Progress at Little Tong Noodle Shop, coming soon to 1st Avenue

[Photos by Steven]

A worker has been painting the exterior of the former Schnitz space this past week on First Avenue at 11th Street...



As we first noted in late December, a self-described "fast causal" restaurant called Little Tong Noodle Shop is set to take over the corner spot.

The applicants were OK'd for a beer-wine license last month. (This item was not heard during the committee meeting on Jan. 9.) According to the questionnaire (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website, the restaurant will be open daily from 11 a.m to midnight. The owners also plan on operating a four-table sidewalk cafe with 12 seats from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Simone Tong, who worked for Wylie Dufresne’s now-closed wd~50 on Clinton Street, is the chef. While work continues on the First Avenue space, Tong is hosting several preview dinners this month at Jimmy's No. 43 on Seventh Street, as Bedford + Bowery reported.

Meanwhile, here's a look at how the interior is shaping up via the restaurant's Instagram account...

Day 14. Aka- let's hide the WC. #noodles #chineserestaurant #chinesefood #yunnan #ricenoodles #eastvillage #nycfoodie #nycfood #nycrestaurants #eeeeeats #newyork #newyorkcity

A photo posted by Little Tong Noodle Shop (@littletongnyc) on Feb 1, 2017 at 2:04pm PST

No word yet on an opening date.

Schnitz, which served old-fashioned schnitzel sandwiches with unconventional toppings, was in operation from March 2014 to August 2016. Something Sweet, the family-owned bakery, was here until July 2012.

Previously on EVG:
Little Tong Noodle Shop taking the former Schnitz space on 1st Avenue

Last-minute things to do on Groundhog Day: See 'Groundhog Day'

The Bill Murray comedy from 1993 is playing tonight at 7:30 at Gobbler's Knob the Village East Cinema on Second Avenue at 12th Street. Tickets are $10 each and available here.

Condos at Rite Aid's new neighbor on 1st Avenue will range from $1 million to $6 million

[Pit work at 75 1st Ave. one recent evening]

As you may know, an 8-story condoplex — featuring 22 residences — is coming to the long-empty lot at 75 First Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.

To date, we'd only seen photos of broker Ryan Serhant's team in suits brandishing shovels at a groundbreaking ceremony ... and not any of the actual new building.

Now though, Colonnade Group, the developer behind the project, has released some renderings, as first posted yesterday at The Real Deal.

75 First. Coming soon 😎

A photo posted by Ryan Serhant (@ryanserhant) on Feb 1, 2017 at 3:42pm PST

Here's an interior shot...


[Image via the Colonnade Group]

HTO Architects designed the building. The prices will range from around $1 million for a one-bedroom to $6 million for a three-bedroom. The amenities include a fitness center, lounge and library, private and common roof deck and bike storage.

As for No. 75's neighbor... the bears have been lined up for Valentine's Day...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Developer: A shorter building in the works now for 75 First Avenue

High-rise for 75 First Avenue back in play

Long-stalled First Avenue site now has a brand-new rendering

Report: Long-dormant 1st Avenue development site changes hands

Plywood report and the future of 75 1st Ave. (Spoiler: condos)

Mr. White bringing 'new Southern cuisine' to St. Mark's Place

As previously noted, February's CB3-SLA agenda includes an applicant vying for a beer-wine license at 121 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Here's more about the space via public documents (PDF) at the CB3 website. For starters, Mr. White will serve "New Southern cuisine." (The online application did not include a sample menu.)

The proposed hours are noon to 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Sunday. (The application notes that alcohol service will end at 2 a.m., with the restaurant closing one hour later "to allow the customer to finish his meal.") The configuration shows 10 tables seating 28 patrons, and two bars seating 19 people.

The documents also note that the principals have experience at the Grand National (now the Big Whiskey) and the Whiskey Brooklyn in Williamsburg.

No. 121 was last home to the Belgian Room, which the state seized for nonpayment of taxes in April 2015. (The reconfigured space includes the former Ton-Up Cafe next door.)

The February SLA committee meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m. Location: The Thelma Burdick Community Room, 10 Stanton St. at the Bowery.

Sunday is the last day for Turntable Lab before move to new 10th Street storefront

[Image via Turntable Lab]

As we've been noting, Turntable Lab is leaving its 16-year-home on Seventh Street for a new space on 10th Street.

The store has announced that Sunday is the last day in business selling vinyl and stereo equipment here between Avenue A and First Avenue before reopening soon at 84 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

Here's more on the store's early days via their Instagram account...

120 EAST 7th STREET: Last week in the space, Sunday is the official last day before we reopen on 84 e.10th street... 2 years after launching turntablelab.com in 1999 (when our tagline was "Online Turntablist Goodz"), we started to scout our old NYU stomping grounds for a storefront. the rent was cheap because Alphabet City was still sketchy (you could still buy nickel bags at juice bars) and this space was a couple steps down with low ceilings. Previously it was a Japanese cafe that sold comic books. The picture is from the first day we got the keys, March 2001. We sold off the fixtures to the fridge guys on the Bowery (they totally ripped us off), then sanded the floors and painted the walls ourselves... #TTL7thSteet

A photo posted by @turntablelab on Jan 31, 2017 at 6:23pm PST

Previously on EV Grieve:
Turntable Lab reveals new 10th Street storefront

Barber shop cuts into 9th Street storefront

A barber shop has opened on Ninth Street just east of Second Avenue.

For now, Famous Cutz is having a $15 haircut special...



Ambica, a handcrafted jewelry shop, was previously in the storefront at No. 305.

Thanks to Steven for the photos

A sale that actually lives up to its billing

Outside the Cure Thrift Shop on 12th Street today... photo by Derek Berg

[Updated] Noted

That new Diane Von Furstenberg campaign is pretty edgy... photo today on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue by Derek Berg

Updated 5:55 p.m.

The signs have been ripped off the plywood...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Report: Anyway Cafe robbed at knifepoint

A knife-wielding man made off with a bag of cash during a noon-time robbery Monday at the Anyway Cafe on Second Street at Second Avenue, the Post reported.

Per the Post:

A thief seemed to know what he was looking for when he entered an East Village restaurant and demanded at knife-point that a worker give him “the money from the bottom,” police said Tuesday.

The crook entered the Anyway Cafe ... and barked his demands at a female employee.

When she walked behind the bar, the man got more specific, demanding: “Give me the money from the bottom!” according to cops.

The employee handed over a white garbage bag and white envelopes containing cash, cops said.

The Post only had this description of the suspect: "25 years old, standing about 5-foot-5 and ... wearing a red jacket."

Out and About in the East Village

In this ongoing feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Lola Sáenz
Occupation: Artist, Poet
Location: 12th Street
Date: Saturday, Jan. 28 at noon

I was born in El Paso, Texas. I always wanted to be an artist. When I left high school, I couldn’t afford to go to art school, so I moved to LA and lived there for about 10 years. I started to do artwork the last few years living there. Then I met this girl who was from here in the gay pride parade and she said, ‘You gotta come to New York because it’s the place.’ I said, ‘Yeah, well, I’ve always dreamt about it.’

I moved to New York in 1990. The first year here I lived on King Street. I was personal training. I had already met a woman in LA who lived in New York City. Her name was Linda Stein, who was a big real-estate broker to celebrities and manager of the Ramones. Linda was the first person who gave me work. I became her personal trainer, for 15 years. She also said that if I needed to move, I could always stay upstairs for free in her apartment where her daughter used to have bunk beds, and I could use their bathroom and kitchen.

So I did, and I moved uptown to Central Park West. It was a tiny little room on the top of the building — a gorgeous view. All I could fit there was a futon and an art table, and it had one window. I would share the bathroom down the hallway with the guys, the doormen. In that building, I met Bill and Judith Moyers and got to train them. Linda introduced me to a lot of clients to train, including the owner of Hess Oil.

Not having a kitchen or a bathroom was tough. So after a year I found this small apartment in the East Village in 1993. I’ve been here ever since. I eventually stopped training Linda to focus on the art, and a few years or so later she was murdered by her yoga teacher. I was shocked and devastated. Most of the magazine and newspaper articles were writing about the story, making it sound like it was Linda's fault. It was impossible that anyone would deserve to be murdered for saying the word fuck or blowing smoke.

I wrote to The New York Times, New York Magazine, etc. in her defense, but no one took my story except Lincoln Anderson from The Villager. And of course I was right. After all the investigation, it was found that the yoga teacher had been stealing from Linda. She remains in prison.

There was a shop called Peter Leggieri's Sculpture Supply Store below my apartment where the record store is now. It became my living room. That’s where I learned how to carve. He would sell stones from all over the world. He would give me a few stones and chisels. It was a great outlet in the East Village because all the artists would stop by and say hello. It was bit rough. There were a lot of drugs on the block. I remember a detective friend would go up on the roof through the back of Peter’s place to spy.

It got rough right in my next-door apartment, which was a lady-of-the-night hangout for all the junkies. It was a little weird. I kept thinking where else can I go, so I stuck it out. I didn’t really care what people did with their lives. People would be getting high on the staircase, and I didn’t want any confrontation with any of them. It was like that for the whole first year.

Then Giuliani came to power, and before you know it the marshals came and broke the door, pulled everyone out, and arrested a bunch of people. The undercover cops started arresting a lot of people. The year after that was cool because I didn’t have to bump into anybody living next door to me. I didn’t care about the outside world — it was just what was next door to me.

I’m a self-taught artist. Since I was a kid, all I wanted to be was an artist. I started to watch and study Picasso and Frida Kahlo and Matisse and Diego. I would go to museums and be inspired by the work. I guess you’re born with it or something. The first few paintings that I did in LA, I felt like I had been guided by the hand of God or something. It was me, but it was like somebody else was there.

I decided to create one painting a year. My artwork has four or five layers of paint, and I don’t like transparency — and the paint supplies are very expensive. I do a lot of city-related paintings and a lot of self-portraits. I add a little poetry to an artwork sometimes. I’ll work on a painting like a maniac. Every painting has its own story. I could work on it for a month straight every day and every night with a couple days off a week. If I’m really in it, I will work it until I feel exhausted or I get stuck.

In Part 2 next week, Sáenz talks about the influence of 9/11 on her work and thoughts on the neighborhood today. "I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else."

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Todd Hase brings custom furnishings to 7th Street

Furniture designer Todd Hase has opened a new outpost (a Home and Mid-Century Modern Shop) at 111 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Here's more about Todd Hase, who previously had a shop in Soho, via the business website:

Todd Hase Furniture, Inc. includes a full collection of upholstery, tables, casegoods, accessories and textiles. Designed by Todd Hase, the line is distinctly modern. It uses a classic vocabulary of shapes and lines to offer a pared down, simplified yet extremely palatable, ultimately usable line of home furnishings. Old world techniques of manufacturing are applied to these modern products: eight-way handtied springs fill upholstered seating and hand fitted marquetry patterns of beautiful veneers enhance tables, casegoods and lighting.

And!

In 1996 Todd and his wife Amy Hase opened their original showroom in New York. Todd Hase designed products are made in the USA then shipped domestically and around the world. In addition to the Todd Hase Collection, Amy and Todd Hase offer a fine selection of inspiriing French antiques acquired from Paris and the regions near their chateau in Normandy. The Todd Hase showroom and design atelier in the Hamptons offers an eclectic mix of Todd Hase Collection and Textiles, French antiques, lighting, carpets, garden furniture, fine art, and decorative accessories.

The Seventh Street shop is open Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. There are also Todd Hase locations in West Hollywood, West Palm Beach and Southampton.

Village Style Vintage Shop, the previous tenant here, moved out to Brooklyn last October.

Report: Sugar Cafe closes after service on Sunday

Sugar Cafe, the slender 24/7 mainstay on East Houston and Allen Street these past 10-plus years, is expected to shut down after service on Sunday.

DNAinfo confirmed the closure with three employees last evening. BoweryBoogie had previously heard that a rent increase — perhaps as much as double the current ask — was behind the closing.

We'll always have Paris (Baguette), and Egg Salad Bacon Rolls

Early last September, I noted that an outpost of Paris Baguette was opening in the shoppes of Stuy Town on First Avenue near 16th Street.

And that was likely the last time I walked by this strip of shoppes. Which is why I had no idea that this Paris Baguette had opened earlier in the fall.

As noted, 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 a handful of locations currently in Manhattan.

Anyway, I happened to walk by the other day ... and so I went inside. I recalled DrGecko's comment about the food items:

Oh, god, I love their place on 32nd St. If I'm feeling down, just a quick look at their bizarre stuff always cheers me up.

I haven't seen the doughnut stuffed with potato salad recently, but their skewered hotdog-in-a-roll or their sweet-potato sponge cake will surely brighten up the neighborhood.

P.S. I don't necessarily recommend actually eating any of these things.

This item for sale certainly cheered me up — behold the Egg Salad Bacon Roll (#paleo)...



Anyway, the place looked to be doing pretty good business. There was a short line at the counter and I didn't feel like waiting for an Egg Salad Bacon Roll coffee. Another day perhaps.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Paris Baguette opening a location in Stuy Town (28 comments)

January's parting shot

Early evening in Tompkins Square Park... see you next month!

Seat saved for Merrick Garland on Astor Place

Tonight at 8, President Trump is expected to reveal his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, earlier today... this sign went up in the seating area outside 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star...



EVG reader Rosemary shared these photos... showing reserved seating for Merrick Garland, the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit...part of a broader #SaveMerrickASeat campaign...



President Obama nominated Garland to the Supreme Court last March to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. However, Garland never had a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

As of this evening his seat remained here...


[Photo by Steven]

Noted

EVG reader Sheila writes in: "Peter Cooper, advocate for public education, seems to be going down in flames today."

No one to our knowledge has claimed responsibility for the paper fire just yet...

That last day of January when it snowed a little bit

Some flurry action on Astor Place (photo by Daniel) and on 10th Street and Avenue C (photo by Bobby Williams)...

Report: East Village landlord Raphael Toledano close to losing prize Chelsea building

Raphael Toledano, who has had a tumultuous few years as an East Village landlord, is facing foreclosure proceedings on a Chelsea rental, according to The Real Deal.

Toledano’s Brookhill Properties acquired the 39-unit, 39,000-square-foot property for $41.5 million in 2015. At the time of the purchase, the firm secured $34 million in financing from Madison, including $29.8 million in immediate funds to buy the building. The remainder, to be provided at a later date, was allocated for proposed renovations.

Madison, in its capacity as the lender, filed the summons filed Monday in New York State Supreme Court, to initiate foreclosure proceedings over the building, which has $29.8 million loan.

Toledano reportedly named the West 16th Street building "the Devorah" after his wife.

In previous articles in The Real Deal, critics have said that Toledano is overleveraged.

Meanwhile, as previous noted, Toledano is in the process of unloading 13 of the 21 buildings — mostly walk-ups — he owns here.

The Real Deal says that he is in contract to sell 97 Second Ave. to investor Dominic Gan for $15 million. The 6-story building between Sixth Street and Fifth Street was one of the first East Village properties purchased by Toledano. (Public records show that Toledano paid $4.95 million for it in April 2014.)


[Image via Cushman & Wakefield]

Toledano, 26, has been accused of a variety of predatory practices. In addition, 20 of his buildings were tested for toxic levels of dust. Last spring, Toledano agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged that he harassed rent-regulated residents at 444 E. 13th St. He also apparently ruined Thanksgiving for a few East 12th Street residents.

In December, tenants of more than 20 buildings owned by Raphael Toledano, along with local elected officials and community organizers, went to Midtown to call out Madison Realty Capital and Signature Bank for their role in lending money to Toledano.

Mandolino Pizzeria has opened on 13th Street

The pizzeria opened its doors this past weekend on 13th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue...




EVG reader Daniel shared these photos...



They offer a variety of salads, pastas and whole Neapolitan pies (no slices)...





You can find their menu here ... and read more about the owners here.

Mandolino Pizzeria is open from noon to 11 p.m. daily.

The space was previously home to Sahara Citi, the hookah/hummus restaurant that closed last summer after four years in business.

Checking in on Artichoke's new 14th Street home

As we first reported last November, Artichoke Basille's Pizza is apparently on the move to a new space across from its current 14th Street digs.

EVG regular Pinch passed along word of the progress on the storefront (above), which had been vacant for as long as we can recall.

No word on when the popular pizzeria might be ready for the move.

Artichoke's first location opened here in 2008.



There are currently nine Artichoke locations, eight in NYC and one in Berkeley, Calif.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Artichoke appears to be moving into a new space on 14th Street