EV Grieve

Monday, March 4, 2013

Morning rush

This a.m., by Bobby Williams.

Favorite East Village places: Ink on A

East Village-based photographer Gudrun Georges has a photo essay on one of our favorite places in the neighborhood — Ink On A, Avenue A between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street... She shared these photos with us...

Find the rest of her photos from Ink here, where she has more about Ink owner Ben Dahud.

TR Crandall Guitars opening soon on East Third Street

[Via @TRCguitars]

Signs are up at 179 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B for TR Crandall Guitars ... we asked them about the storefront via Facebook:

"We plan to be open full time starting April 8th. We specialize in fine quality vintage acoustic guitars, banjos, mandolins and ukuleles. We will have an unequalled repair shop with master craftsman Tom Crandall at the helm."

Crandall is a 13-year veteran of Matt Umanov Guitars on Bleecker Street.

[Via @TRCguitars]

Claim: Nobu alum taking over Kajitsu space on East Ninth Street

Kajitsu, the highly-regarded vegetarian kaiseki restaurant, recently made the move from East Ninth Street to East 39th Street.

Now a tipster passes along word that a 15-year-alum of Nobu plans to take over the space for a restaurant featuring an upscale traditional Japanese menu. The new name is said to be Cagen. They will be applying for a beer-wine license at an upcoming CB3/SLA meeting.

Joe's Pizza opens today on East 14th Street

That's the word from Eater, who got a look inside the pizzeria on Friday. (BoweryBoogie has some interior shots here.) Eater notes that the pizza tastes exactly like what Joe Pozzuoli serves at the Carmine Street location. In other words, no 99-cent or $1 crap.

Joe's takes over the space last used by Naked Pizza...

On the topic of pizza on this stretch of East 14th Street... Cafe Amore still sits empty closer to Fourth Avenue...

The "for rent" signs that went up here in April have been removed, though.

Checking in on the $1 pizza war on First Avenue

Speaking of pizza... The third East Village 2 Bros. Pizza location opened on First Avenue near East 14th Street on Feb. 15 ... Flashback!

The sign battle has escalated here as this photo by Dave on 7th shows...

The 10-year-old Vinny Vincenz certainly has the advantage, serving a variety of homemade items (eggplant parmesan hero, woot!).

Per Eater's Greg Morabito: "The regular $2.50 slice is easily three or four times better than one of those crummy pieces of wet cardboard served at 2 Bros., or at any of the other dollar slice joints in the area."

Caffe Buon Gusto has been closed on Avenue B

Well, there's a long recent history here on East Fifth Street and Avenue B... We first reported Caffe Buon Gusto's incoming arrival in June 2009. However, through the years, the space became dormant, serving as a makeshift shelter and a canvas.

Then! Last April, new signage arrived... The Italian eatery did open in the spring... and the place never seemed all that busy... and while diners generally liked the food, we heard a few stories about the ambiance, like the Rangers game on the flat-panel TV behind the bar on mute with Yanni cranking on the house stereo.

In any event, Bill the libertarian anarchist and a few other readers have noted the place hasn't been open of late... calls to the restaurant go unanswered...

Heart n' Soul opening this week at the site of the former Mama's Food Shop

Several readers pointed us to the revamped space that previously belonged to Mama's Food Shop on East Third Street at Avenue B... (Mama's closed last July after 15 years.)

[Photo by @ThePeterHa]

[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Heart 'n Soul, which opens this week, will feature the "Coastal Southern cuisine" of chef Dave Conn, who spend a good part of his life in the South. Read more about him and his influences at the Heart 'n Soul website.

And here's their menu...

Heart 'N Soul is on this month's CB3/SLA committee docket for a beer-wine license. The landlord of the building also owns the adjacent Mama's Bar.

Welcome back: the Pearl Diner has returned

We've been keeping an eye on one of the city's great diners, the 50-year-old (plus) Pearl Diner on the fringes of the Financial District. They never reopened after Superstorm Sandy.

We're happy to say that the Pearl is back. Our friends at One More Folded Sunset noted that the diner started serving again on Feb. 19.

We swung by for a few photos. A great deal going on now weeknights too...

The diner is at 212 Pearl St., a block west of Water Street between John Street and Maiden Lane.

Apparently no one will be getting Yogurt Crazy now on Third Avenue

[June 2012]

Signs went up for an incoming Yogurt Crazy last June on Third Avenue between 12th Street and 11th Street ... replacing the hardware store that closed in January 2010...

However, there was never any craziness... Last month, we spotted a "rent demand" letter on the door from landlord NYU ... Per the letter, signed by Peter Min, director of NYU's Lease and Acquisitions, Yogurt Crazy owes $37,134.87 "for rent and additional rent" through Feb. 28.

Last Monday, we spotted more legalese papers taped to the door...

And now, someone has removed the Yogurt Crazy signage....

So! Let's do a quick FroYo recap. A Twister self-serve frozen yogurt shop is in the works on Second Avenue near East Seventh Street. The Yogurt Station remains closed on St. Mark's Place ... the NLYU Yogurt on First Avenue near East 10th Street closed after just a few months in business.

Oh! That Yooglers froyo place opened on Broadway near East 10th Street about a month or so ago. Never noted that...

Before the building housing Yooglers was torn down to make way for luxury condos, the address was the last home to New York City's unofficial poet laureate Frank O'Hara. Read more about that at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Time again for Richard Hell

[Image of David Johansen & Richard Hell from 1977 via]

Expect to see and hear a lot from Richard Hell in the coming weeks. His memoir, "I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp," is out next week. The book by the writer, musician, actor, "founding father of the New York punk scene" covers everything from running away to New York in the late 1960s to his drug addiction in the 1970s.

Today, The New York Times kicked things off with two pieces... one a review of sorts of the book, highlighting a few of its "juiciest bits." (Example: The Ramones "were popular but were regarded by the core movers as intrinsically minor." Of Blondie: "Hardly anyone" took them seriously.)

The Times also has a feature on one of Hell's favorite possessions — a handmade book he received some 40 years ago. (The feature includes a nice shot of his books in the East 12th Street apartment he has lived in the past 38 years.)

On Wednesday, March 13, Hell is the guest of East Village Radio's The Rest is Noise show at noon. On Thursday March 14, he will appear at the Barnes & Noble on Union Square. (Details here.)

As for the book, the early reviews are positive. Per Publisher's Weekly:

Hell's refreshingly candid portrait of the artist searching for himself offers a glimpse into his own genius as well as recreating the hellishness and the excitement of a now long-gone music scene in New York City.

And from Kirkus: "A deft, lyrical chronicle by a punk with perspective."

Here's a video via Time Out New York of Hell reading from the book's manuscript in 2011...

Part II

And will leave you with this interview from 1993 on Steve Vizard's Tonight Live in Australia.

Week in Grieview

[Spotted on East Third Street]

At the annual Mr. Lower East Side Pageant (Tuesday)

Boca Chica is closed for now (Tuesday)

Here's Bowery Poetry (Thursday)

Fire at Village View (Friday)

Still no explanations for those noises Tuesday night (Wednesday, 34 comments)

Ads for The Jefferson mock your lousy apartment (Monday)

Former Cedar Tavern becoming a European Wax Center (Wednesday)

CB3 rescinds its approval of Lolita Bar takeover (Wednesday)

New liquor store for East Houston (Monday)

When you shoplift at Rite Aid (Tuesday, 34 comments)

Out and About with Reverend Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister at Middle Collegiate Church (Wednesday)

Our two-part interview with John Holmstrom, founding editor of Punk Magazine (Thursday ... and Friday)

Bishops and Barons has closed on East 14th Street (Friday)

Look at the Flea Market Cafe now (Saturday)

Tepito closes on First Avenue (Friday)

[Sky over Tompkins Square Park this morning]

Jennifer's Way Bakery sells out of everything on opening day

The gluten-free, dairy-free, refined-sugar free, soy-free, peanut-free, allergy-friendly, organic bakery from actress Jennifer Esposito opened yesterday on East 10th Street.

They were apparently busy.

Wow what a day!!! Sold out in a few hrs!! Thanks 2everyone for your love and support! Start again 2morrow at 12! See u them @jenniferswayje
— Jennifer'sWay Bakery (@JWayBakeryNYC) March 3, 2013

Did anyone try it?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Actress Jennifer Esposito's Jennifer's Way Bakery opening soon on East 10th Street (46 comments)

[Updated] Plywood removal reveals East 12th Osteria on First Avenue

Several readers noted that the plywood has come down on the northwest corner of First Avenue and East 12th Street...

The space will soon house a restaurant serving Northern Italian fare via Roberto Deiaco, who was the executive chef at Armani Ristorante in the Armani flagship store on Fifth Avenue, per The New York Times.

In a dining preview at the Times in December, Florence Fabricant wrote this:

Mr. Deiaco describes the restaurant as a combination of old and up-to-date, with recycled wood and a tin ceiling coexisting with a steel and glass facade. And though the place is casual, the menu does not shy away from luxury, with truffles and foie gras.

Seems as if this has been in the words for some time. CB3 approved the beer-wine license for the address in February 2012.

The space was last held by the Fuji Apple deli, which closed in April 2011.

And on it goes... corner markets replaced by high-end restaurants serving truffles and foie gras...

Updated 3-4
The restaurant will open Wednesday.

Bike corrals arrive at the 4th Street Food Co-op

Yesterday, we noted that the bike corrals are now in place in front of Continuum Cycles (and Continuum Coffee) on Avenue B near East 12th Street...

CB3 OK'd bike corrals (CityRacks!) for the 4th Street Food Co-op as well back in December. As the photo from EVG regular Derek Berg above shows, the racks are in place on East Fourth Street too.

Jill Woodward wrote this in December at the The 4th Street Food Co-op blog:

We need the parking because so many of our members and shoppers arrive by bike, and it can be difficult to find a parking place near the store.

The tradeoff is 1-2 fewer spaces for automobiles in exchange for up to 20 spots for cycles. That calculation can result in more business for the neighborhood, according to a recent report by TA.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's your new East Ninth Street bike rack (18 comments)

More bike corrals on the way for East Village businesses

Report: East Village resident first woman to try out for the NFL

I've seen the stories in recent weeks about Lauren Silberman, the first woman in history to register for an NFL regional scouting combine. (She is trying out as a field-goal kicker.) Today, she competes alongside college kickers at the Jets training facility in Florham Park, N.J., for the right to advance to a Dallas super-regional combine in April.

The previous stories about just says that she lives in New York. The Post mentions today that she lives in the East Village. (Not sure what the Post defines as the East Village.)

In any event, Silberman, 28, was a club soccer player at the University of Wisconsin. Plus, she worked on her master's in comparative media studies at MIT, "writing her thesis in 2009 about how athletes use video games to boost their performance."

Here she is talking about the combine ...