

• Today in iconic hotel awning sightings (Monday)

• Manhattan Marketplace coming soon to 1st Avenue and 12th Street (Monday) 

• [solidcore] bringing the pilates to 14th Street (Monday) 

• 5 years later, signs of progress at 180 2nd Ave. (Wednesday) 

• Seeing (Empanada Mama) red on 14th Street and 1st Avenue (Thursday) 

 ... and earlier this summer, a Janovic Paint & Decorating Center opened at the former Duane Reade on Third Avenue and 18th Street... we missed that the company closed the outpost on Fourth Avenue near 10th Street... 

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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