Former Cafe Centosette space becoming a fancy-pants pizza place

As you may have heard around the pizzasphere today... Michael White, who gives foodies boners with his fare at places like Marea and Ai Fiori, is opening a pizzeria called Nicoletta on Second Avenue at 10th ... the former Cafe Centosette, which closed in April. (Grub Street heard the rumors going back to September.)

According to Diner's Journal:

[T]he pizzas at Nicoletta ... will be baked in a gas-fired brick oven but would be "different, crisper" thanks to both his technique and a flour that is lower in protein.

There will be six or eight pizzas, with ingredients like sausage made on the premises. He plans to use a whole-milk mozzarella made to his specifications in Wisconsin. The restaurant, with about 60 seats plus 10 on the sidewalk, will have a takeout window, but will not sell slices.

As Jeremiah put it today: "Here comes yet another fucking upscale pizzeria for the East Village, where there have always been plenty of good, cheap pizza places."

Nicoletta is on the CB3/SLA docket Monday night.

'So the Shaloms have taken over your building. Now what?'

So as multiple people have noted, the (Oheb)Shalom family are the new owners of 86 E. Fourth St. EVFlip and several other readers/tipsters sent us the link to the Shalom Tenants Alliance ... per the Alliance website:

The Shalom Tenants Alliance is a coalition of residents of New York City apartment buildings owned and/or managed by the (Oheb)Shalom family, including Fred Shalom (Empire Management), Jon and Ben Shalom (Sky Management), Nader Ohebshalom (Gatsby Enterprises), David Ohebshalom (Big Apple Management, Perceptive Management), and Daniel Shalom (Keystone Properties, based in California). Operating under various corporate names, the Shaloms buy rent-stabilized buildings and then systematically dismantle required building services, forcing out legal residents through harassment, intimidation, negligence and deception.

The site includes a survival tips section titled, "So the Shaloms have taken over your building. Now what?"

Access that info here.

Cucina di Pesce closed for 'emergency repairs'

Cucina di Pesce, the solid Italian standby on East Fourth Street west of Second Avenue, has been closed this past week... sign says for emergency repairs...

Unfortunately, the DOH closed them last Thursday with 51 violation points for the usual "evidence of" stuff...

While standing there the other evening, this couple walks up for dinner. The woman is quite perturbed to find it closed. She peppers the carpenter out front with questions. Why are you closed? What happened? The carpenter explains that the place is closed for repairs. Nothing he says sinks in. Was there a fire? I don't understand why you're closed! Losing patience, the fellow finally snaps, "They're closed lady."

She harumpfs and says something about having already paid for parking...

Anyway, this reminds me that I haven't eater here in years... As New York put it: "Cucina di Pesce is the type of unpretentious, comfortably lived-in Italian restaurant that ruled New York before Mario Batali and his ilk turned the town upside-down."

Fake ad receives fake cease-and-desist letter

EV Grieve reader Jesse sends along these shots ... On First Avenue between Fourth and Fifth. It's a (wink, wink) cease-and-desist letter from MGM — representing the 1987 Mel Brooks classic "Spaceballs" — to the makers of the faux bottled air ads that are scattered around the East Village...

Signed by President Skroob, the character played by Mel Brooks in the movie...

Meanwhile, in Berlin...

The BMW Guggenheim Lab will be there May 24 to July 29, 2012. According to ArtInfo:

The BMW Guggenheim Lab Berlin will be located in the Pfefferberg Complex in the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood in the northeast of the city.

Housed in the same tent-like carbon-fiber structure that it was in New York, the Lab will host a similar array of lectures, exhibitions, and activities programmed by Guggenheim curator Maria Nicanor. The events will around the theme of "Confronting Comfort," which examines the conveniences and costs of urban living.

This is what the In York Pocket city guide has to say about the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood: "The Berlin suburb that was once all punk is now mostly yuppie, but it remains where locals tend to party hard."

[Photo via]

Moon shots

Photos by Bobby Williams.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Somewhere on Lafayette by Bobby Williams]

Is NYU worth all the tuition? (The Village Voice)

Your chance tonight to say where the city's bike-sharing stations should go in the East Village (DNAinfo)

Where you can still finding actual meat in the Meatpacking District (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

The Algonquin Hotel is closing in January for extensive renovations (Crain's)

How you can learn about your apartment's history (Gothamist)

Is Chinatown's Nom Wah Tea Parlor getting overrun by hipsters? (The Lo-Down)

And tomorrow night at 6, there's a free screening of the acclaimed documentary "Gasland" at the Earth School auditorium (Avenue B and Fifth Street). Open to the public. There is also childcare for Earth School children.

If you're going to use Seventh Street as a toilet, then you might as well be civil about it

EV Grieve reader Elizabeth Frayer of New York Natives spotted this addition to Seventh Street just steps away from McSorley's ... perhaps a hint from fed-up neighbors... Or else Bloomberg's pay-public toilet idea has come to this...

More subtle, perhaps, than the no vomiting sign Jeremiah spotted in the spring.

Shenanigans begin at 86 E. Fourth St.

Last Monday, we told you about the new ownership of 86 E. Fourth St. at Second Avenue ... A resident there passes along the following:

Things shaking up after the sale ... tenants got notes under their doors saying the front door lock would be changed on [Nov. 14th] and that everyone had to come in to the realtor office to get new keys. However, when people started going in, the realtors were confused and said the lock wasn't being changed ... Beginning of resident harassment to chase us all out? Who can say. Lots of notes getting slipped under the door these days...

Have other tips or photos about the situation here? Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email ... grieve98@gmail.com

Nicky's is now Vicky's on East Second Street

The other night EV Grieve reader Steven passed along word that Nicky's on Second Street just east of Avenue A was now called Vicky's ...

Sure enough... rather subtle switch from the N to V...

Simple name switcheroo?

More than that, actually. Nicky's co-owner Quynh Dang told us that they sold the Second Street location in the late summer ... and the new owner called it Vicky's! (Which gave Quynh a chuckle.)

So, if you want your Nicky's fix, you have two choices now:

99-C Nassau St.
New York, NY 10038
Phone: 212-766-3388
Online ordering via Seamless Web available for this location

311 Atlantic Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: 718-855-8838

Here's the freshly renovated 4th Street Food Co-op

The 4th Street Food Co-op closed for renovations in late September ... and reopened on Oct. 10 ...

Co-op member Catherine Talese tells me that "the renovation was a huge community effort; we're so happy to be reopened and seeing so many familiar friends and faces again."

Here's a look at the space...

[Photos courtesy of Catherine Talese]

[Updated] A look inside the former Acme Bar and Grill

As we first reported back in March, Acme Bar & Grill on 9 Great Jones Place closed ... After three other media outlets confirmed the closing, owner Bob Pollock apparently changed his mind that same day, telling Grub Street "[W]e are not closing for good. We need to renovate this place after 25 years ... the fans of Acme please be patient we'll be back after a few months."

Then! Two months later came word that people behind Indochine and Kittichai were taking over the bi-level space for a fall opening...

Hey, it's fall, right? We have no idea what concept they all decided on... but it won't be anything like Acme, of course... Goggla took a look inside last evening ...

Updated: Eater reports that the new owners went before CB2 last night. Per Eater: "While the pair was certain about hiring a new chef and making revisions to the menu to have a family style restaurant, the board was not impressed that the details had not been completely figured out."

They were told to come back next month.

Jakobson Properties — 'we want people to know that we are listening'

Early yesterday evening, a representative named Holly from Jakobson Properties left a comment on our @Jakobson_fix_it post:

Commenting on behalf of Jakobson Properties, we want people to know that we are listening. The most expedient and effective way for us to address your problems is for you to notify us directly using any of the following methods:
Phone: (212) 533-1300 x 253
E-mail: maintenance@jakobson.com
To access web form, go here
Twitter: @nofeerentalsnyc or post on our FB wall www.facebook.com/nofeerentals

This brought about an instantaneous response in the comments... which you can read here.

These flyers also went up in Jakobson buildings yesterday, according to the Jakobson, Fix It!! tumblr ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Taking to Twitter to complain about the landlord

How goes JoeDough?

As Grub Street reported last month, the husband-and-wife team behind JoeDoe on East First Street are opening a gourmet sandwich shop at 135 First Avenue called — haha — JoeDough.

Anyway, kind of forgot about that... until we walked by last night and saw the progress at the space near St. Mark's Place ...

Previously.

Crosby, Nash & Occupy Wall Street

Dave on 7th was at Zuccotti Park this afternoon, where David Crosby and Graham Nash played a few songs for the assembled...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Last night on Avenue A by Bobby Williams]

The smell of death in an East Village apartment (Curbed)

Manhattan Theatre Source vanishing in Greenwich Village (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

About the ice skating rink for Stuy Town (Stuy Town Living)

The Rat Castle of Ludlow Street OK'd for completion (BoweryBoogie ... the Lo-Down)

About those sheep heads on East 13th Street (Ephemeral NY)

The history of Russ & Daughters (Off the Grid)

Pop-up art at Russ & Daughters (DNAinfo)

A deconstructed McRib sandwich (East Village Eats)

Vote for stuff in the Village Voice Web Awards (The Village Voice)

And Dave on 7th notes the change in hours here at Sal's on Avenue A near Sixth Street...

...opening a little later in the afternoon now...

Taking to Twitter to complain about the landlord

Actually, one landlord in particular — Jakobson Properties.

Tired of ongoing issues in a residential building, an East Village tenant is asking other Jakobson renters to take to Twitter with the complaints by using @Jakobson_fix_it

These flyers went up yesterday in several of the 15 properties that Jakobson maintains in the East Village... (and workers have quickly removed them...)

We reached out to the tenant who started the account. Among the ongoing issues in the tenant's building: Lousy or nonexistent maintenance ... piles of trash ... leaky roofs ... lack of hot water ... power outages (too many blown fuses) ...

"Since I know that most tenants are unhappy and that these conditions probably apply to other buildings as well, I figured it'd be good to start tracking these things, hoping for some improvements," the tenant said.

"The real problem is that, at least in my building, Jakobson — or more likely his maintenance crew and managers — just don't care. Most people in the building are students who are in and out for a year. They don't mind some of these issues and are not engaged enough to take action. Jakobson knows this and delays all sorts of work until the absolute latest possible time. Complaining has not led anywhere."

There is also a Tumblr ...

Anyway, the particulars per the Tumbler ...

Tracking grievances of the "no fee rental" Jakobson tenants.

How to participate:
• Mention us on Twitter: @Jakobson_fix_it
• Email us at jakobsonfixit@gmail.com and we'll post it for you (if you have more than 140 characters to share or want to stay anonymous)
• Please identify which building you are in, for example by using hash tags, eg 431 E 9th St = #431E9

Here's a here's a list of East Village buildings owned by Jakobson found through open house listings here.

- 200 1st Ave
- 514 E 5th St
- 516 E 5th St
- 518 E 5th St
- 543 E 5th St
- 32 E 7th St
- 110 E 7th St
- 102 St. Marks
- 128 St Marks
- 431E 9th St
- 64 3rd Ave
- 245 E 11th St
- 620 E 11th St
- 622 E 11th St
- 422 E 14th St

Displaced East 13th Street residents hope to return home today after chimney collpase

As we first reported, a chimney collapse Sunday evening around 8 at 528 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B forced many residents out of the building...

[EV Grieve reader Deanne Draeger]

Residents are hopeful that they can return home today. One thing that could prevent this from happening: the fire escape, which building management said may have been "compromised" following the collapse.

The evacuation is only for the 10 units in the back of the building. Those residents who live in apartments facing East 13th Street have been able to stay.

[Via EV Grieve reader Ilena]

We asked building resident Sarah Laskow a few questions via email about her experiences, when a quiet evening at home becomes an apartment full of firefighters.

"I first thought a building had fallen down, maybe a few blocks away, and for a minute I thought it was another earthquake," Laskow said. "They were doing some work on the back of the building and I checked to see if the scaffolding had fallen. It was still up."

A firefighter later pointed out the chimney from her fifth-floor window. The top portion of the chimney had fallen, though a portion of it still remained connected to the building. Oops. Actually, the bottom portion of the chimney had fallen out — not the top.

Regardless, per the DOB, the residents in the back of the building needed to leave. The Red Cross was providing a place for any displaced residents to stay.

"We had a chance to get our stuff together — they weren't rushing us out," she said. "But a bunch of firefighters were coming into our apartment, so we left pretty quickly."

She made the best of the situation. (For instance, going to Table 12 on Avenue A for a vanilla milkshake.)

"It's disorienting not to be allowed to stay in our apartment, especially since the building itself seems OK at this point," Laskow said. "But it's also somewhat reassuring that the city is making sure it's safe to return."

Behold the Steve Jobs memorial tree in Tompkins Square Park

Well, it turns out that the rumors are true... last week, workers removed the stump from the Irene-damaged tree in Tompkins Square Park.

The rumor was that the replacement tree would be a memorial for the late Steve Jobs.

Yesterday afternoon, workers from Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project planted this Dawn Redwood tree... A worker told EV Grieve reader peter radley that, yes — this tree will be dedicated to Steve Jobs... (We also reached out to the NY Restoration Project for comment...)

[peter radley]

We're not sure about any kind of permanent plaque ... Bobby Williams was also on the scene...

Reaction?

Previously on EV Grieve:
RUMORS: Memorial tree for Steve Jobs planned for Tompkins Square Park

Sort of honoring the 'birthplace of punk' in Extra Place

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Spike for sending along these photos from Extra Place — the former piss-filled alley behind CBGB ... On Sunday, Spike saw these behind Riff, the newish Steven Tyler clothing design shop or whatever in the former CBGB Gallery space...

... and lord knows what this is next to it ... the birthplace of the cell phone? A celebration of annoying people with yappy dogs?

Meanwhile, as you may have seen in the front window of Riff, a tribute to the Ramones...

And the real thing one day seemingly a long time ago on Extra Place...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Extra Place now officially a Dead End

Meanwhile, Extra Place continues to maintain its proud heritage

Perhaps he just saw Extra Place for the first time in 15 years or so?

Looking at Extra Place