Cutlets Sandwich Co. debuts on 3rd Avenue

Cutlets Sandwich Co. is now open at 99 Third Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street. (Thanks to Steven for these photos yesterday.)

Richard Zaro of Zaro's Family Bakery is behind this quick-serve deli concept that touts "quality sandwiches made with premium ingredients."

Cutlets first launched as a delivery-only business in July 2020, expanding into a Flatiron District pop-up in late 2020 ... before opening a flagship location on West 35th Street this past June. (An outpost is planned next in Williamsburg.)

You can find the Cutlets menu here. The EV outpost is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Oh, and to celebrate the EV opening, Cutlets is offering $6 subs all day today (Dec. 1).

Previously on EV Grieve:

Coming soon: Cutlets Sandwich Co. opening an outpost on 3rd Avenue

[UPDATED] Tuesday's parting shot

As seen on Sixth Street today... photo by Derek Berg... 

Updated 12/1 

Derek reports the headless skeleton found some friends on Avenue A...

6 posts from November

A mini month in review... 

• Best wishes to the owners of the March Hare on the shop's 1-year anniversary (Nov. 26) 

• There are 8 million stories in the naked city... and this is one of them on 2nd Avenue (Nov. 24) 

• Breaking the internet (and Instagram) with cumgirl8 (Nov. 18) 

• Superiority Burger's original 9th Street space closes ahead of move to new home on Avenue A (Nov. 15) 

• City removes tent encampment from 7th Street outside Tompkins Square Park (Nov. 11) 

• A look at 302 E. 2nd St., where a housing lottery is underway (Nov. 3)

Photo of Tompkins Square Park from Nov. 24

Local students distribute pre-Thanksgiving meals in Tompkins Square Park

Last Tuesday, a group of first and second graders from the New Amsterdam School on Avenue B prepared lunches for people in Tompkins Square Park who may need a meal. 

The students started by picking up granola bars, apples and other items from East Village Organic on First Avenue...

Ali Sahin, the owner of C&B cafe on Seventh Street, donated the bread and other sandwich supplies. He also came to the school on the corner of Fifth Street to help the students assemble the sandwiches and create the meals to distribute...

In total, the students created and distributed 50 meals to unhoused people in the Park with the assistance of the school staff...

Thank you to Owen Schiller for the photos.

Details on the 5th annual East Village Arts Festival at the Tompkins Square Library branch

This week, the fifth annual East Village Arts Festival returns to the Tompkins Square Library branch with a handful of free in-person programs starting tomorrow afternoon. 

Highlights include (via the EVG inbox)

• Wednesday, Dec. 1, 3–5 p.m.

Join us in our main reading room as the Rocco John Quartet plays adventurous jazz standards

• Thursday, Dec. 2, 2–7 p.m.

East Village Arts Festival Bonanza!  

We are happy to have local writers and artists showing their work in our library. Featuring B Scene Zine, Carpo, Delphine Le Goff, Eve Packer, Frank New, Greg Masters, Kat Georges and Peter Carlaftes, Ron Kolm, Ruth and Valery Oisteanu, and Sara Ann Rutherford. 

• Saturday, Dec. 4, 3:30–5 p.m. 

Clayton: Godfather of Lower East Side Documentary: A Graphic Novel.  

For the first time, photographer and videographer Clayton Patterson ... is the subject of a biographical graphic novel anthology. Patterson will discuss the graphic novel with author Julian Voloj.

Visit this link for all the programs. 

The library is at 331 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Openings: 75 Degrees Cafe & Bakery

75 Degrees Cafe & Bakery opened earlier this month at 93 1/2 E. Seventh St. just east of First Avenue. 

The business, described as a "modern Japanese-inspired cafe," offers baked goods and coffee daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

The staff/ownership here includes Jojo, the pastry chef, Jade, the head barista, and Ashe, the business manager. The cafe's Instagram account has details (and photos!) of some of the featured desserts, including matcha tiramisu and chocolate brownie chiffon cake. 

This retail space has been vacant since a fire shuttered Caracas Arepa Bar in September 2016. 

Mug & Cup in soft-open mode on Avenue C

Mug & Cup, a coffee and juice shop, is in a soft opening here at 115 Avenue C between Seventh Street and Eighth Street. (Signage arrival first reported on Aug. 4.) 

This is the second outpost for Mug & Cup, which got its start in East Flatbush. 

You can find their extensive menu of juices, smoothies, coffee drinks, waffles, pastries, etc., at this link. 

The posted hours are listed online as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., though it's not clear if these times apply during the soft opening too. 

No. 115 has been vacant for the past few years as the building was sold and gut-renovated. The retail space has been empty since Le Jardin Bistro closed in June 2015. Previous ventures here include Apartment 13 and The Porch.

The VNYL has not been open in a long time

Yesterday we mentioned that Bar None is currently closed at 98 Third Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street for nonpayment of New York State taxes. 

Several readers noted that its neighbor on the block, The VNYL, has not been open this year. One reader, who shared the top photo, said that the space "looked trashed" inside. Google lists the space as "temporarily closed." The last Facebook post is from July 2020.

The club's website lists that they are "closed for the rest of the winter due to COVID-19." That's likely last winter. One reader recalls them being open in the fall of 2020 for outdoor drinks-and-taco service.

The four-level, 7,000-square-foot space with a 1970s theme opened in the fall of 2016. Nightlife vets, led by James Morrissey (The Late Late on East Houston), were behind this venture, which reportedly included actor Adrian Grenier as a partner. (New York magazine noted that he curated the short-lived record store in the lobby.)

According to a preview piece at the Daily News, the VNYL was "designed to attract patrons of music, fashion and art." They also featured Long Island Iced Teas on tap and menu items such as candied-bacon quinoa sushi.

Sports bar Nevada Smiths was the first tenant of this renovated building from April 2013 to September 2015.

Monday's parting shot

Preliminary work taking place today for a new tree well (and tree!) on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... photo by Derek Berg...

PlantShed bringing flowers, plants and coffee to 2nd Avenue

PlantShed, a family-owned floral business that dates to the 1950s, is opening an outpost in the East Village.

According to Booth Capital Advisors, ownership just signed a lease for 193 Second Ave. at the NW corner of 12th Street. 

Upon opening next year, you can find flowers, plants and day-long café service. The first PlantShed retail space opened on the Upper West Side in 1981... the café service arrived later. There are now four PlantShed storefronts — two on the UWS, one on Prince Street and one that debuted last year in Englewood, N.J.

No. 193, a high-profile storefront, has been vacant since Pastel Spa & Nails closed in March 2018.