Monday, March 15, 2021

2 new plant-based restaurants arrive for takeout and delivery on 1st Street

58 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue is now home to two plant-based restaurants — VistroBurger and PurpleThai...
The restaurants, offering takeout and delivery, popped up here last week.

Vistro offers several varieties of burgers, including the CHICKpea, the Shroom'n, the Beanoa (black beans and quinoa) and the Sexy SeiTAN. The menu is here. You can find the PurpleThai menu here.

Both establishments are from Ross Glick, the founder of Vegan Warrior Project. 

The new businesses must mean the end of Km1, short for Kilometro Uno, the Caribbean restaurant that debuted late in the summer of 2020 and only lasted a few months before going dark.

This address has seen several quality restaurants come and go in recent years. Esperanto Fonda lasted nine months, closing in May 2017. Before that, this was home to BARA for two years and Prima for three years. The Elephant, a Thai restaurant, was previously here for 17 years.

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo outside Cooper Union by Derek Berg...) 

• RIP Julian Baczynsky (Friday

• Appreciating the pinhole photography of late East Village resident Veronica Saddler (Wednesday

• Frank Prisinzano planning grocery concept near Lil' Frankie's on 1st Avenue (Tuesday

• Claim: The pandemic caused more bar-restaurant closings in the East Village than in any other NYC neighborhood (Wednesday

• At the Black History Bowl (Sunday

• On the Bowery: Stop Asian Hate (Saturday

• City removes tree said to have been tangled up with a sanitation truck on 1st Avenue (Thursday

• Sidewalk bridge fakeout at the beleaguered Mariana Bracetti Plaza (Wednesday

• PSA 4 providing increased security at Mariana Bracetti Plaza (Monday

• Concern for the barking dogs at 58 St. Mark's Place (Friday

• Pod dining in this week's NY See (Wednesday

• Gallery Watch heads to Public Access on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday

• Indoor dining in NYC increases to 50% on March 19; Little Poland promises to reopen (Thursday

• "Russian Doll" films on 3rd Street (Wednesday

• Anthology Film Archives will remain closed for the time being (Thursday

• New owners for Thirsty Scholar Pub on 2nd Avenue (Friday

• Phony Express returns with an "Odessa" special (Friday)

• O Ramen Dim Sum M has closed on 9th Street (Monday

• Changes: Looking for a Coinstar replacement after the Food Emporium closes this spring? (Tuesday

• Full reveal for Spike's on Avenue A (Monday

• San Francisco's Beloved Cafe ready to adore the LES (Thursday

• Incoming pizzeria check, 14th Street/Avenue A edition (Monday)

... and, to keep with a bike theme in the photos, a moment along St. Mark's Place Friday via Derek Berg...
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Tonight, the city will honor the 30,000 New Yorkers who have died from COVID-19

Photo of the COVID-19 memorial on A and 10th from April 11. 

Tonight at 7:45, the city will pause to mark the one-year anniversary of the first reported COVID-19 fatality in New York City. As Gothamist reports, 30,031 people have died from COVID-19 in New York City — 25,147 deaths categorized by the city as confirmed, and 5,027 considered probable. 

The City has more on this evening's memorial event here.

Report: Kavasutra ownership blasts educators who teach remotely, 'pussy leftists' for wearing masks

As the New York Post reports, Kavasutra Kava Bar, the Florida-based chain, "is taking heat" for posts this past week from its main Instagram account that called out educators who still teach remotely and "pussy leftists" who wear masks. 

According to their Instagram posts, those educators who aren't teaching in-person are banned from all Kavasutra locations, including the two in the East Village (10th Street and First Street). 

After a barrage of criticism and one-star reviews on Yelp for the post on March 9, Kavasutra followed up with another on Instagram:
"It has come to our attention that we may have upset some people with our last post. We've been reading your comments and we understand how we may have effected [sic] some of you, so we want to be very clear: masks are for leftist losers. Teachers unions are trash. Women are born with ovaries. And we are doing slams at midnight tonight."
As The Miami Herald noted in its headline Friday: "This South Florida bar just managed to insult almost everyone in two Instagram posts." On Friday, the editorial board at The Denver Post suggested to its readers that they "steer clear" of the two Kavasutra outposts in that city.

Various news outlets have reported that this isn't the chain's first go-around with inflammatory social media posts. In sexist and anti-transgender posts in 2018, they stated that participants in ladies night must be women from birth. In a follow-up, they tried to clarify their position: "The point of ladies night is to get ladies in the door so the men can bang them. If there's no vagina then they don't qualify because they don't benefit the business and the plan."

Initially, management reportedly blamed an employee who they said was fired. However, as the Sun-Sentinel later reported, owner Dylan Harrison admitted to police that he wrote the posts. The admission came after a confrontation at a South Florida location led to several arrests.

The 10th Street Kavasutra location opened in July 2015; the First Street outpost in December 2019.

EVG Etc.: Gov. Cuomo's rise and fall; Eisenberg's possible revival

Photo on 4th and the Bowery last night by Stacie Joy

• The rise of fall of Gov. Cuomo (The New York Times)

• The great Eisenberg's sandwich shop on 5th Avenue has closed; the building's manager and owner want someone to save it (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York

• Inside the city's SoHo/NoHo rezoning plan (Off the Grid

• Egg watch for Amelia and Christo in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography

• Survey says half of NYC's office workers won't return until September (Gothamist

• The importance of the midsize NYC chain grocer (Grub Street

• On 3rd Street, Book Club extends hours from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends (Instagram

• Details on a Joey Ramone tribute live stream in the U.K. (NME

• Rough Trade in Willismburgh closes on March 21 ahead of a move to a new, undisclosed location. Anyway, sales! (Instagram

Saturday, March 13, 2021

Saturday's parting thank you note

A note as seen on First Avenue and Fifth Street (thanks Karen!)... 

To the guy who 
found & returned 
my wallet today 
(Saturday), thank 
you so much!!! 
Sorry I was frazzled 
& didn't thank you
enough. I am so
grateful. — Emily

Noted

As seen on Second Avenue and Second Street... no sign of the headboard... photo via Stacie Joy...

On the Bowery: Stop Asian Hate

As seen at 246 Bowery at Stanton — #StopAsianHate, a mural by @plannedalism in collaboration with @lisaprojectnyc.

This CNBC article from Wednesday has more on the rise in anti-Asian violence and its impact on the restaurant industry. 

A group of restaurateurs, including many in the East Village (886, Málà Project and Nowon), have joined forces to raise awareness via a #EnoughIsEnough campaign. Read more about it at Eater

Welcome to Chinatown is also a good resource for how to support businesses in that neighborhood.

Another chance to Zumba on the open streets of Avenue B this afternoon

The Loisaida Open Streets Community Coalition is hosting two Zumba sessions this afternoon on Avenue B between Ninth Street and 10th Street... there's a low-impact version at 1 p.m. followed by an all-level session at 2 p.m. 

Your Rite Aid on 1st Avenue signage update

As a follow-up to Wednesday's post on the disappearing signage at the Rite Aid on First Avenue and Fifth Street...

EVG contributor Stacie Joy was at the store yesterday: "Crew reports new lettering and signage (to reflect new colors, font, etc.) should be up next week. They told me they have no plans to close, that all Rite Aids are being rebranded."
Workers smoothed over the marquee to make way for the new brandage/signage... which will look like this...
And there's a sneak preview up now (thanks Goggla!)...

Friday, March 12, 2021

Friday's parting shot

A moment on Rivington Street today... thanks to Colin Clark for permission to repost this photo... (find more of his work on Instagram).

March 12, part II

When the temps get above 60, it must become a good time to toss the ol' Chrsitmas tree ... Wheezy tracked this one down on 11th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue today... way to go Wheezy!