Checking in on the incoming Chicken & the Egg on 2nd Avenue

Renovations continue over at 221 Second Ave. between 13th Street and 14th Street ... where a restaurant-speakeasy combo is coming soon. (You may have spotted the storefront signage in recent weeks.)

As we first noted last October, a group of hospitality veterans were appearing before Community Board 3's SLA committee to discuss their speakeasy, Sincerely, Ophelia, and restaurant, Chicken & the Egg, for the space. 

During the day, Chicken & the Egg will sell a variety of fried chicken sandwiches, fries and salads... with the bar opening for evening service.

You can check out @chickenandtheeggnyc on Instagram for ongoing updates. (The restaurant's Insta account has this description: "Best Chicken Sandwich Shack in the East Village.")

The previous tenant at 221 Second Ave., the 11-year-old Bay-Area sports bar Finnerty's, never reopened after the PAUSE of March 2020.

Thanks to Steven for the photo!

Tuesday's parting shot

Rolling up laters of wheatepaste posters this evening outside the dormant construction pit on the NE corner of Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place... (on the top — Supreme's Spring/Summer 2022 ad by Harmony Korine featuring Julix Fox...)

Farewells: Rev. Anne Sawyer has left St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery

Photos by Stacie Joy

Easter Sunday was the last day for the Rev. Anne Sawyer to preside over services at the historic St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery on 10th Street and Second Avenue.

Rev. Anne, who started as the 14th Rector in June 2017, is heading back to her native Arizona to be with her wife, the Rev. Susan Anderson-Smith.

Before moving to New York, the two co-founded a tuition-free school in Tucson, Ariz., modeled after the former Nativity School here. Anderson-Smith needed to return to the school last year. 

And as Rev. Anne told EVG contributor Stacie Joy:  "We've been doing the long-distance thing for a while. That's a big part of it — wanting to be back together," she said. "I will miss St. Mark's and all of you."

We'll miss Rev. Anne too — she was friendly and outgoing with a great affinity toward the neighborhood and its residents ... it was a pleasure to run into her at the church's many events in recent years (such as here and here...)

Previously on EV Grieve:

• A visit to St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery 

Root & Bone shutters after 8 years in the East Village

Root & Bone closed after brunch service on Sunday... bringing an end to eight years at 200 E. Third St. just west of Avenue B. 

Per an Instagram post: 

After 8 years in the East Village, we have made the incredibly difficult and heartbreaking decision to close our doors. ... We are so grateful for all the wonderful people that have joined us, the friends we have made, and the family we have forged with our amazing, funny, and weird staff. 

"Top Chef" veterans Janine Booth and Jeff McInnis opened the restaurant specializing in Southern cuisine in early 2014... they later expanded the brand, with a pop-up in Puerto Rico and an outpost in South Miami in 2019. That location remains open... as does their Stiltsville Fish Bar in Miami Beach. 

This EV address was previously home to Mama's Food Shop, which closed in July 2012 after 15 years. Heart 'n Soul tried the space briefly before Root & Bone.

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Mama's Food Shop closes after 15 years; 'the community nature of the neighborhood has all but vanished'

Meta deal: Facebook takes up more of 770 Broadway

ICYMI... According to Bloomberg, Facebook signed a lease for an additional 300,000 square feet of office space at 770 Broadway. 

Per Bloomberg, this addition gives Facebook — a tenant since 2013 — "nearly total control" of the 15-story landmarked building between Eighth Street and Ninth Street.

And if Facebook employees tire of their own cafeteria(s), then they will be able to schlep down to the retail space when Wegmans opens next year in the former Kmart home.

Bagel Boss has closed on 14th Street

The Bagel Boss at 238 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue apparently won't be reopening. 

The address has been removed from the Bagel Boss website, and Google lists them as "permanently closed." 

This comes after a temporary closure last October. At the time, BB management told us, "The location is temporarily closed due to gas and electric problems. We hope to open back up before the end of December!" The outpost never reopened, and it eventually showed up on real-estate listings. 

On Saturday, a reader saw the gate open for the first time in months ... and the interior mainly looked cleaned out...

Bagel Boss had only just opened here last July. 

The company, founded in 1975, has 14 locations in NYC and on Long Island. An outpost at 55 E. Houston St. (at Mott) also debuted last year. The store at 263 First Ave. remains in business.

[Updated] Report of a stabbing on Avenue A near 10th Street

Photos by Steven 

Updated 4/20

The NYPD has identified a person of interest. According to NYPD sources: "The victim didn’t cooperate at first because he was drunk."

We had heard previously that the two men knew each other.

Updated 4/25

Here is a surveillance clip of the suspect.

----

There are reports of a man who suffered non-life-threatening injuries after getting stabbed on Avenue A near 10th Street outside Tompkins Square Park shortly before 6 p.m. 

Several EVG readers report that crime scene tape is up in parts of Tompkins Square Park ... at the entrance on Ninth Street at Avenue A ... and the area around Temperance Fountain...

The Citizen app reports that the unknown victim "sustained leg and head injuries" and was being transported to the hospital.

This was the scene on Avenue A close to 10th Street...   

It's not known at the moment what led to the stabbing.

Closing day at Panya on Stuyvesant Street

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Panya, the Japanese bakery at 8 Stuyvesant St., closed for good on Saturday evening, marking the fourth and last of the businesses owned by Yoshida Restaurant Group to shut down here between Ninth Street and Third Avenue. 

Village Yokocho, Angel's Share and Sunrise Mart have shuttered in recent weeks. Cooper Union, which leases the buildings from their owners and had subleased them to the Yoshida Restaurant Group for more than 25 years, said it was the tenants' decision to move on. (This post has more background.)

EVG contributor Stacie Joy visited the bakery two and a half hours before closing. There were a few items left on the shelves... the kitchen was already closed...

The manager said that some employees had worked at Panya for years — several since they were young adults. One worker was seen crying.

Panya opened here in 1994. 

Like the other businesses in this corridor, they will be missed...

Breaking bread: Librae Bakery coming to Cooper Square

Renovations continue inside 35 Cooper Square at Sixth Street... signage on the door reveals the new tenant — Librae Bakery...

Don't know too much about the incoming business... they do have a placeholder website. 

We can glean a few clues from the bakery's help-wanted ad:

Looking to hire passionate people for a zero short cut, artisan family bakery. Seeking detail driven, bread-obsessed bakers with experience in sourdough production and vinoisserie. Daytime shifts only, early morning availability a must! Option for full and part time.

Sourdough! 

Schmackary's, which sold cookies and other desserts, never reopened in this space following the PAUSE of March 2020.

Former B Bar & Grill cleared from the Bowery

That's all for the former B Bar & Grill on Fourth Street and the Bowery ... as the demolition, which started late last year, wraps up here on the SW corner.

The photo here is at the former entrance to the one-time hotspot (dating to the mid-1990s)...

And next UP: a 21-floor office building. We got a first look at the Midtown-friendly monstrosity here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• CB Developers pay $59.5 million for an interest in 358 Bowery — current home of the B Bar & Grill and likely a new development

• B Bar & Grill lays off its staff without severance

• Permits filed to demolish the former B Bar & Grill on the Bowery

• First sign of the B Bar & Grill-replacing 21-story office building on the Bowery