Bait & Hook opens today on 14th Street and Second Avenue

Signs went up for Bait & Hook here at East 14th Street and Second Avenue back on Aug. 29, as we first noted. ... taking over for the short-lived Meatball Factory ... (which took over from the Pizza Hut-Nathan's-Arthur Treacher's combo).

Anyway, Bait & Hook opens today... and here is the official news release, cut-and-paste for your pleasure and my laziness...

On Wednesday, September 12th, the East Village will welcome its newest eatery in the form of Bait & Hook, located at 231 2nd avenue on the corner of 14th street. Bait & Hook will serve comfort seafood classics including: the signature Lobster Roll, smokey New England Clam Chowder and Lobster Mac & Cheese as well as original dishes like the Crab Chorizo Corn Pizza, Chicken Waffle Sandwich, bacon-topped Scallop Roll, White Clam Pizza and Shrimp Scampi Pizza, along with a fresh Raw Bar selection. Executive Chef Joe Bachman developed the no-nonsense menu for Bait & Hook, incorporating fresh, local ingredients to dish.

Bait & Hook offers a laid-back, relaxed atmosphere where seafood is the star. Diners can enjoy a reasonably priced meal without compromising high-end, quality cuisine and service. Bait & Hook provides the perfect destination for a quick bite, affordable date or a group gathering, with something on the menu to please everyone in your party. Including non-seafood items as well as vegetarian options.

"We wanted to open a place that offered New Yorkers an affordable, casual dining experience, with the feel of a seafood shack but the taste of an ocean-side eatery," said Executive Chef Joe Bachman.

With Labor Day behind us, Bait & Hook gives New Yorkers a chance to experience a summer treat all year long. The nautical-themed restaurant will transform the corner of 14th and 2nd into a New England hang out with a 23-foot bar serving 10-12 local craft beers and wines.

After stints at Park Avenue Café, Fulton and Neuman's Catering, where he created menus for high-profile clients like Angelina Jolie, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bill Clinton and Richard Branson, Executive Chef Joe Bachman was brought on to head the kitchen at Bait & Hook. Bachman brings his knack for creative dishes and high quality cuisine to the restaurant.

Bait & Hook will be both a neighborhood classic as well as popular New York City destination. Open seven days a week, serving lunch from 12PM-4PM and dinner from 5PM until late, Bait & Hook is an ideal spot to grab lunch on the go or a bite to eat after a long day of work with daily lunch and happy hour specials. The East Village location seats over 50 guests, allowing guests to enjoy the luxury of comfort-style seafood.

You can find the menu via the Bait & Hook website here.

Downtown, Sept. 11, 2012, 8:35 p.m.

Photo by jdx.

On the horizon

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Now you can buy all of 238 E. Fourth St.

You may recall that the lower portion (all 6,500 square feet) of 238 E. Fourth St. near Avenue B has been on the market for $8.5 million ... Now, as The Wall Street Journal reports today, the penthouse space is available as well ... meaning you can make this a single dream home for $12.4 million. Perhaps it will now be fit for Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz?

h/t Curbed

50-54 Second Ave. IS NOT FOR SALE

[Dated photo via the DJK website]

Yesterday, we noted that a listing appeared for 50-54 Second Ave. ... the six-story building going for $10 million.

However, Allan Gallaway, a senior VP with DJK Commercial Realty, told us this afternoon that the building is not for sale — the listing was a mistake at their end.

So, meanwhile, let's go to Pak Punjab or grab a pizza at Proto, which is quite good.

A prayer at Ladder Company 3 this morning

Ladder Company 3 on East 13th Street near Fourth Avenue lost 12 firefighters — half of its crew — on Sept. 11, 2001. Here's a profile on Company 3 via CBS News.

Photo by Amy Wasserman via Twitter.

154 Second Avenue starting to show off its girders

Two months have passed since we checked in on the progress at 154 Second Ave., where workers will be adding several new floors for "luxury rental apartments."

Kind of hard to say what's happening behind the scaffolding. EVG reader Terry Howell notes that most of July brought intermittent banging and knocking without much evidence of actual "construction."

Then! In early August, he noticed that workers delivered a pile of girders. Let's take a look at the latest photos that he shared...

Terry also hears that the remaining structure facade will not be kept — eventually it will all be demolished.

Here's what the address looked like in the 1940s, via Vanishing New York...

And one day...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former funeral home looks to double in size with help from 'the controversial penthouse king of the East Village'

Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live retail tenants

The walls come tumbling down at 154 Second Avenue

Noted

A reader sends this along... spotted in the lobby of a building owned by Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate... where there is an ongoing rat problem. Tenants are hopeful someone gets the hint...

Is a 99-cent store going into the Copper Building retail space on Avenue B?

[October 2010]

We've been curious about what would take the corner retail space here at the Copper Building on Avenue B and East 13th Street ... home of million-dollar penthouses.

There was an a rumor about a 7-Eleven opening here... But that is simply not true — the retail-space-for-lease ad specified no delis or laundromats.

In recent weeks, workers have put up brown paper on the windows... and we finally got a look inside.... Let's see, packages of undershirts...

... and plastic toys for kids...

Looks like a 99-cent type of store ... like the ones remaining around the corner on East 14th Street. We asked a broker here last week for information on the new tenant, but never heard back.

Previously.

Your work is done here, assholes

Here on East Seventh Street and First Avenue... someone broke off the 7-foot sunflower about to bloom... and there is a note for that person now...

Thanks to EVG reader Raquel Shapira for the photo...