The holistic Divya’s Kitchen coming to the Bhakti Center on 1st Avenue

You may have noticed the paper on the doors at the Bhakti Center's dining space... here's more about what's going on here at 25 First Ave. between First Street and Second Street... via the EVG inbox...

Nearly 3 years ago, a small group of devotees came together to reignite the first floor at the Bhakti Center by launching a new cafe and gift shop ... It’s been rewarding and satisfying on a personal level to see the developments of the first floor over the past few years. This coming Fall, another exciting opportunity has presented itself ...

Many of you know Purusha Sukta and Divyambhara as the co-founders of Bhagavat-Life, an educational non-profit dedicated to teaching and sharing healthy, nourishing, conscious cuisine with the world. Beyond that, they are beloved community members and friends at The Bhakti Center who have been operating on our 5th floor for several years. The Bhakti Center has made a collective decision to partner with Bhagavat Life to bring the quality and experience of our cafe to a even higher level.

The new operation will function under the name Divya’s Kitchen. In addition to being a holistic, tasty, mindful cafe offering food that nourishes and uplifts each guest, it will also be the first authentic Ayurvedic cafe in NYC, and perhaps even the country. There will be items available for grab-and-go, as well as sit-down dining services.

The Center's yoga classes and other workshops are not impacted by the cafe's closure. The new cafe is expected to be open later this month.

Tribute in Light

Seen tonight from Sara D. Roosevelt Park.

Report: Raphael Toledano sells 2 more of his East Village properties

[File photo of 58 St. Mark's Place]

Raphael Toledano's Brookhill Properties is in contract to sell two of his East Village buildings, according to The Real Deal.

Renaissance Realty Group, a Midwood-based investment firm led by Adir Cohen, is buying a pair of East Village properties at 221 East 10th Street and 58 St. Mark’s Place for $22.5 million. The sales would represent a sizable increase in value – from $2.95 million and $3.8 million in November 2015 to $10 million and $12.5 million respectively, according to sources and property records.

The controversial Toledano, who has been accused of allegedly harassing his tenants and other predatory practices, is reportedly selling other East Village properties. (The Real Deal noted this back in July.) This past Thursday, we noted that he also put 97 Second Ave on the sales block.

Hakata Hot Pot and Sushi Lounge, housed in the retail spaces at 58 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue, closed at the end of February. In a message on Facebook, the owners said that they had lost their lease. (Hakata Hot Pot combined with sister restaurant Zen 6 the next block to the west at 31 St. Mark's Place.)

Both 58 St. Mark's Place and 221 E. 10th St., which is between First Avenue and Second Avenue, were among Toledano's properties reportedly tested for toxic levels of lead.

The Real Deal reports that Toledano likely isn't through dealing.

Toledano is looking to sell more of his East Village-centric holdings, including a portion of a separate 17-building, $97 million portfolio he bought from the Tabaks in September 2015. Market observers noted at the time that the price was an incredible bargain, though Toledano is also said to be over-leveraged.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

10Below Ice Cream now open on St. Mark's Place

The shop, billed as the first establishment serving Thai-inspired ice cream rolls in NYC, has debuted at a new retail space at 42 1/2 St. Mark's Place just east of Second Avenue.

A photo posted by 10Below Ice Cream (@10belowicecream) on Aug 14, 2016 at 6:39pm PDT

The quickly expanding 10Below Ice Cream has locations in Chinatown, the LES (Allen Street as of July) and Flushing. They are branching out to Los Angeles too.

The St. Mark's location is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, until 11:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

This is the latest rolled ice cream shops to open right around here. Roll It Up opened on Aug. 26 at 65 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... while Lab -321 opened at 27 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue on June 3.

Team behind Avenue B's Pardon My French eyeing 2 spaces on 4th Street

Mario Carta and Guilherme Barreto, the proprietors of Pardon My French at 103 Avenue B near Seventh Street, have designs on new ventures in two currently vacant restaurant spaces on Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, according to documents on file for this month's CB3 SLA committee meeting on Monday.

Before Pardon My French debuted in March 2015, Carta ran the bistro Casimir in the space for 16 years. Barreto came on as the chef for the new venture.

235 E. Fourth St.



The applicants are proposing a restaurant serving French tapas called Nobody Is Perfect for No. 235.

The public questionnaire (PDF!) at the CB3 website shows proposed hours of 5 p.m. to 4 a.m. Monday-Friday, with opening hours at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The paperwork shows 30 tables with seats for 70 diners... and two small bars seating 12 people in total.

The previous restaurant, B4, closed in June after nearly three years in business.

No. 235 has been a challenging spot in recent years for restaurants — Piccola Positano, Tonda and E.U. have all come and gone.

212 E. Fourth St.



A French-Mediterranean restaurant called Bazar is being proposed for No. 212.

The public questionnaire (PDF!) at the CB3 website shows proposed hours of 5 p.m. to 4 a.m. Monday-Friday, with opening hours at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

There are 18 tables for 36 diners here ... along with a six-seat bar.

The applicants are hoping for an upgrade from beer-wine to a full liquor license, per the documents.

After 13 years of serving Italian fare, In Vino closed here back in May.

This month's SLA committee meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the Thelma Burdick Community Room, 10 Stanton St. at the Bowery.

A few details about the Wagamama coming to 3rd Avenue

[EVG file photo]

As previously reported, Wagamama, the London-based chain of Japanese restaurants, is coming to 55 Third Ave.

The applicants opening this location are on CB3's SLA committee docket this month for a beer-wine license. (This item, however, will NOT be heard during Monday's meeting.)

The questionnaire (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website offers a few details about the space.

For starters, the hours will be 11 a.m. to midnight daily. In addition, it looks to be a decent-size food space with 23 tables seating 93 patrons plus "12 stools by food counter." There is also a bar with 19 stools, per the questionnaire. (This Wagamama will also employ 40 people, the documents show.)

This will be the second Wagamama location in Manhattan. The first is opening on Fifth Avenue in a 3-story space overlooking Madison Square Park.

The Japanese-inspired, London-based chain of pan-Asian casual eateries (as the Post put it) has 140 locations around the world.

The current tenant, M2M, the Asian grocery that opened in 2002 here at the corner of 11th Street, is expected to relocate in the neighborhood when the lease is up early next year. No word when Wagamama might open then.

LinkNYC adds decorative touch to make kiosks more visually pleasing

Might need some more work?

Photo on Second Avenue today by Derek Berg

Two for Tuesday

This early evening's double rainbow brought to you in photo form via EVG regular Salim.

...and another view courtesy of JGH...

Thirstea Café tea shop has closed on 10th Street

After seven years in business here on East 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, Thirstea Café has closed its doors for good.

Winn O’Donnell, who ran the small shop with his business partner Helen He, confirmed the news via email on Sunday.

O’Donnell didn't site a specific reason for the closure... "just the usual stuff," he said. (Higher rents. The increasing cost of running a small business in NYC. Etc.)

People we know who liked the shop and the variety of teas appreciated O'Donnell's hands-on approach to his business, working there full time (not an absentee owner, in other words). Patrons also appreciated that they kept the prices the same for most of the life of Thirstea.


[Photo of O'Donnell from April by Stacie Joy]

In an interview with us back in April, O'Donnell discussed what prompted him to open a cafe here in July 2009:

We have always loved the East Village. We were happy to find a storefront here. We wanted to open up a cafe as tea lovers and wanted to share our sense of taste and style. We have always loved how the East Village has a lot of mom-and-pop shops. We love the vibe of all the specialty stores and wanted to create one of our own.

There will be milling starting tonight

You may have seen the recent arrival of these flyers from the city... noting milling taking place on a handful of Manhattan streets, including a good number in the East Village.

According to city documents (the Milling and Resurfacing Schedule for Sept. 4-10), work will commence tonight on Third Street between the Bowery and Avenue D, and Fourth Street between Second Avenue and Avenue D. Several other streets, including Seventh between Cooper Square and Avenue D, are on the schedule for Wednesday and Thursday.



The signs note that the work will take place between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. So thankfully you won't even notice most of the work because you will be sound asleep!

Meanwhile, in Great Moments in Project Overlaps, Dave on 7th notes that Con Ed has been replacing gas mains on Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...



Per Dave: "Apparently the city is going to repave the street before Con Ed is done digging it up."

Something featuring nails coming to 248 E. 14th St.

Renovations continue at the former C & B Convenience Store at 248 E. 14th St., which shut down in June.

Work permits show that a "nail store" is on the way here between between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...



Hopefully the store will carry a decent variety of by-the-pound nails, including spiral shank, roofing and masonry.

OK, more than likely this space will be a nail salon.

Meanwhile next door, as previously reported, a quick-serve restaurant called Poke Kitchen is in the works.

Openings: 100% Healthy Blend; plus Ess-A-Bagel and more

100% Healthy Blend (or maybe just Healthy Blend) opened on Saturday in the former Dahlia's space at Second Avenue and Fifth Street.

The quick-serve restaurant features create-your-own salads ... as well as juices, smoothies, empanadas, arepas and more...As we understand it, the owners of Dahlia's are also behind this no-booze venture.

The SLA temporarily suspended Dahlia's liquor license after serving a reported 50 minors one night in January. The Mexican restaurant then closed in May.

-----

There have been several food openings of late ... including (to recap) Ess-A-Bagel ... Guac NYC and Agios Greek Rotisserie ... In addition, Raclette is now open in its larger space on East 12th Street, the former home of Northern Spy.

Paris Baguette opening a location in Stuy Town

Signage is up in the shoppes of Stuy Town near 16th Street for an outpost of Paris Baguette.

The quickly expanding South Korea-based company has more than 3,000 corporate and franchised stores across multiple countries in Asia as well as in Europe. There are seven cafe locations currently in Manhattan.



No word on an opening date here for their cakes, pastries, sandwiches and coffee.

Summer 2016

[Photo in Tompkins Square Park from July by Derek Berg]

Just a few of the stories that we followed these past few months...

• The Yaffa Cafe mural was painted over

• People watched the President drive by

• Tompkins Square Park had a Prince-inspired piano


[Photo from June by Steven]

• Kanye West thought about playing a show at Webster Hall

• Other Music closed


[A tribute for Muhammad Ali on Avenue B]

• The Sock Man announced his return to St. Mark's Place

• ABC No Rio closed for now


[At ABC No Rio's last HardCore/Punk Matinee. Pic by Walter Wlodarczyk]

• The Kati Roll Company announced plans to open in the Stage space on Second Avenue

• The black crowned night heron continued to come out at... night in Tompkins Square Park

And we spent time watching Christo and Dora's new kids learning to hunt and fly in Tompkins Square Park...

[Photo from July by Bobby Williams]

• There were neighborhood alerts for the Third Street Rose Snipper ... and a flowerpot thief on St. Mark's Place.

• There were some storms...


[Photo from July 14 by Mike Brown]

• Shaun Martin was found guilty of murder in 2013 crash at East Village Farm and Grocery

• Small-format Target announced plan for 14th Street and Avenue A

• The new Astor Place got tables, chairs and umbrellas

• Permits were filed to demolish five buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel

• NYPD reportedly took action against heroin users in Tompkins Square Park

• The 111-year-old New York Central Art Supply closed

So long to the long, hot summer...

Today in ominous turkey vulture sightings over the East Village

Everything's fine! No worries!

Photo via Steven

Week in Grieview (Labor Day edition)

[Spontaneous combustion on Avenue A? Pic by Grant Shaffer]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Reports: Man struck by FDNY ambulance on 14th Street and Second Avenue dies from his injuries (Tuesday)

$10 million expansion coming to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in 2018 (Thursday)

Icon Realty buys building that housed Surma Books & Music for 98 years on Seventh Street (Friday)

Long-vacant 71 Fourth Ave. razed to make way for 10-story building (Monday)

Raclette moves from Avenue A to East 12th Street (Friday)

Ess-A-Bagel returns (Sunday)

Out and About with Hal Hirshorn (Wednesday)

Raphael Toledano selling 97 Second Ave. (Thursday)

NY Grill & Deli opens on Avenue A and 12th Street (Monday)

Poke Kitchen in the works for 14th Street (Monday)

Agios Greek Rotisserie now open on St. Mark's Place (Thursday)

Construction site at 421 E. 6th St. now with a 'weekly look ahead' (Tuesday)

Schnitz looks closed (Friday)

8-story condoplex to bubble up from former Discount Beer & Soda (Thursday)

Plywood signage arrives for Michelin-starred Tim Ho Wan on 4th Avenue and 10th Street (Monday)

Sidewalk bridge arrives outside 112-120 E. 11th St. (Wednesday)

215 E. 12th St. is now available as a rental for $40k per month (Wednesday)


[The results of a failed magic act on 3rd Street? Pic by JGH]

Not open lately: Atomic Wings on First Avenue; Edible Arrangements on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

Two years after closing, last East Village gas station finally looking ready for demolition (Tuesday)

A new garden for Eastville Gardens on Avenue C (Tuesday)

Aroma Kitchen & Winebar giving way to Misirizzi on Fourth Street (Monday)

Maison Kayser announces itself near Union Square (Tuesday)

... and on Aug. 21, police found a resident dead inside his East Second Street apartment. (He reportedly died of natural causes.) Not much was known about the man, who neighbors called the “box man” as he was often seen bringing boxes into his apartment each day.

A tribute remains in his honor on the building's front steps...

Steiner East Village's place in the NYC condo market

[Photo from Saturday]

The New York Times checked in yesterday with a piece on the NYC condo market... while the market for $100 million mansions in high rises along 57th Street may have vanished, "sales at the other end of the new development market have been brisk."

Prominently mentioned in the article is Steiner East Village, developer Douglas Steiner's condoplex rising on Avenue A at 12th Street. Not exactly giving it away here. The 7-story, 82-unit building officially at 438 E. 12th St. features homes starting at $1.1 million... with the 4-bedroom penthouse with 1,364 square feet of terraces that's asking $11.25 million.

[W]hile prices in the building, which average $2,100 a square foot, are hardly a bargain in the East Village, which has very little new development, they can seem inviting compared with other downtown neighborhoods. [Broker Fredrik] Eklund said the building has drawn a number of buyers from the West Village and TriBeCa, some of the most expensive areas in the city, where inventory under $5 million is hard to come by.

“I think we’re setting a new high market for condos in the East Village, but compared to the rest of downtown, people understand that they’re getting a value for Manhattan,” said Douglas C. Steiner, the chairman of Steiner NYC.

Amenities in Stei Town include a 24-hour lobby concierge, 50-foot long pool, spa, gym, library, playroom, parking and, in some cases, views of a 7-Eleven.

A moment in the ongoing East Houston Reconstruction Project

As the East Houston Reconstruction project creeps along, already three years behind schedule, EVG reader EV Rob says that he was getting tired of seeing the new medians as well as the East First Street pedestrian plaza filled with weeds and trash.

"I check the weekly bulletin they issue just to see what's coming. They listed those weed-ridden plots as accomplishments," EV Rob wrote us in an email.

And he wondered why the center medians from the Bowery to Sixth Avenue are usually maintained and manicured ... yet those from FDR to First Avenue are overgrown with weeds as tall as 6 feet in a few spots...







So EV Rob sent an email last Thursday to the project's community rep... Not only did Rob receive a response that day, he also saw that on Friday a crew started cleaning up the Greenstreets pedestrian plaza outside Punjabi Deli ...



The rep offered an apology and said that the DDC would clean up the medians "then turn them over to the Parks Department for all future maintenance."

EV Rob said that was impressed that someone got back to him... and took action.

Meanwhile! There was talk that the whole project might be wrapping up this month. However, DNAinfo reports that there is now a further delay in the the already-prolonged project. Spring 2017 is the new completion date.

The DDC has been reconstructing/replacing combined sewers, trunk main, water mains, catch basins, fire hydrants, sidewalks, etc., etc., along East Houston Street, from the Bowery to the FDR Drive. This work phase started in June 2010, when the Lakers beat the Celtics to win their 16th NBA Championship and "Jonah Hex" was playing in theaters.

Happy Labor Day.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Coming soon to East Houston: Construction, hell, rodent control stations

Long-threatened East Houston reconstruction starting this month

East Houston Street construction will be a living hell for an extra year

How you can help Punjabi Grocery & Deli stay in business

Never-ending construction continues to hurt Punjabi Grocery & Deli

Taxi Relief Stand arrives on Avenue A; Punjabi Grocery & Deli relieved

Sept. 4

Photo today outside the Tile Bar on First Avenue at Seventh Street via Vinny & O...

Looks as if the lights are still attached ...



Happy Labor Day Weekend!

A moment on 2nd Avenue today

Outside Moishe's Bake Shop on Second Avenue today via Derek Berg