Ippudo closed for renovations through July 17

Over on Fourth Avenue, paper covers the part of the front window of the popular ramen-and-pork-buns spot between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

The East Village location of Ippudo, which was the first U.S. outpost for the Japanese chain, closed last week for renovations, per the signage in the front window...



The Ippudo website notes that they'll be closed through July 17.

The 411 on 886

The incoming Taiwanese restaurant at 26 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue called 886 opens on July 11 (pushed back from a spring opening).

Eater posted a mini preview the other day:

From the co-founder of the Tang nearby, 886 ... has more playful takes on traditional Taiwanese dishes. Three-cup chicken becomes three-cup glazed chicken wings, and a traditional “small sausage in large sausage,” or sticky rice-wrapped pork sausage, is renamed to “sausage party” and served with peanuts, cilantro, and cured duck yolk. Drinks focus on beer, wine and sake, with Brooklyn sake brewery Brooklyn Kura on tap.

The restaurant is named after Taiwan’s country code.

Previously on EV Grieve:
886, next-level Taiwanese food, in the works for 26 St. Mark's Place

[Updated] Westside Market looking closer to opening on 3rd Avenue in Gramercy Park

The new Westside Market at 180 Third Ave. between 16th Street and 17th Street is shaping up...



Word is it will open by the end of July June. The space looks like a smaller version than the one just five blocks to the south at 84 Third Ave.

The Gramercy Park location is one of three new Westside outposts to open this year. In total, there will be seven in the city.

The retail space had been a Met Foods, which closed in the spring of 2015.

The East Village Westside opened in October 2014.

Updated 6/28

The store opens on June 28, 11:30 a.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Westside Market opening in the former Met Foods space on 3rd Avenue and 17th Street

Week in Grieview

[Photo of the NYPD "Pride Ride" outside the 9th Precinct via Goggla]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Boys' Club of New York selling East Village building; will remain open through June 2019 (Thursday)

Report: AG selects management firm to oversee Steve Croman's real-estate holdings (Wednesday)

The warm and fuzzies in Tompkins Square Park (Thursday)

The EVG podcast: Red-tailed hawk talk with Laura Goggin (Friday)

At the start of the 2018 Drag March (Saturday)

The Swiss Institute debuts its inaugural exhibit at new East Village home (Friday) ... Printed Matter/St. Mark's opens today inside the Swiss Institute (Friday)

Grape and Grain returns under new ownership on 6th Street (Friday)

Little League playoff game delayed 45 minutes while a red-tailed hawk ate a pigeon (Saturday)

This 3-story building on 6th Street is for sale (air rights included) (Tuesday)

This week's NY See (Thursday)

Ben Shaoul owes Steve Croman some back rent on Avenue B (Monday)

E Smoke Shop will remain on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

The new P.S. 19 community playground is open (Saturday)


[Photo Tuesday on St. Mark's Place by Derek Berg]

Incoming: Gala on 3rd Avenue, Nunoodle Noodle + Bar on 1st Avenue (Monday)

DHS flyers on 1st Street (Friday)

Flamingos selling clothing by the pound on Stanton Street (Thursday)

Tristan Eaton starts on the Bowery Mural Wall (Saturday)

Cherry Tavern cherry-free for now (Monday)

Another broker for 20 Avenue A? (Thursday)

The really for-real Target signage has arrived at EVGB (Tuesday)

Blue Quarter debuts in the back of Local 92 on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday)

Video: Father John Mistry's early-morning stroll through the East Village (Tuesday)

Nai Tapas Bar moving from 1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue (Monday)

A Perfect spot for a dental office on 4th Street (Tuesday)

Bad 'Neighbors' at First Street Green Art Park? (Tuesday)

... and you may have seen these lost-dog flyers around this weekend... Linda has been found and returned to her grateful owners...



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June 24

Just 6.03 months until Dec. 25... this one definitely could have made it until then... unless it's new for this Dec. 25, and it fell off the back of a truck or the roof of a car or something and landed here on 13th Street and Second Avenue.

Anyway! Thanks to Hudson for the discovery.

Quintessence is not open this weekend

Several EVG readers have noted the renovations in progress this weekend at Quintessence, the 19-year-old raw-food cafe on 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...



There's nothing on the cafe's website or social media properties noting the closure. (And their phone number is currently not in service.) However, a reader says that Quintessence will reopen early this coming week. Open Table indicates that reservations won't be available here until Tuesday.

Little League playoff game delayed 45 minutes while a red-tailed hawk ate a pigeon

EVG reader Maite Castillo shares this photo and story ...

My son plays in the Junior Division of Peter Stuyvesant Little League. Today was their 1st playoff game at Murry Bergtraum Softball Field (161 Cherry St.).

The game was delayed, for approximately 45 minutes, by a local red-tailed hawk who brought its prey (a pigeon) to clean on the field's backstop.

We all stood around watching pigeon feathers rain down onto home plate. The Ump said “Well, this is a first for me!”

The hawk was unflappable and maintained his perch as the game restarted.

In the end, the Metropolitans defeated the Empires.

As for the hawk, he or she eventually moved over to perch on a streetlamp across the street, behind the bleachers, for, as Maite put it, "a bird-seye view of the game."

Tristan Eaton starts on the Bowery Mural Wall

Tristan Eaton started work yesterday on the Bowery Mural Wall... the above photo is an in-progress look as of this morning here at East Houston...

On his Instagram account, Eaton said he'd be working on the large-scale mural for the coming week ... he's known for his meticulous, visual collages with pop-cultural imagery...

The P.S. 19 community playground is open

The official opening of the revamped playground at P.S. 19 on First Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street took place this past Tuesday morning.

There were several comments on the post about whether this playground will actually be open to the community (as billed) ...

The playground was open this morning at 8 a.m. (you enter on the 12th Street side) ... and there were several people inside...



For now, the sign promises community hours of 6-9 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. Those weekday hours will likely change after school ends for the summer next week...



Among other amenities, the playground features a synthetic turf field, a painted track, play equipment, a basketball court and an all-weather ping-pong table.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More details on the all-new playground coming to P.S. 19

At the start of the 2018 Drag March

Dozens (hundreds?) of beautiful queens and kings gathered in Tompkins Square Park early last evening for the annual Drag March — the kick-off to NYC Pride weekend.

Joined by a small NYPD presence and a lot of photographers, the group made their way west to the Stonewall Inn.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these photos ...





























... and Grant Shaffer shared as the March was getting underway on Ninth Street ...

Friday's parting shot(s)

A few photos from the annual Drag March, which started in Tompkins Square this evening... before the walk to the Stonewall Inn.

Steven shared these photos... have more from EVG contributor Stacie Joy to post later...

'New' song

The audio track here is for "Someone New" by the LA-based Smokescreens ... the lead track from their new album out next month on Slumberland. (RIYL: Flying Nun Records.)

The EVG podcast: Red-tailed hawk talk with Laura Goggin

[Christo, left, and Amelia by Goggla]

As mentioned last week, I recently launched an EVG podcast, recording episodes in the East Village Radio studio on First Avenue.

This conversation with East Village-based photographer Laura Goggin (aka Goggla!) was the first one that I did. We recorded it several weeks ago, and many red-tailed hawk developments have occurred since then, such as the arrival of the two chicks... who are growing so quickly.

In any event, in the podcast, we talk about the history of Christo and Dora and their offspring as well as discuss the tabloid-worthy exploits of Christo (and Not Dora/Nora and Amelia) and the other red-tailed hawks in the city.



This link will take you to Goggla's site for more photos and red-tailed hawk narratives. And stay tuned for more EVG podcasts (kind of in the "soft open" phase, to use some restaurant lingo).

Previously on EV Grieve:
The EVG podcast: with Mike Katz and Crispin Kott, the authors of "Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City."

DHS flyers on 1st Street

Workers recently removed the scaffolding and sidewalk bridge from 18 Second Ave.

While the sidewalk bridge was up, multiple people started living in encampments along the First Street side... (Earlier this year, the Daily News reported on one of the women who was living along here. Her pitbull reportedly bit a man who was tormenting her.)

On June 14, reps from the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) taped flyers to the remaining poles along here...



The flyers states that the DHS along with the NYPD and other city agencies "will complete a clean-up" of this area...



... and people need to vacate along with their belongings. Anything left behind by today may be discarded...



I don't recall seeing flyers like this before... the reader who shared this wondered, at the very least, if the city could have taped one to a flat surface to make it easier to read.

Grape and Grain returns under new ownership on 6th Street

[Photos from the soft opening this past Sunday by Brian Boulos]

A familiar operator is behind the Grape and Grain reboot on Sixth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.

The wine bar quietly closed last fall after 12 years in the space. That's when TJ Provenzano, a general manager and partner of the Mayanoki Sustainable Sushi counter next door, stepped in.

I asked Provenzano a few questions about the relaunch ahead of tonight's official reopening.

On getting involved with the original Grape and Grain space at 620 E. Sixth St.:

To be honest, the reason we got involved at G&G because we really love the location, and the bones of the space. We've been operating Mayanoki, and the opportunity came up to take over Grape and Grain and we had to jump on it. It's such a great block here between B and C. It feels a little off the beaten path, and yet still has a great neighborhood feel to it.

Grape and Grain really just needed a good clean, and some love. We love the community garden next door, and I've had the opportunity to get to know the neighbors over the last year at Mayanoki. I've heard time and time again how much "we love the G&G space so much but I just really wish the food and wine was better." So it seemed like a unique opportunity to hopefully provide the neighbors with exactly what they were asking for.

On keeping the name the same:

We decided to keep the name Grape and Grain for a few reasons. The most important of which is the fact that G&G has been here for over a decade, and I felt had really become part of the neighborhood. I remember one of our guests at Mayanoki told me that she and her husband met at G&G, got engaged at G&G and had drinks after their wedding here as well.

That was the moment where I really started to realize that this place has history, and that I’d love to pay homage to that, while kind of re-alligning it with my own unique background and experience. I grew up in Westchester, and when I was young I would come hang out in the city — the East Village was the only place I wanted to be. Catching an all-ages show at Coney Island High on St. Mark's will always be some of my greatest memories.

I'm humbled and excited to be back 20 years later and to have the opportunity to continue a warm, inviting space that has become part of the neighborhood itself. We are looking to continue the G&G tradition of providing a neighborhood place for locals to grab a bite and a glass of wine, and really for it to feel like an extension of their own living room.








[Sonomi Kobayashi, who created the artwork]