Numero 28 Pizzeria is closed until Aug. 26 for renovations

[Photo by @jeremyblock]

From the EVG inbox: Questions about Numero 28 Pizzeria on Second Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street.

Workers are gutting the space. The restaurant, which serves Neapolitan pizza and a variety of traditional Italian dishes, is in the midst of a two-week closure.



The sign on the gate notes a reopening on Aug. 26...


[Bottom two photos via Harry Weiner]

Numero 28 Pizzeria, which opened in the East Village in late 2009, has multiple locations around NYC as well as one in Miami Beach and Austin, Texas.

Pete Wells visits Foxface

[Photo by Stacie Joy]

Late last year, East Village residents Ori Kushnir and Sivan Lahat opened Foxface, a small sandwich operation inside the William Barnacle Tavern at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place.

And for his latest review at the Times, Pete Wells pays a visit... and he liked what he found.

Lately I have fallen under the spell of an East Village restaurant called Foxface. The cooking there is hard to pin down, geographically. Stopping in a few weeks ago, I ate Low Countryish wild red shrimp on grits, with sweet corn off the cob and a potent saffron-lobster sauce. More recently, I had skinless pork sausage inspired by sai ua, the spicy and tangy specialty identified with the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. The soft tripe I enjoyed the other weekend had been simmered with ’nduja, the fiery and malleable Calabrian sausage, and then covered with a few thin shingles of shaved pecorino.

He also describes the unique (and small!) work environment in which Kushnir and Lahat create their sandwiches...

Like the fox in the logo, Ms. Lahat has coppery hair and wears cat’s-eye glasses. She prepares the orders in the room behind the window, which measures 48 square feet. Inside the building, under the stairs, Foxface has a second room. Mr. Kushnir thinks it could be as large as 14 square feet.

A variety of equipment is stowed in the two rooms, including three induction burners, a roaster, a smoker and a dishwasher. After business hours, some of it comes out as Mr. Kushnir supervises the more time-consuming roasts and stews. He describes the food that he and Ms. Lahat cook as “dishes we like to eat, reimagined as sandwiches.”

In the end, the review reads a lot more positively than you might think for one star (it is a NYT Critic's Pick).

Meanwhile, read our Q-and-A with the owners at the link below...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Longtime East Village residents open Foxface, now serving sandwiches at Theater 80

H/T Steven!

St. Dymphna's opens in new home on Avenue A this Thursday

[Photo from Sunday]

The new location of St. Dymphana's officially opens Thursday (Aug. 22) at 117 Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. Doors open at 4 p.m.

As we previously reported, this is an encore presentation for the Irish-style pub, which closed on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue last fall after 24 years in service. The new team includes previous owner Eric Baker, Brendan McElroy, proprietor of Dr. Brendan Mac Repair on St. Mark's Place, and a "St. Dymphna's family member."

Baker told me this about SD2 in March:

"I would not say we are trying to replicate the original space into the new one at all. Our goal is to honor the original while letting the new space dictate to us what it should be. Our goal is to recreate the community and cultural atmosphere, which is much more to important to us than architecture. We will be honoring the old space but this is much more of a reincarnation than replication."

Meanwhile, the former location on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue remains for rent... and available for taggers...



The rent is $15,000 per month, according to a listing at LoopNet.

Previously on EV Grieve:
St. Dymphna's eyeing a return engagement, this time at 117 Avenue A

Reincarnations: St. Dymphna's set to return late spring-early summer on Avenue A

Repair work continues at the former P.S. 64

Work continues at the former P.S. 64 on 10th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.

A reader shared these photos from yesterday, showing a crew working on the exterior facade on the western corner of the landmarked building...



Workers were first spotted here last Tuesday.

Another reader shared these photos... offering a rare glimpse inside the long-vacant property...





Workers at the scene offered that they'd be here for about 10 days to restore the building's corners to maintain their structural integrity.

On Feb. 6, the city evacuated adjacent buildings after discovering cracks at the old P.S 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center ... and later issued a Full Vacate Order.

City inspectors eventually determined that the building was safe, but did issue a violation to landlord Gregg Singer for failure to maintain the exterior facade, per Curbed.

Singer told Curbed at the time: "It’s all political. This is part of a concerted effort to put pressure on us. I was just at the building. There's definitely cracks — that we were already aware of — that will be pointed and repaired, but there’s no immediate danger."

Singer, who bought the property from the city during an auction in 1998, has wanted to turn the building into a dorm called University Square. The DOB continues to maintain a Stop Work Order — dating to August 2015 — on the building.

A DOB rep told The Wall Street Journal in January 2018 that the agency twice denied the developer’s application because he “failed to submit sufficient proof that the building would be used as a student dormitory."

Singer is in the midst of a lawsuit with the city.

Night Music signage arrives on 7th Street

The Night Music signage has arrived at 111 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue ... where Ravi DeRossi is opening a vegan Indian restaurant, as we noted back in June.



In an email, DeRossi said that they were still a few weeks away from an opening date.

Night Music takes the place of his Fire & Water, where the vegan sushi and dim sum concept didn't catch on. The restaurant is next door to Ladybird, another vegetable-friendly DeRossi establishment.

This Unique business on Avenue C has apparently closed

Looks as if the Unique Antique & Estate Sales ... and Unique Yoga & Spiritual Rejuvination shop is out of business. The storefront is now vacant.

The signage arrived in late January here on Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street... given the odd combination of specialities (Antiques! Yoga!) it was originally thought to be dressed for a film/TV shoot...


[Photo from February]

Monday's parting shots

Spotted on the door at Sixth Street Specials on Sixth Street east of Avenue C... a note about a free kitten (motorcycle kitten?) to a good home ...



Thanks to EVG reader Phil Brown for the photos.

And read our feature on Sixth Street Specials at this link.

Have they tried downloading and installing the uninstall support tool?

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Updated 8/24: This location reopened today, Saturday.

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From the tipline today... reports that the Starbucks on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place is TEMPORARILY closed. (Word is a problem with the AC.)

On the door is the familiar sign that has greeted potential patrons previously this summer: "Something went wrong..."



EVG reader Simon Dumenco has a theory about this now-familiar existential note in the window. "Maybe it’s a feature, not a bug? Starbucks is just trying to tell its resident laptop jockeys to take a break and get some fresh air and sunshine now and then?"

Thanks to Steven for these photos!

Riding the 404?

A Monday glitch at the SBS ticketing machines on the eastbound M14D stop today along Avenue A ... Vinny & O captured the moment...

Waste land: Local elected officials tell the city to move the garbage trucks from 10th Street

[EVG file photo]

After nearly a year of meetings and direct pleas from residents of 10th Street, the city has yet to take any action to relocate the fleet of garbage trucks that park on the block west of First Avenue.

Yesterday, local elected officials joined block residents in urging an immediate solution and requesting that the sanitation trucks be removed.

Garbage trucks on East 10th St stink!

🤮They’re hurting small businesses & ruining the quality of life.

🤮I joined @RepMaloney @CarlinaRivera @DeborahJGlick to demand @NYCSanitation remove these trucks.

🤮If City Hall won’t do it, we’ll pass legislation in Albany to do so pic.twitter.com/8EQ0reFTBg

— Senator Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) August 18, 2019

I joined the East 10th Street community to demand @NYCSanitation finally remove their trucks which emit a foul smell & have negatively impacted residents and businesses for nearly a year. We’ve written a letter calling for an immediate solution to this gross problem. pic.twitter.com/TUy7t26chz

— Carolyn B. Maloney (@RepMaloney) August 18, 2019

Happy to join colleagues & neighborhood folks to Call on ⁦@NYCMayor⁩ to get these city garbage trucks off residential streets. ⁦@bradhoylman⁩ ⁦@RepMaloney⁩ ⁦@CarlinaRivera⁩ We've made many suggestions NOW get it done. pic.twitter.com/vVnvNnaWBP

— (((Deborah Glick))) (@DeborahJGlick) August 18, 2019

As first reported last Sept. 18, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is now using this section of 10th Street to park up to seven garbage trucks or other vehicles. The DSNY no longer has use of their garage on 30th Street, and their solution for the foreseeable future has been to relocate their fleet elsewhere, including overnight on residential blocks.

And why park here? The Theater for the New City complex at 155 First Ave. near 10th Street was previously used by DSNY for storage, and they still maintain space in the facility for crews.

Meanwhile, residents say they continue to have quality-of-life and safety concerns — as expressed in previous posts — over the row of trucks parked on this block.

Last September, shortly after the trucks arrived, Mayor de Blasio promised to "relieve the immediate pressure" on 10th Street. "Do we want garbage trucks parking on residential streets? Of course not," said de Blasio, as CBS 2 reported on Sept. 26. "What we’re trying to do every day is figure out the kind of facilities that will help avoid that in the future."

And now 11 months later residents here are still waiting for the city to do something.

Seth Stein, a spokesperson for the mayor, recently told the Post: "We are actively evaluating parking options for these trucks that keep them near the neighborhood they serve."

You can find a copy of the letter from the local elected officials to the city at this link.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Questions and concerns as the sanitation department begins using 10th Street to park garbage trucks

More trash talk about those garbage trucks parked on 10th Street

Local elected officials continue to press city for alternatives to parking garbage trucks on 10th Street; muggings now a concern

A waste of space: 10th Street still waiting for the garbage trucks to move on

Garbage truck parking situation on 10th Street still stinks, residents say