Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Wednesday's parting shot



Outside the Regal Union Square on Broadway and 13th Street today... photo by Derek Berg...

Wellness planning for the fall (and beyond)

On Sunday, the House of Physical Therapy, 280 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, is hosting a free day of wellness planning.

The studio will have a physical therapist, registered dietician, personal trainer, chiropractor and other specialists available. (Find a list here.)

The planning takes place between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. You can register here.

Today's foggy start



Looking east at the Christodora House from Tompkins Square Park this morning...

A few more details about Madame Vo BBQ, coming soon to 2nd Avenue and 6th Street



As Eater reported back in July, the owners of Madame Vo at 212 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue are opening a restaurant specializing in Vietnamese barbecue called Madam Vo BBQ this fall on Second Avenue at Sixth Street.

The Madame Vo team is on tonight's CB3-SLA docket for a new beer-wine license. However, given the method of operation (restaurant) and the owners signing the agreed-upon stipulations, they will not be appearing before the committee this evening.

Their questionnaire (PDF here) on file at the CB3 website provides a few more details about the place. For starters, the listed hours are noon to midnight daily. In total, there 13 tables to accommodate 52 diners as well as a five-seat bar.

As for the food at Madame Vo BBQ, Eater had this to say in a fall preview post:

This barbecue offshoot will have tabletop grills for meat and seafood in various marinades including curry, lemongrass garlic, and honey fish sauce. It’s typically a celebratory food in Vietnam, and here, the barbecued proteins then go into customizable summer rolls.

No. 104 previously housed Wall 88 for seven months until last fall. Previously, the address was the Lions BeerStore — part retail shop, part restaurant — for 16 months.

On 2nd Avenue, signage arrives for Uluh Tea House (and they're hiring)


[Photo by Steven]

Back in May 2017 we heard about a Chinese restaurant opening in one of the two newly created storefronts at 152-154 Second Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. (They will join the Pure Green-PlantMade combo in the retail spaces.)

Signage arrived yesterday for the venture — Uluh Tea Shop, which is hiring. Sounds like it will be a pretty big operation. Positions wanted include managers, servers, Chinese Cuisine head chef, pastry chef, Cantonese Dim Sum Chef and kitchen staff.



152-154 Second Ave. is the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel that Icon Realty bought, gutted, added three extra floors and opened as luxury rentals a few years back.

Another dim sum place, Dim Sum Palace, is opening soon a few blocks away in another Icon-owned building at 59 Second Ave.

H/T Lola Sáenz!

Start me up: Waiting on a Friend opens on 1st Avenue and St. Mark's Place


[Photo by Steven]

A new bar called Waiting on a Friend recently debuted here at 132 First Ave. at St. Mark's Place.

The corner space had been VBar St. Marks before a conversion to Colibri last September. Not sure who's behind the new venture at the moment. (You can find the bar's Instagram account here.)

We had some reader-submitted photos in mid-to-late August as the place was under renovation...



The bar is named for the song by the Rolling Stones from their 1981 album Tattoo You... one of the reader photos shows a new mural inside the bar of the album cover ...



And, as you may know, the "Waiting on a Friend" video was shot on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue... where Keith and Mick eventually saunter into this corner space, when it was the St. Mark's Bar & Grill. There, the other band members are already assembled (this old EVG post has pics from the shoot) ...

Reader report: New owners for Fine Fare on Avenue C?



An EVG reader shared this photo from inside Fine Fare on Avenue C at Fourth Street.

Per the reader: "There was a bunch of work going on ... One of the employees told me they had new owners and were putting in an expanded meat and produce section."

This Fine Fare location is no longer on the tri-state grocer's website (the stores are independently owned and operated) ...



We reached out to the Fine Fare corporate office for more info on the Avenue C market. Will update if we hear back from anyone.

And back to the reader: "Glad they're fixing the place up, but hope the prices stay low!"

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Tuesday's parting shot



Derek Berg took this photo of London-based hairdresser Joshua Coombes on First Avenue at Seventh Street today.

Coombes has been in the East Village in the past ... providing free haircuts (and shaves) to the homeless.

You can watch this "National Geographic" segment on Coombes, who believes small acts of kindness can make a big impact.

And you can see more of his work with the homeless on his Instagram account.

A 9/11 moment at Engine Company 5



Local firehouses throughout the city commemorated 9/11 today. James and Karla Murray shared this photo from this morning outside Engine Company 5 on 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue during a moment of silence.

On Sept. 11, 2001, the Company lost Manny DelValle Jr., a 7-year FDNY veteran who grew up in the Bronx. He was 32.

As the Murrays wrote:

Manny had just finished an overnight at Engine 5 ... when the call came in around 8:47 am.. that a plane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Engine Company 5 was assigned to team up with another company to walk up 80 floors and stretch the hose line. Manny Delvalle Jr. was carrying the rollup lines of hose and an oxygen tank. The last time Manny was seen, he had stopped on the 10th floor to give a woman oxygen. His unit had made it to the 15th floor when they were called back when the building began to rumble. They looked for Manny but could not find him and after the North Tower fell at 10:28 a.m., he was reported missing.

Here's more about him from his obituary in The New York Times:

At home in the Bronx, Mr. DelValle took advanced classes in salsa dancing. He loved Latin music but listened to everything. "Rap," said his brother Pete Moyer. "And R&B," added his sister Grace Nolly. "Old school," said his father, Manuel Del Valle, to be specific.

Mr. DelValle, who graduated from the University of Maryland, was also an accomplished moguls skier and roller skater, a traveler, a lover of war movies and, his family says, a lady's man. He also got Engine Company No. 5, where he was assigned, to participate in the Puerto Rican Day Parade. He was the one in the family who always sent a card and gift to siblings, half-siblings and cousins.

According to previous reports, 26 firefighters from the neighborhood's four stations died on 9/11.

A visit to the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on 7th Street



This past Friday morning, EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen, the basement cafe that helps generate income for the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church up the block on Seventh Street.

On this day, as with previous Fridays spanning nearly four decades, volunteers — parishioners from St. George's — gathered in the subterranean space at 33 E. Seventh St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square to help prep the cafe's specialities, such as vareniki (Ukrainian dumplings).




[Volunteer Daria Rekucha]




[Rekucha and Anastazia Baran]

Dima Kovalenko, here in the orange shirt, is the chef and oversees the kitchen...






[Volunteer Anna Sinchuk]






[Volunteer Tetiona Grygorash]

Streecha, which is an old Ukrainian word for meeting, is a perfect place for doing so. The decor is, well — church basement, but the food is hearty and inexpensive...





Streecha reopened last Wednesday after the usual summer hiatus. The cafe is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a 9 a.m. start time on Saturday and Sunday. Visit Streecha's Instagram account for daily specials.