Dan and John's Wings opening a storefront on 1st Avenue

The signs are up for the incoming tenant at 135 First Ave. — Dan and John's Wings…



Apparently the wings have been popular at Smorgasburg, the outdoor food festival on weekends in Williamsburg.

As for the proprietors, here's what their website has to say:

When two friends from Buffalo found themselves in Brooklyn without authentic Buffalo wings, they decided to make their own. Using recipes they learned working in Buffalo bars and pizzerias, Dan and John bring Buffalo's legendary flavor to Brooklyn, New York.

This will be their first storefront, in the space that previously housed JoeDough. This marks the second Smorgasburg vendor to set up shop on First Avenue. Schnitz opened in March 2014 at 177 First Ave. and East 11th Street.

H/T EVG reader Steven!

St. Mark's Place really has your e-cigarette needs covered

[Photo from Feb. 19]

St. Marks Convenience Inc. closed back in February … and workers stripped the little storefront on St. Mark's Place between Third Avenue and Second Avenue to the walls.

Yesterday, the sign went up for the new business … seemingly now the 345th place on the block selling e-cigarettes…



The place is selling other convenient store staples too. Like Cheetohs. We definitely saw some Cheetohs.

Ethos Meze East Village has been closed for renovations on Avenue A

The Mediterranean-themed restaurant at 167 Avenue A between East 10th Street and East 11th Street has now been closed for nearly two weeks… the sign on the door points to a renovation…



… though a neighbor says that there hasn't been much renovating happening here.

The newly renovated space is on the market … the rent is $16,500 (and $650,000 key money). Per the listing at LoopNet:

GORGEOUS ESTABLISHMENT — the decor and atmosphere. The place gives you a feeling that you are somewhere on an old boat in the sea. Plus, the candles all over the place makes it very romantic.

The restaurant, an offshoot of Ethos Meze on Third Avenue and East 36th Street, opened here last July 2.

Rent a parlor floor on East 14th Street

There's a parlor floor for rent at 325 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue … directly above the Crocodile Lounge…

Cushman & Wakefield has the listing… all uses considered at the moment… the asking rent is $7,500…



And the listing has some of the loneliest still-life photos that we've seen for some time (or ever?)…

Explosion stories: East Village business owners bond, and look to an uncertain future

[Photo from East 7th Street today via Vinny & O]

Representatives from nearly a dozen East Village businesses that were either destroyed or damaged in the deadly gas explosion on Second Avenue on March 26 met this morning to offer support and advice ... and talk about the future.

Here is some coverage from The New York Times:

Tarun Kundu’s nearly 20-year-old copy shop, tucked around the corner, at 45 East 7th Street, was crushed when the building it occupied, 119 Second Avenue, came toppling down.

“I have nothing, in my store is everything,” said Mr. Kundu, a Bangladeshi immigrant who has three daughters and lives in Woodside, Queens.

And...

“We’re alive,” said Roop Bring, the owner of Sam’s Deli, a bodega that operated for decades on the ground floor of 123 Second Avenue ... before being destroyed as a result of the explosion, which, according to the authorities, erupted in the basement next door, at 121 Second Avenue. “That’s what important.”

DNAinfo, WPIX and Bedford + Bowery also provided coverage of the meeting held at Café Mocha.

Reader report: San Marzano reopens tomorrow

San Marzano, the restaurant that serves handmade pasta at 117 Second Ave., has been closed since the deadly explosion took down three buildings across East Seventh Street on March 26.

Yesterday, city crews removed the barricades that surrounded No. 117 on the southwest corner ... EVG regular Vinny & O stopped by San Marzano today, where staff there said that they would be back open tomorrow ... so there's another restaurant to add to the list of Saturday's Small Biz Crawl on Second Avenue.

Updated: They will be open at 5 p.m. Friday

Lulu grows up

10th Street and Avenue A this morning. (Because someone will ask: The crib was empty.)

Photo by Steven Hirsch

There's a campaign to buy the women suing over the 2nd Avenue blast 1-way tickets out of NYC

As the Post reported the other day, two women who were subletting an apartment at 129 Second Ave. have filed a $40 million lawsuit related to the deadly explosion on March 26.

Lucie Bauermeister, 23, and Anna Ramotowska, 26, are suing Con Ed, 121 Second Ave. landlord Maria Hrynenko, contractor Dilber Kukic and Hyeonil Kim, owner of Sushi Park, claiming they were "severally injured, both physically and mentally" by the explosion that killed two men and injured more than 20 people. Each are seeking $20 million.

Per the Post:

Their building reopened March 28, but Bauermeister complained that the smell of smoke was so “putrid,” she didn’t want to sleep there.

Ramatowska said she got “like, five or six scratches” when she went outside to inspect the blast site. Bauermeister didn’t suffer any physical injuries — but did say she is seeing a $175-an-hour psychologist to deal with the trauma.

Both women said they plan on moving to the South.

Meanwhile, perhaps to expedite that move, there is a crowdfunding campaign underway titled "Evict Fire Victim Bilkers from NYC."

Per the campaign:

Buy two one-way bus tickets out of NYC and a good riddence letter in the form of a full page ad in a NYC paper for heartless opportunists Anna Ramotowska and Lucie Bauermeister (or help the real victims of a tragic multi-building fire)

To date, $90 has been raised.

Find the campaign here. [Updated 11:09 p.m. — the campaign site is no longer active]

Screengrab from FOX News via Jezebel

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] 2nd Avenue subletters suing for $40 million over deadly explosion (66 comments)

Looking at 117 2nd Ave., another building owned by East Village blast landlord Maria Hrynenko

The city yesterday removed the remaining barricades on Second Avenue south of the blast site… so the sidewalk on the west side of the Avenue is now open up to Seventh Street … making it easier to visit the storefronts along here, like New Yorkers Foodmarket and Moishe's Bake Shop, which happens to be closed for the holiday until Sunday.


[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]

As Crain's reported, the maze of barricades and fire trucks in the days after the deadly explosion on March 26 cut business by 50 percent at New Yorkers Foodmarket, according to owner Michael Schumacher.

The south side of Seventh Street at Second Avenue is now open to pedestrian traffic as well. The building on the corner, No. 117, is also owned by Maria Hrynenko, who is at the center of an investigation over an illegally tapped gas line at 121 Second Ave., where an explosion at Sushi Park killed two men and injured more than 20 people.

She is also the landlord of the adjacent building at 119 Second Ave., which collapsed in the ensuing fire.

With the barriers gone around No. 117, a Stop Work Order dated March 27 is now visible…






[No. 117 photos yesterday by EVG reader Ryan]

No. 117 had been going under extensive renovations in recent years, as we reported here.

According to DOB records, there's a complaint on file for a "gas meter installed in a prohibited location" (dated March 28) and "installation of two new gas boilers and gas piping" without a permit (dated yesterday).

As several media outlets have reported, Hrynenko inherited 117, 119 (aka 45 E. Seventh St.) and 121 Second Ave. from her husband Michael, who died in 2004. He operated the Kiev, the popular diner at No. 117 from 1978 to 1990.

The corner space is now home to San Marzano, which remains closed.

[Photo of No. 117 from 1979 by Michael Sean Edwards]

The Post reported yesterday that investigators have "six prime suspects" in the blast at 121 Second Ave.: Maria Hrynenko, her son Michael Jr., contractor Dilber Kukic as well as an unidentified subcontractor and two workers.

Per the Post: "In addition to murder — which carries a maximum 25 years to life in the slammer — other charges said to be under consideration include second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide."

Hrynenko is also the owner of 46 E. Seventh St. and 96 Second Ave., though through different companies, according to The Wall Street Journal. Per the Journal: "Both buildings have complaints with the Department of Buildings dated April 8, citing a need to verify compliance for the plumbing system, and both were cited by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development in February for failing to register with the department."

--

For further reading: Landlord Of Destroyed East Village Apartments "Didn't Know Any Better" (Gothamist)

How to help 73-year-old East Village mainstay B&H Dairy get up and running again

[EVG photo from yesterday]

B&H Dairy, the classic small lunch counter at 125 Second Ave., remains closed after the deadly explosion on March 26 killed two men and brought down three buildings several storefronts away.

Word came via Facebook that B&H would reopen by yesterday here between St. Mark's Place and East Seventh Street. That didn't happen. However, an employee told Eater yesterday that the 73-year-old kosher dairy restaurant was getting its gas hooked up again … and hoped to be up and running soon. (Hopefully in time for Saturday.)

However, the expenses have piled up these past two weeks. Now, the East Village Community Coalition, Fourth Arts Block and miLES are helping B&H owner Fawzy Abdelwahad launch a crowdfunding to "keep alive its tremendous history in the East Village."

You can find more details about the campaign here. Investments range from $5 (you get a big thank you on Facebook) to $150 (10 percent B&H discount for the year).


[Undated photo via Smallknot]