Kolkata Chai Cafe aims to bring authentic South Asian vibes to 3rd Street

[EVG reader photo]

It's opening day for Kolkata Chai Cafe at 199 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

The small shop, run by two Bengali-American brothers, will be serving today from 4 to 10 p.m. ... with a menu featuring a variety of masala chai and several snacks ...

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A post shared by Kolkata Chai Co. (@kolkatachaico) on Sep 10, 2019 at 9:05am PDT

The owners, siblings Ayan and Ani Sanyal, share their story on the shop's website:

Our parents left Kolkata in 1987 and landed in Massachusetts to fulfill the American dream. Growing up as first-generation Indian Americans — our concept of home was ever-shifting. In 90s America, we listened to hip hop, ate pizza and begged our parents for a pair of Vans sneakers. Every other summer or winter, we’d spend a couple of months in Kolkata. An earth-shattering contrast, there, we would jump in monsoon puddles, eat mangsho-jhol, play cricket in the streets and drink chai everyday.

Food was always better on the streets than it was inside the house. The street wallahs possessed almost magical skills — we claimed they had special sauces and spices that they told no one about. There was a lore to street food. It was democratizing, generational and spoke to all socio-economic levels. We went to the same spots where our mother used to get bhel puri during her college times — where the chef’s father used to serve our grandfather.

Kolkata Chai started with a simple idea: How do we extend the authenticity, respect and tradition behind a cup of masala chai to NYC?

Chai has been repeatedly bastardized and appropriated in the U.S. We’re putting it all on the line to make sure our culture and traditions are represented accurately and honestly. We hope to see you along this journey.

This is the first permanent retail space for the two, who have been catering and offering their Kolkata masala chai via pop-up venues. (In opening this spot, the brother have said they've avoided common "South Asian food tropes.")

Moving forward, Kolkata Chai Cafe will be open Tuesday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

As for this address, it was home to the taco stand Snack Dragon until 2014 ... and later, the Vector Gallery — aka the Official Gallery of Satan (2016-2017).

[Updated] East Village Tavern is now going by DayTripper on Avenue C

Vinny & O shared this photo from yesterday, showing workers removing the East Village Tavern sign from this southeast corner of Avenue C and 10th Street.

Last month, the bar changed ownership, and the space became DayTripper (Updated: multiple readers and sources have indicated the same owners are behind the new venture) ...

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HEY GUYS!! In case you haven’t heard, East Village Tavern recently closed it’s doors. New management has taken over and opened DayTripper at the same address, and we suggest you check it out! DayTripper has beer pong, darts, foosball, a great happy hour and more! Follow @daytrippernyc SEE YOU THERE!! -your friends from EVT

A post shared by East Village Tavern (@eastvillagetavernnyc) on Aug 28, 2019 at 12:43pm PDT

East Village Tavern 2.0 opened as a Mexican restaurant and sports bar in July 2018.

The previous East Village Tavern closed in November 2016 after eight years in business. Bar management blamed a disagreement with landlord Steve Croman for the closure. (A Croman rep reportedly said that the owners were behind on rent.)

Updated:

The name change coincides with CB3's denial of East Village Tavern's application to extend their hours to 4 a.m. and add karaoke, live music and DJs.

CB3 issued a nearly three-page denial, noting ...:

WHEREAS, given that Community Board 3 recommended the denial of this application in part because of the inexperience of the applicant and the concern that the business would not be operated as a tavern with a family-friendly menu as originally proposed by the applicant and given that, after six (6) months of operation, there is evidence that the business is being operated inconsistent from its stipulations by hosting events, unlimited drink specials and having its façade open past 9:00 P.M., inconsistent from its application in that has had five (5) televisions and a giant projection screen, inconsistent from its initial characterization of its business by having regular drink specials, unlimited drink specials and hosting beer pong, has sought alteration of its license without notice to Community Board 3 and has already generated complaints regarding noise from the business and from patrons in front of the business, Community Board 3 cannot now endorse the removal of the stipulations imposed upon the applicant by the SLA; now THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Community Board 3 recommends the denial of the application for an alteration of the full on-premises liquor license of St Vince Group LLC, doing business as East Village Tavern, in the premises located at 158 Avenue C, at the corner of East 10th Street and Avenue C, New York, New York, to wit removing all of the stipulations imposed by the SLA.

CB3 also noted that "the Facebook page of the business advertises regular drink specials which are so low in price that they may be illegal."

Tuesday's parting shot

Thanks to EVG reader Annabelle for this photo this evening on Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street... bring your own sheet music.

Police searching for suspect who robbed the Dunkin' Donuts on 14th Street near Avenue B

🚨#WANTED🚨 Do you recognize him? He’s wanted for #ROBBERY. On 9/12/19, at a store on E. 14th St., he removed 💵 from the register and punched a worker before fleeing! If you recognize him or have any info, ☎️ our 🕵🏻‍♂️ at 212-477-7809 or DM @NYPDTips. pic.twitter.com/YwyWe0BGgJ

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) September 17, 2019

Police are searching for a suspect who allegedly robbed the Dunkin' Donuts on 14th Street just west of Avenue B last Thursday morning around 9:30.

In its recap of the crime, the Post reported that the suspect failed to open the register. The man then "grabbed five or six donuts and stuffed them in a paper bag."

On his way out the door, the suspect "repeatedly punched" an employee in the face who had tried to intervene.

Report of a car fire on East Houston

We heard from two readers about a possible explosion this morning on East Houston between Avenue C and Avenue D.

Turned out that a car parked along the eastbound lanes near Pitt caught fire. Thankfully there weren't any reports of injuries.

The Post had a dispatch on it:

No one was in the blue four-door vehicle at the time, and there were no injuries, officials said.

They said liquid was leaking from the car before the fire and that the incident is not being considered suspicious.

Three FDNY units and 13 firefighters responded to the scene and put out the blaze, officials added.

Car explosion on Ave C/Houston. That was an alt side of the street parking so praying no one got hurt. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/70jlhbaN8u

— Sonny (@surfista___) September 17, 2019

Meanwhile, on Sunday night, several readers reported that a cab caught fire on 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. The aftermath from yesterday...


[Photo by @barrett_roland]

RIP Gigi Watson

Gigi Watson, a longtime East Village resident, died on Friday. I don't have a lot of information at the moment. Her nephew shared the news via Twitter...

my aunt the psychic numerologist and original east village punker passed away last night. friday the 13th. full moon. from doing blow with rick james to trying to find joey ramone a girlfriend, she had the best stories in the worst way. i loved to make her laugh. rip gigi. ❤️

— momo (@SighPilot) September 14, 2019

James Maher interviewed her for our Out and About in the East Village feature in October 2014. It was a classic. Here it is again...

Name: Gigi Watson
Occupation: Writer, Artist, Cartoonist, Former Club Worker and Owner
Location: 3rd Street between 1st and A.
Time: 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24.

I’m a native New Yorker. I grew up in Ridgewood, on the border between Brooklyn and Queens, which now they can’t decide whether it’s Brooklyn or Queens. It was basically a German, Italian and Jewish neighborhood. The first thing you asked when you met another kid was what was your nationality.

There were places that we didn’t go. Bed Stuy and Red Hook, these were not places to go. In Red Hook, they used to find a dead body every single day. My train was the L, which used to be a horrible, horrible train. The L train connected with the G train, which was murder central. If someone paid me a million dollars in cash and said, ‘Here, get on the G train’, I’d say, ‘No thank you.’

My first apartment in Manhattan was a sublet on Christopher Street in the West Village. I moved in 1979. I then moved to the East Village in 1982, on 2nd Street between A and B. You had to have two or three jobs at the same time just to survive. That’s being a real New Yorker. My rent was so expensive. If I didn’t have two jobs, there would be no way I could cut that rent.

The first club I worked at was Bonds International Casino on Broadway and 45th Street. I was working behind the scenes in the office with guest lists, counting money. We had Blondie, The Clash, Blue Oyster Cult, Motley Crue, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who sucked. We had all kinds of punk rock bands. That’s where I developed a fear of crowds because the owner, John Addison, sold double the amount of tickets. We had 2,500-seat capacity and he sold 5,000 tickets per performance, and everybody showed up and was hammering on the door, ‘We want the show, we want the show.’ That place was fabulous.

[After Bonds] I worked at an after hours, where I worked the door. Cocaine was fantastic in the 1980s. That went right along with being at the front door. ‘Here, thanks a lot for letting me in,’ and I’d get a gram in my hand. That meant thank you. The stars I met — Nick Nolte, Grace Jones, Robin Williams, Paul McCartney. The list goes on and goes. Cause they would want to party late too.

I first worked in the cashier booth in Crisco [Disco], which is a famous haunt. We must have taken in at least between $8,000 and $10,000 on a Saturday night. It was a lucrative place.

After that I worked at Page 6. I was working the VIP room one month. Liza Minnelli was there snorting her brains out. Rick James comes in and puts a pile of coke on the table. All of a sudden you hear, ‘Freeze.’ So Rick James gets up, ‘Oh, I ain’t going to be arrested, I gotta get out of here, how do I get out?’ I said, ‘Mr. James there’s only one way out and that’s the way you came in.’ He walked out without a problem. It was the people that worked there that got busted because they didn’t have a liquor license.

After that I opened up my club, Trash. I was working at the time at Club 82, which was another after hours on 4th, and the manager there, John Matos said said to me, ‘Gi, why don’t you start your own club? How much do you need?’ We went shopping for furniture and I got all the stuff. I wanted neat 1960s furniture that was gaudy and cool looking. I wanted to do all the murals inside the club. I made the VIP room. I painted a big huge spider web so when you walked in, it was spinning. They would look up and sway from side to side. It was a cool place to be.

But that didn’t last very long because all the people who were great to look at had no money. Punk rockers do not have any money. Nobody had fucking money. Nobody had money for rent, forget about anything else.

Then one day a Hells Angel — this big Angel came in and went up to somebody at the bar and said, ‘Hey faggot’ and pushed him on the shoulder. The guy was a really cool looking punk rock guy and he was intimidated. Once the Angels come in, then it’s their club, and then it’s no longer my club or Trash. One brought many. Nobody would go there anymore. They were too afraid to go through the door. So that’s how Trash ended. That was about the time that punk rock itself was sort of waning.

Punk rock to me means anti-establishment. Punks saw that people conformed all over the place. It’s somebody with real talent to be unique and wild and out there. People used to come and sketch what I was wearing. The more beat up it is the better. They now have distressed leather. What fucking distressed? If you keep it on long enough, believe me it’ll become distressed. I always wanted to look different. I don’t want to look like anybody else. I want to look like me.

What's left of the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

If the headline was a question, then the answer would be not much.

A look through the handy blogger portals on the plywood reveals the scattered remains of the northeast corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place... the buildings that previously housed Korilla BBQ, the Continental and McDonald's are gone. (No word on what finally happened to the Continental's 6-shots-of-anything-for-$12 signage that was still intact as of last Thursday.)




[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]

And with the demolition of the buildings, the RIP ST. MARKS message on the west-facing wall of 5 St. Mark's Place is now fully visible from across the street...



As you likely know, a 10-floor office building with ground-floor retail is due here. The total size of this new building has yet to be determined. Real Estate Equities Corporation (REEC) wants to transfer the air rights from the landmarked Hamilton-Holly House at 4 St. Mark's Place to add more square footage, a move that has had its critics.

In June, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to support the plan, and has issued a report to the City Planning Commission to allow the proposal under a specific zoning resolution.

The City Planning Commission will likely sign off on the project next as part of the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. City Council will have the final say on the Morris Adjimi-designed building. Those meeting dates have not yet been made public.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Demolition permits filed for northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

End is nearing for the businesses on the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

New building plans revealed for 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Concern over potential air-rights transfer for new office building on St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue

Developers of 3 St. Mark's Place are looking to increase the size of their proposed office building at 3rd Avenue to 10 floors with air-rights deal

The lobbyists behind the air-rights transfer and zoning variance for 3 St. Mark's Place

Final demolition phase for 1 St. Mark's Place; more questions about lobbyists attached to project

Report: LPC approves transfer of air rights across St. Mark's Place

Live at 1 St. Mark's Place this summer; views of 51 Astor Place are free

Construction watch: 75 1st Ave.

The steel frame of the future condoplex at 75 First Ave. is now visible rising next to the Rite Aid here between Fourth Street and Fifth Street...





Work on the 8-floor, 22-unit residential building picked up earlier this year after nearly 14 months of inactivity.

The completion date on the plywood rendering is now listed at summer 2020.



This slowly-developing development broke ground in September 2016.

Previously on EV Grieve:
2020 vision: New completion set for Rite Aid-adjacent condoplex on 1st Avenue

Unpacking what there is at the Moxy East Village, now open on 11th Street

The Moxy East Village opened for business last week (Sept. 12) here on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue...

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A post shared by Moxy East Village (@moxyeastvillage) on Sep 12, 2019 at 3:17pm PDT

The 286-room Marriott brand has four eating and drinking venues by TAO Group: Cathédrale, a French-Mediterranean restaurant from Chef Jason Hall, Little Sister, an underground lounge, Alphabet Bar & Café, and a rooftop bar opening in spring 2020.

Cathédrale has already held several events, including the 2019 Us Weekly Most Stylish New Yorkers party on 9/11 that included Lil’ Kim, La La Anthony and various cast members from the Real Housewives.


[Cathédrale]

Here's a description of each via the EVG inbox, and there is a lot to unpack here (condensed for space reasons) ... brace!:

Alphabet Bar & Café, situated in the lobby, serves as the social heart of Moxy East Village, comprising a bar, terrace, co-working lounge, and meeting studios that seamlessly transition from day to night. The seating includes plush sofas and swinging chairs; a Skee-Ball game provides a hit of nostalgia for the arcade era.

An interactive real-time graffiti installation lets guests use a tablet to draw their own tag or sketch a bit of street art, like a latter-day Basquiat or Haring, and see it projected on the wall [Ed note: Will the Peninstrator strike?] . ... Alphabet Café serves an all-day menu of custom artisanal brews by Intelligentsia Coffee, freshly baked goods, composed salads, and seasonal panini and tartines.

The centerpiece of Moxy East Village is Cathédrale, a French-Mediterranean restaurant conceived by Tao Group Hospitality Chef/Partner Ralph Scamardella, in collaboration with Executive Chef Jason Hall. As diners descend from the lobby — via a staircase that resembles a fire escape between two East Village buildings — they'll feel like they're discovering an abandoned architectural treasure.

That's thanks to the show-stopping Rockwell Group-designed main dining room, a triple-height space covered by Italian artist Edoardo Tresoldi's dramatic wire mesh sculpture that looks like the apparition of a grand domed ceiling. His ethereal sculpture for the ceiling of Cathédrale pays homage to the interior of the Fillmore East ...

Located on the lower level, adjacent to Moxy East Village, Little Sister is an intimate, seductive, sophisticated lounge — an update from the underground clubs that defined East Village nightlife in the 1990s.

Its clandestine, cavern-like feel is enriched by jewel-toned velvet sofas and plush banquettes, embossed leather accents, a glowing copper DJ stand, and a mirrored-copper bar illuminated by an overhead bank of backlit whiskey bottles. Wood-clad, barrel-vaulted ceilings evoke a hidden underground chamber where whiskey might have been stored in the bootlegger era. Legendary doorman Wass Stevens, will conspire to create an exclusive, in-the-know vibe at the ropes.

Opening in Spring 2020, the rooftop bar is designed to resemble a coveted New York City backyard garden, with strung garden lights, abundant foliage and colorful patio furniture. A retractable roof allows the bar to be used in all seasons.

Behind the bar, liquor bottles will be displayed in stacked plastic milk crates — not unlike those you'd spot on an East Village sidewalk. On one wall, interlaced with crawling ivy, will be a mural that overlays a map of the area with images from the neighborhood's musical and artistic history.

A few other details...

The hotel has also produced a series of short videos titled "Off the Beaten Path," featuring neighborhood legends and characters who will talk about the East Village's past, present, and future that guests will be able to enjoy on the in-room TVs, online, and on the @MoxyEastVillage Instagram.

In addition, the hotel has forged exclusive partnerships with neighborhood institutions. It will be the preferred hotel partner for Webster Hall, providing VIP concert access to select guests. The prestigious art school Cooper Union will have their student's work shown on a dedicated channel on the in-room TVs and will exhibit select student works and host panels at the hotel while providing guests access to events on campus.

The foundation work got underway here in August 2017. Workers demolished the five residential buildings that stood here in the fall of 2016.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel

New building permits filed for 13-story Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street across from Webster Hall


[112-120 E. 11th St. photo from May 2016]

Monday's parting shot

Photo on Seventh Street today by Derek Berg ...