Ben's Deli returns, and there's a new pop-up taco shop inside

Ben's Deli reopened this week on Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street, as EVG contributor Stacie Joy reports.

The family-owned market, here for the past 45 years, temporarily closed on April 19 as concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak grew.

For now, Ben's will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, visitors to Ben's will find a new pop-up vendor renting the deli counter...



Ruben Cardoso (above, left) and Enrique Jardines are behind the still-unnamed Mexican spot. (Jardine previously ran Boticarios on First Street.)

The two are serving Mexican street food for breakfast, lunch and dinner ... specializing in tacos and quesadillas. Salad bowls are also available. The hours for now are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.







Previously on EV Grieve:
The last night, for now, at Ben's Deli

On Avenue B, Ben's Deli is closing for now; first time in 45 years

Farmwich pops up with speciality sandwiches at Ben's Deli on Avenue B

The L-train stop on 1st Avenue officially has all 4 entrances open

As we were saying back on Monday in this post, the MTA is wrapping up the L-train work along 14th Street.

And just like that on Tuesday, the north entrance (westbound side) to the L train on 14th Street at First Avenue opened ... and now for the first time all four entrances — two on Avenue A and two on First Avenue — are open for access to the L.

The MTA spells it all out in a news advisory:

This is the final major infrastructure element of the 1 Av Station expansion, which is part of the integrated resiliency, accessibility and capacity initiatives under the l Project. Previously, two new entrances near Avenue A and 14th Street were built and opened, one at Avenue A South in November 2019, and one at Avenue A North in February 2020. Following those openings, the existing entrances, which are part of the original 1924 station, were closed to be fully reconstructed. The First Avenue South entrance was reopened in April 2020, and this final original entrance at First Avenue North opened [Tuesday].

And kind of a but:

At this time, all entrances at 1 Av Station are open for customers with temporary finishes. Final finishes will be scheduled for one entrance at a time in the future, and the entrance will be temporarily closed at that time. Customers will be able to use the entrance to the station that provides complementary access.

Meanwhile, the two platform-to-street ADA elevators on either side of 14th Street near Avenue A will be complete by the end of the summer, per the MTA...



Look for some new crosswalks at Avenue A one day soon too...



The work officially began along this corridor in July 2017. In late April, Gov. Cuomo announced that the Sandy-damaged Canarsie tunnel rehabilitation phase was completed — reportedly several months ahead of schedule and less than $100 million as originally expected.

Khyber Pass closes on St. Mark's Place

Multiple EVG readers have shared that Khyber Pass has closed on St. Mark's Place.

One reader noted that the space was gutted the last week of May here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue: "This sucks. They were in the building already when I moved here in 1989. It was a great place and they were very nice neighbors."

While there hasn't been an official confirmation from anyone at the Afghani restaurant that dates to the mid-1980s, the space is now empty and their website deactivated. Khyber Pass had previously shut down in mid-March at the start of the COVID-19 PAUSE.

Wednesday's parting shot

New wheatpaste art of James Baldwin on Lafayette and Great Jones... "the Best Baldwin Brotha" ...



Art by @erinkostudios ...

Twilight's last gleaming: One last electric version of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' on 7th Street

[Photo last night by Sarah Larson]

In case you were headed over to Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue this evening to hear the Jimi Hendrix-style version of "the Star-Spangled Banner" ... last night marked the final performance.

Starting on April 3, Seventh Street resident John the Baptist (aka John Fredericks) played the anthem on his Bobkat with a Stratocaster neck from his fire escape during the 7 p.m. cheer for health-care workers.

The song became a tradition, even attracting two off-duty ER doctors from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx who wanted to hear it live.

He recalled one night where he didn't break out his guitar, and "people were looking up at our fire escape, and they were, like pissed," he told Sarah Larson as part of The New Yorker's cover story on a day in the life in NYC during COVID-19.

The tribute was always personal, as his father and two brothers are ER doctors, per The New Yorker. It also received the approval of Janie Hendrix, Jimi's sister.

Here's a flashback to April 20 ... to a video via Stacie Joy...



And an upclose version that Rainer Turim shot for Gothamist...

An East Village community raffle for Black Lives Matter

The folks at East Village Postal, 151 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street, have organized a community raffle to raise funds for Black Lives Matter.

Here's how it works:

100 percent of all ticket sales will be donated to Colin Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp and the Equal Justice Initiative.

Each ticket is $5. For multiple entries, please purchase in increments $5. You can purchase tickets by venmo @eastvillageraffle and leave your email or phone number so that we can contact you if you win. To purchase tickets in cash, please purchase your ticket at our shop.

Visit this link for a list of all the raffle prizes, which include gift cards to East Village Organic, Veselka, Mr. Throwback, Superiority Burger, Abraco and Azaleas, among many others.

Updated:

East Village Postal shared this on Instagram this morning...

View this post on Instagram

THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE! We just found out that Venmo limits our weekly transfers so we decided to make our first donation! Out of the $7900 that we raised so far, we made our first donation of $4000 to @eji_org. Our donation was matched 2:1 by a friend’s corporate matching program, growing our first $4000 contribution to $12000 🤍 thank you Melina for having your company match our donation, all the vendors who have donated their services and gifts, and our NYC community for such an outpour of love! 🤍 let’s keep this going! Next week we will post our second donation!

A post shared by East Village Postal (@eastvillagepostal) on Jun 10, 2020 at 10:36am PDT

Violet won't be reopening on 5th Street

Violet, the restaurant by the Pizza Loves Emily Group and chef/owner Matt Hyland, will not be reopening after the COVID-19 PAUSE here at 511 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Eater had the news yesterday about the spin-off from Emmy Squared and Emily:

[I]t wasn’t the runaway hit of the chef’s past restaurants. The restaurant built its menu around the grilled pizzas made famous at Italian restaurant Al Forno’s in Providence, Rhode Island, and critical reception was tepid. Eater critic Ryan Sutton found that the toppings-saturated pies at Violet often missed the mark, while New York Times critic Pete Wells praised the pizzas but saw some flaws in the pasta and dessert lineup. The restaurant, which opened its doors in January 2019, also featured pasta and seafood dishes like spaghetti with clams, and grilled shrimp with spicy butter and cilantro.

Hyland called the restaurant “a fun experience” in a statement on the closure, but said that Violet wasn’t feasible to run “in a New York that is increasing drastically in cost of goods and wages.”

FWIW, I liked the pizza, and it was a good spot after a drink at Sophie's a fews doors away.

The address has been home to several restaurants since Le Tableau closed in December 2007. Before Violet, there was Goat Town, Seymour Burton, Butcher Bay and GG's.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Emmy Squared's owners are bringing grilled pizza to the former GG's space on 5th Street

Getting 511 E. 5th St. ready for new grilled pizza venture from Emmy Squared's owners

Your Desire in Food now open on 4th and B

Your Desire in Food debuted back on Monday on the southeast corner of Avenue B and Fourth Street... the owner runs several other delis in the neighborhood, including on Seventh Street and Avenue C.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by and met the manager, Nassr Saleh...





So far the sandwiches are said to be popular ...



And they'll have beer for sale soon...



The previous tenant here, East Side Gourmet Deli, closed in April 2019.

St. Mark's Place seems a little more St. Mark's Place-like with the return of the sidewalk vendors

The sidewalk vendors returned to St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue on Monday... as these curbside operations are OK'd in the Phase 1 reopening. (You'll have to wait for any body piercings, though!)

Steven passed along these photos ... and as you can see, the open-air shops are well-stocked with the usual sunglasses, hats and scarves...

Tuesday's parting shot

The Brant Foundation added their support to BLM on the plywood outside both the entrances on Sixth Street and Seventh Street ... photo by Derek Berg