Yerba Buena closes on Avenue A; relocates this summer to the West Village

Yerba Buena, the Latin restaurant with a cocktail bar at 23 Avenue A near Second Street, closed after service this past Saturday... EVG reader Gacjon shares these photos... a note on the door for patrons states that the restaurant will reopen over on 205 Thompson St. in the summer...



Yerba Buena opened here in 2008. New York magazine's Robin Raisfeld named it one of the best new restaurants to open that year.

Updated:
As Eater reports, a bartender who works at Yerba's sister restaurant, Toloache, sued chef-owner Julian Medina for sexual harassment last summer.

Only 6 months until the Fourth of July

Jan. 4 (today!) on Avenue A...

Today when it bomb cycloned

Derek Berg notes a panda in the Tompkins Square Park Dog Run...



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A few post-storm rooftop scenes via Lindsay Sturm...





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Lola Sāenz shares a snow-day look on First Avenue and 10th Street...



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And Goggla checked in on Christo, the red-tailed hawk, who was pretty nonchalant in Tompkins Square Park...



She has more photos and video of Christo at her site here.

A video sampling is below...

Remembering Fred Bass at the Strand

Fred Bass, the 89-year-old co-owner of The Strand, died yesterday. The cause was congestive heart failure, according to multiple published reports.

There's a tribute to him outside the four-level store on Broadway at 12th Street, as these photos by EVG regular Daniel show...



Several outlets have published features on his legacy, including at The New York Review of Books ... and Quartz.

His daughter, Nancy Bass Wyden, will reportedly continue on with the ownership of the Strand.

A few snow scenes

EVG Bomb Cyclone Correspondent Derek Berg shared these photos of people out and about today... where some modes of transportation seem better than others...

1st look at the bomb cyclone

Well, my first look... from Seventh Street and Avenue A...

We'll continue to monitor the situation...



... and provide critical delivery updates...

It's no longer always Friday: TGI Friday's has closed on Union Square

The TGI Friday's at 34 Union Square East at 16th Street shut down at the end of the year... EVG regular Daniel shared these photos ...



This closure was a long time coming. The Commercial Observer reported in August 2014 that this location, which was just breaking even, would soon close.

Dennis Riese, the chairman of the board and CEO of The Riese Organization, reportedly bought this building for $15.3 million at the end of 2009. The TGI Friday's opened in June 2010.

Now it looks as if the whole building is for sale as a development site... curious to see what, if any, air rights might be available...



Didn't spot a listing for the property just yet.



Meanwhile, patrons yearning for TGI's Sesame Jack™ Chicken Strips or Jack Daniel's® Chicken Sandwich washed down with a Red Bull Passion Slush can find that fare at the six other remaining locations in the city.

RIP Fred Bass

It is with a heavy heart we share that Strand’s owner, Fred Bass, passed away early this morning at home surrounded by loved ones at the age of 89. We thank Fred for his passion and dedication, and our thoughts are with the Bass family. https://t.co/GZ3G6Lg3YB pic.twitter.com/w0U3AS1t9A

— Strand Book Store (@strandbookstore) January 3, 2018

In case you missed this news from yesterday.

Here's part of the obituary from the Times:

Mr. Bass was 13 when he began working at the Strand, founded by his father, Benjamin. At the time, it was one of nearly 50 such stores along Fourth Avenue.

Except for two years in the Army, he never left, until retiring in November 2017.

A year after taking over as manager of the store in 1956, he moved it from Fourth Avenue to its present location, on Broadway at 12th Street, where it occupied half the ground floor of what had been a clothing business. He set the Strand on a path of unstoppable expansion, taking over the entire first floor, then, in the 1970s, the top three floors, and adding an antiquarian department.

Bass bought the building on Broadway at 12th Street for $8.2 million in 1997. His daughter, Nancy Bass Wyden, now owns the business.

Haque Convenience Store is now the Beer & Smoke Shop on 1st Avenue

[Image via Yelp]

The Haque Convenience Store at 149 First Ave. just north of Ninth Street closed for renovations (per the sign on the door) on Dec. 22... not sure if there are new owners here... but there is a new name and signage... a reader shared this from last evening... please welcome the Beer & Smoke Shop...



This is NOT to be confused with the Smoke & Beer shop on Avenue A.

Wedneday's parting shot

EVG reader Matt Kay shared this photo ... showing an ice shelf potentially ready to break off from Fifth Street at Avenue A ...

Updated 10:30 a.m.

Several EVG readers said that they alerted the city to this frozen hydrant... and there's ice melt now on the scene (h/t skadonk!) ...

2nd Street freeze out

While not quite the extent of the World Famous Icicle Audi (see here) just yet, an apparent leaky pipe under part of Second Street is causing a frozen zone between Avenue B and Avenue C.

EVG reader Bill Buchen, who lives on the block, said that the leak/flood started on Dec 23. Residents on the block called 311. The NYPD came. ConEd came. The DEP came. Crews made repairs.

Per Bill: "It's still not fixed! Cars getting frozen in place. It's epic!"



Previously on EV Grieve:
Under watchful eye of TV news crews, the Icicle Audi is freed

RIP this tree

EVG reader Emily shared these photos of a tossed Christmas tree on Third Avenue at 13th Street with an RIP note...

Freed from
Unfortunate
Circumstances,
Kindly left the earth
Unforgettable tree

A bit of an FU...



Courtesy of Kira Sea...

Noted

Pre-bomb cyclone headgear spotted on Seventh Street and First Avenue today by Derek Berg...

Caviarteria Beluga Bar looking to bring fine fish eggs and champagne to 9th Street

[Photo by Steven]

Caviarteria, which started as a Midtown retail and mail-order outlet for caviar and smoked salmon in 1952, is looking to open a restaurant-retail operation at 234 E. Ninth St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Walter Drobenko, a lawyer who took over the brand in 2006, is on January's CB3-SLA docket for a liquor license for the address. He previously ran a similar-sounding operating — the Caviarteria Beluga Bar — in Tribeca from 2013-2016. (You can read more about that here.)

According to the paperwork on file at the CB3 website (PDF here), this Caviarteria would have about 20 tables to accommodate up to 50 guests. The proposed hours are 11 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday; until 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday; and 2 a.m. on Sunday. The questionnaire also mentions that the space would include "private events and catering events."

The menu would include caviar, smoked salmon, foie gras, blinis, etc. Here's the sample menu filed with the CB3 paperwork...



The address, currently a storage and parking space per the CB3 materials, would need an extensive build out to house the Caviarteria Beluga Bar. Drobenko, who grew up on the Lower East Side, is also a principal in the Cloister Cafe next door.

The Caviarteria name has a lot of history. In the late 1990s, the previous owners went on an expansion kick, opening Caviarterias in Las Vegas and Florida as well as in the SoHo Grand Hotel and Grand Central Terminal. (This story in the Times from 2003 has more on the family tragedy and feud that nearly destroyed the brand.) The business continues as an online mail-order operation.

This item will be heard during CB3's SLA committee meeting next Monday night (Jan. 8) at the Public Hotel, 17th Floor, Sophia Room, 215 Chrystie St. between Houston and Stanton. The meeting starts at 6:30.

Pinky's Space now open on 1st Street

Pinky's Space is now up and running at 70 E. First St. just west of First Avenue.

Pinky's is serving a variety of quick-serve sandwiches on biscuits... as you can see from the menu on Pinky's website...



The to-go restaurant's Instagram account describes this as "French Southern fine dining cuisine out of the box and out of this world."

As previously noted, the Pinky's team is Wesley Wobles, a personal chef and cookbook author, and Mimi Blitz, who spent nearly two decades working for her mother's catering company and bakery in New Orleans.

A post shared by Cherry Velvet (@pinkysspace) on Jan 1, 2018 at 1:22pm PST

Previously on EV Grieve:
Pinky's Space bringing quick-serve food options to 1st Street

Here's your Vape N Smoke signage on 2nd Avenue

Back in late November, we noted that a business called Vape N Smoke was opening at 150 Second Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street... and yesterday, workers put up the Vape N Smoke signage, as EVG Vape Signage Correspondent Steven noted...



Presumably they will be selling vaporizers, electronic cigarettes and other smoking products.

The previous tenant here, Village Eyecare, merged with Eyes on Second at 170 Second Ave.

A new tenant for 117 1st Ave.

[Photo by Steven]

Someone has removed the for rent sign from the front window at 117 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

The space, previously home to Village Kids Footwear, was seeking $8,995, per the listing at Steve Croman's 9300 Realty...



Not sure yet who the tenant will be... If you had to bet based on current neighborhood retail trends, then something involving desserts or noodles or vape-beer-cigars would be a safe wager.

Meanwhile, directly across the Avenue, a for rent sign hangs in the former International Bar window ...



The sign has been up for nearly five weeks, though there isn't an online listing for the space just yet...



The International closed on Nov. 22, and merged with its sister bar the Coat Yard at Sixth Street...

Tuesday's parting shot

New work went up today on the plywood outside the Chinese Hawaiian Kenpo Academy on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... via @reneexors (left) and @floodclub ... photo by Derek Berg

Boarding up Mamani Pizza on Avenue A

This afternoon, workers started boarding up the entrance to the former Mamani Pizza space on Avenue A between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

This isn't terribly significant ... though a reader told me that people have been squatting inside the space in recent weeks...



There was a gap in the rolldown gate where the ATM used to be... which apparently provided passage (the gap, not the ATM) to the rear of the former pizzeria ...



The Marshal seized the 99-cent sliceria back in June. There haven't been any for rent signs on the storefront since then.

No. 151 is owned by Raj 151 Avenue A LL and managed by Marolda Properties, per public records.

Building that housed Lucky Cheng's on 1st Avenue now on the auction block

After failing to attract a buyer in recent years, the potential development sites at 24 First Ave. (the onetime home of Lucky Cheng's) and 99-101 E. Second St. will be put up for auction later this month...



The auction is Jan. 24 at 1 p.m. Here are a few details about that from the auction site:

Terms & Conditions of Sale: Property will be sold free and clear of all monetary liens. In order to register to bid, all prospective bidders must present a cashier’s check in the amount of $1,000,000 made payable to “____________________”. Within 48 hours following the auction, Successful Bidder must post a deposit in the total amount of 14% of the high bid.

Landlord Carmar Development, LLC, had put the two-building parcel up for sale in February 2017. (We wrote about that here.) The L-shaped properties were seeking $26 million then.

As for what a new landlord might be able to do here, we'll go back to the auction site:

Currently Improved with a 7,748 Sq Ft Mixed-Use Building & 4,648 Sq Ft Retail Building
Substantial Unused Air Rights
• 28,540 Sq Ft Buildable Site (3,418 Sq Ft Cellar) – Per Architect Plans, with Inclusionary Housing
• 26,483 Sq Ft Buildable Site (5,297 Sq Ft Cellar) – Per Architect Plans, without Inclusionary Housing & with Full Lot Merge
• 24,610 Sq Ft Buildable Site (5,298 Sq Ft Cellar) – Per Architect Plans, without Inclusionary Housing

Annual Real Estate Taxes: $141,977
Currently Vacant

Hayne Suthon, who owned and and operated Lucky Cheng's, the cross-dressing cabaret, also lived in the building. She died of cancer at age 57 in June 2014.

Suthon had owned the properties since 1986, paying $800,000, city documents show. According to public records, the address changed hands to Carmar Development in February 2015 for a little more than $9.6 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Myron Mixon's Pride & Joy BBQ now in the works for the former Lucky Cheng's space

Fire reported at incoming Pride and Joy BBQ on East Second Street

Myron Mixon lawsuit puts opening of Pride and Joy BBQ in question at former Lucky Cheng's space

More alterations for the Pride and Joy space

Report: Pride and Joy BBQ partners suing landlord Hayne Suthon for $22 million

Report: New owners of building that housed Lucky Cheng's looking to attract restaurant group

Onetime home of Lucky Cheng's and adjacent property on the development market for $26 million