With Henri approaching, Key Food still stocked with the essentials

With Tropical Storm Henri on the way, we wondered what Key Food might be like this evening on Avenue A. (Through the years the grocery has been picked over ahead of a storm.) 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by to check in on essential items... the shelves were well-stocked... Milk! Eggs! Bread! Beer!

And the music was topical as well... Stacie heard Blind Melon's "No Rain" while there... a choice that inspired a sing-along in the snacks aisle...

Today in photos of random trophies in Tompkins Square Park

Congratulations! (For something.) Your hardwork really paid off!

Thanks to Grant Shaffer for the photos...

Regarding Henri

We're officially on storm watch, as this random photo from First Avenue and Sixth Street doesn't really show. 

As of 11 a.m., Henri is now a hurricane, and warnings have been issued for parts of Long Island, Connecticut and Rhode Island...

#Henri has strengthened to a hurricane and is headed for Long Island and southern New England. Hurricane and Tropical Storm Warnings have been extended eastward. Here are the 11 am EDT Key Messages. See https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB for details. pic.twitter.com/lRb61AnHaj

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 21, 2021

In NYC, we're under a tropical storm warning... with strong winds and heavy rains arriving overnight...

We are continuing to monitor Tropical Storm Henri. Here’s the latest:

-New York City is under a Tropical Storm Warning. We expect strong winds and rain to begin late tonight and last through tomorrow.

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) August 21, 2021

Gothamist has a nice recap of all this here. 

Headline H/T

Watching the neighborhood like a hawk

From near the top of Most Holy Redeemer on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... Christo and Amelia take a moment to spend some sunset time together away from their Tompkins Square Park home.

Goggla spotted the Park's resident red-tailed hawks here on Thursday evening ... watching over the land like hawks...

As Goggla documented, it was a challenging summer for the pair.

Two of their three offspring did not make it this year. Thankfully the surviving juvenile is doing well, hunting rats and trying to beat the heat. 

Per Goggla in an email: "They seem like a couple who has sent their kid off to college, and they're now kicking back, waiting for whatever is next."

HBD Joe Strummer

HBD Joe Stummer, born on this date in 1952. 

Mural by Dr. Revolt and Zephyr in 2003 ... and as seen outside Niagara this morning on Seventh Street at Avenue A. 

Now enjoy this clip of Strummer playing with the Mescaleros on Letterman in October 2001...

 

Friday's parting DM

Any sightings? 🤔 

Updated 8/21

A reader shared this from the @stoopingnyc Stories feed... apparently, the ostrich emu wasn't doing much running in its stuffed state...

Case closed! 🕵️‍♂️

And another view via @aczar ...

Updated 10:38 a.m. 

THE PLOT THICKENS!

The Emu(?) was around all day yesterday but disappeared overnight. I’m intrigued by the fact the it started the day with a Santa hat though. pic.twitter.com/gSWPefjPJ5

— Richard Frank (@Thtguyrich) August 21, 2021

Pace yourself

 

Parquet Courts this week announced details about their new album, Sympathy For Life, due out in October. Read more about that here. 

The first single from the Brooklyn-based band's forthcoming record is "Walking at a Downtown Pace" ... as seen in the above video.

Rather random Avenue A fruit stand randomly gone

The fruit stand that arrived in mid-April on Avenue A near Sixth Street has apparently packed up and left. They seemed to operate on an honor system, leaving the stand wrapped in a blue tarp and unattended overnight.

Any comments about their produce? 

Today in photos of severed stuffed zebra heads on 5th Avenue and 9th Street

Why it's good to leave the neighborhood every so often! Morning! (And I have no idea how long that has been up there. Hopefully for months!)

Report: Superiority Burger moving into the former Odessa space on Avenue A

Photo yesterday by Stacie Joy

The former Odessa space at 119 Avenue A has a new tenant. 

Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld at Grub Street report that Superiority Burger has signed a lease for the former diner between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

For starters, Brooks Headley, owner of the all-vegetarian quick-serve spot, tells the outlet that he's not changing a thing:

"Odessa has always kinda been my dream space," he says. What's so dreamy about it is that besides being big, it comes completely furnished and ready to go. "It's not old and dusty and gross and needing upgrades," he says. "I find it completely beautiful — the soda counter, the satellite bar, the cash register station. I don't plan to change it at all."

Superiority will be making the short move around the corner from Ninth Street in the months ahead: 

Headley says that he'll need to order some new kitchen equipment and anticipates that it will take at least five months — probably more, what with supply-chain issues — until the new Superiority opens its doors. The plan is to launch dinner service first and then open for lunch and breakfast (yes, breakfast!). He will likely surrender the ancillary kitchen space he leases on 9th Street but keep the original store for purposes yet to be determined. 

In July 2020, longtime manager Dennis Vassilatos said that Odessa was shutting down after a prolonged slump in business due to the pandemic. (Odessa Restaurant opened in this space in April 1995. The original Odessa, the longtime favorite that dated to the mid-1960s, closed next door in August 2013.)

However, closer to the last day, co-owner Steve Helios told Gothamist that Odessa was only closing temporarily, that the space would be renovated. (The building's landlord is Odessa partner Mike Skulikidis.) 

The space has sat untouched since then. 

Earlier in the summer, Louis Skibar, whose Toloache Restaurant Group revived the classic UWS diner Old John's Luncheonette, which dates to the 1950s, was said to be eyeing Odessa.

Superiority opened in the East Village in June 2015. 

Last weekend for Tea Drunk on 7th Street

After eight years at 123 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, Tea Drunk is closing up shop. This is the last weekend.

Per the tea shop's Instagram account:

With our current lease expiring ... August 21-22, will be the last days for Tea Drunk’s East Village location. Please hold that tear; this is not an end but a new beginning.⁠ ⁠Despite the highly challenging year due to COVID, Tea Drunk quickly pivoted and continued to stay connected with our tea community through our Educational Tea Club and an array of other online endeavors...

Tea Drunk will continue on with a variety of collaborations here and elsewhere. 

Meanwhile, if you need any fixtures...

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tea Drunk (@teadrunk)

Express yourself: A look at the new FedEx space on Houston

As mentioned the other day, the FedEx Office Print & Ship Center is moving into a newly renovated space a few doors away along East Houston between Avenue A and Avenue B.

EVG correspondent Stacie Joy shared these photos yesterday of the FedExers' more modern-looking storefront... 

Thursday's parting shot

Partial sunset tonight ...

On the CB3-SLA docket tonight: Ixta for the former DBGB space on the Bowery

Tonight is the second of the two CB3 SLA committee meetings for August.

Here's a look at a few of the applications on the agenda: 

• Ixta (LLC to be formed by Mike Himani), 299 Bowery (op) 

This looks to be tonight's big-ticket item. Restaurateur Akbarali Himani is seeking a full liquor license for Ixta, a Mexican restaurant proposed for the former DBGB space at 299 Bowery between First Street and East Houston (top pic).

According the the public documents on the CB3 website, Ixta would be open Sunday to Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., with hours of 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. The space in the Avalon Bowery complex is quite large, with a capacity of 194 patrons, who would be treated to "live Mariachi performers." 

Himani has been running a variety of restaurants in NYC and Long Island the past 30 years. His current credits include a Chickpea in Penn Station and NISI Mediterranean in Times Square. 

Daniel Boulud closed DBGB here in August 2017 after an eight-year run. 

• The York, 186 Ave B (op) 

Hospitality vets James Hurst and Hayden Tobin are looking to open The York here at 186 Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street. 

The York would be open daily from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. and serve a menu featuring "American comfort food," per the questionnaire at the CB3 website. The sample menu items include several burgers, sandwiches and brunch entrees. 

This address was most recently Very Thai, which had a nearly three-year run until late 2019 ... after taking over from Barbone. 

• ACES (Fine Food and Spirits Inc), 197 2nd Ave. (op) 

This is a carry-over from the July meeting for the former Black Emperor space between 12th Street and 13th Street. You can read about it here. The Aces questionnaire is at this link. 

Tonight's meeting starts at 6:30 in the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. There's also a Zoom option via this link.