Grant Shaffer's NY See

[Click on image for more detail]

Here's this week's NY See, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's comic series — an observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood.

A morning look at the tree damage; 'the East Fifth St. Tree Committee is devastated'

[Photo from 6th and B via @artisanmatters]

Here's a Snowvember-morning-after look at some of the downed limbs and trees that remain on East Village streets... yesterday's wet, heavy snow proved too much for the trees that still had leaves intact...

12th Street west of Second Avenue (thanks Laura)...



St. Mark's Place near Third Avenue (thanks Lola Sáenz) ...





Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue suffered considered limb losses... the East Fifth St. Tree Committee took stock of the damage...









In total on the block, four trees lost limbs. "The East Fifth St. Tree Committee is devastated," a committee member said via email.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updating] Snowvember pain: Multiple reports of trees down

A visit to Bali Kitchen on 4th Street

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

When I meet up with David Prettyman and Jazz P. Souisay, the co-owners of Bali Kitchen, it’s late on a weekday night, an hour or two from closing time.

The two have just arrived back at the restaurant — 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue — from church, and we take advantage of a brief quiet moment to sit and talk about Indonesian food and culture.


[Prettyman and Souisay]

The couple, who have been together for more than 26 years, enjoy offering a primer on Indonesian food. When they first opened in September 2017, their initial customers were mostly people who’d been to Bali or were Dutch (there’s a lot of Indonesian food in the Netherlands), but now it’s repeat customers, those looking for a taste of home, and diners who are curious about Indonesian cuisine.









The most popular dishes here are nasi goreng (a fried rice with egg, tofu or chicken dish made with cabbage, shallots and candlenuts, and served with a mango/pineapple pickle relish) and rendang jamur (beef or mushroom dish with coconut milk and lemongrass over jasmine rice). The house special is nasi campur bali (their version of rijstaffel with sate lilit, betutu chicken/tofu, lawar, sambal matah, tempeh, boiled egg, peanuts, jasmine rice and tempeh crackers and served with sambal, a Balinese hot sauce).




[Nasi Goring]


[Nasi Campur Bali]

Almost everything on the menu can be made vegan or vegetarian, something Souisay says he discovered he’d need to do the month the restaurant opened following customer requests. One popular Balinese dish, suckling pig, is not on the menu. There isn't any pork at Bali Kitchen and all the meat they use is Halal.



There are plans for seasonal changes in the menu. Some heartier meals will replace the salads and a new soup is in the works for the colder months.

Prettyman and Souisay are also committed to environmental causes, using eco-friendly packaging materials that are compostable. Their space doesn't have a microwave and they both spoke about healthy food and alternatives to deep-frying: steaming, broiling and baking items.

They also want to promote Indonesian culture, hospitality and food. They provide a family meal each day during a break, when the space is closed, for the staff to sit together and eat.



Bali Kitchen, 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, is open every day from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can follow them on Instagram here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Eat’s Khao Man Gai on 6th Street

A visit to Yoli Restaurant on 3rd Street

Preparing for Saturday's dinner at Il Posto Accanto on 2nd Street

A visit to the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on 7th Street

A trip to the recently expanded Lancelotti Housewares on Avenue A

The 30th annual New York Cares coat drive is underway

The 30th annual New York Cares Coat Drive got underway yesterday.

At some point this winter, organizers say they will be delivering their 2 millionth coat in the drive's history.

In the East Village, you can drop off coats through the end of the year at the 9th Precinct on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue and Police Service Area 4 at 130 Avenue C and Eighth Street. Find a full list of distribution centers here.

So long to the 13th Step signage

[Photos by Steven]

Workers yesterday removed the neon 13th Step signage from outside the no-longer-named-13th-Step bar on Second Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street. (To be clear, the bar remains open.)

In early October, the sports bar/SantaCon hotspot dropped the 13th to become simply The Step.

The temp Step sign then returned last evening...



The bar is still listed as the 13th Step on social media and its website. Perhaps they'll eventually address what may have prompted the dropping of the 13th.

Several readers/residents found the name to be in poor taste upon the bar's arrival eight-plus years ago. The term 13th Step is used as a euphemism for inappropriate sexual advances by a member to a newcomer in AA. It means other things too.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The 13th Step loses the 13th on 2nd Avenue

Thursday's parting shot

EVG reader Annabelle spotted this in Tompkins Square Park tonight ... will need to brush up on my owls of New York to ID...

[Updating] Snowvember pain: Multiple reports of trees down

There are reader reports of branches/trees down this evening on Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B (thanks Riian Kant-McCormick) ...



11th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C (thanks Brian P. Katz) ...





Another view (thanks Brucie!)...



Tompkins Square Park at the Avenue A/St. Mark's Place entrance (thanks Derek Berg) ...



Updated 6:08 p.m.

There's also a downed limb on Second Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street (thanks Alice Owen) ...



...and several branches down on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...

Actually all of st marks is downed trees. pic.twitter.com/0jLBCxU1r5

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) November 15, 2018

Updated 6:22 p.m.

Via Twitter, EVG readers have reported limbs down on Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C ... 10th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... and Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

Here's a report on the downed trees, still full of leaves, via NBC 4. ... The combination of the leaves with the wet, heavy snow was too much for some of trees.

Updated 6:49 p.m.

A report from 10th and C...

Snow brought down a massive branch of a tree across East 10 St. and Avenue C. Neighbors came out of their apartments and stores to help clear the street.@evgrieve @edenbrower #FirstSnow #snowday #nycsnow pic.twitter.com/84dfLcay8i

— Evan Kapitansky (@evan_kapitansky) November 15, 2018

Updated 6:51 p.m.

Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue (thank you Steven)...



Updated 6:53

EVG reader Helixx C. Armageddon shared this from Suffolk and Stanton ... the police officer on the scene said that three people were injured, though the severity of their injuries isn't known...



Updated 8:45 p.m.

EVG reader Lauren notes down limbs on Second Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue ... and on Bleecker ...





Updated 9 p.m.

Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B (thanks @jeffchatterton!) ...



Fourth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C (thanks @artisanmatters) ...



Updated 9:50 p.m.

14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue (thanks Pinch)...

Happy week before Thanksgiving!

A few scenes from Tompkins Square Park this afternoon... and St. Mark's Place...







A few inches of snow is expected before it turns to rain later tonight.

Updated 3:53

Steven shared these photos from the Park...

CB3 committee meeting tonight includes discussion on storm-proofing East River Park

[East River Park as seen last month]

A CB3 committee meeting that wasn't on anyone's radar is now receiving attention.

This is the third item for discussion during tonight's Parks, Recreation, Waterfront, & Resiliency Committee meeting:

• Rebuild By Design proposal RFP for stewardship of East River Park.

It's not exactly clear what is being discussed tonight. (This 6sqft piece from the summer is a good primer on the RFP process.)

In any event, one neighborhood activist is sounding the alarming to help raise awareness in an email sent last night:

This is a devastating NEW PLAN that the City wants to shove through regarding the East River. After a carefully studied plan, The Coastal Resiliency Project, since 2014, after Hurricane Sandy, with Millions of dollars committed by the City...The Mayor's Office in October 2018 wants to scrap that plan, instead will close the East River Park for 2-3 years, trashing all plantings, trees, and wildlife habitats to "raise" the park up 8 feet in land fill. The cost is $1.45 billion. This is an expedited "plan" because there is money to spend — however it is thoughtless, in the end won't work, and will destroy the East River Park as we know it.

The email included a wrinkled flyer...



As previously noted, the city's new resiliency plan calls for "lifting" East River Park by up to 10 feet from Cherry Street to 13th Street when work starts in March 2020.

However, to do this, the city will need to close East River Park for up to three and a half years, bulldozing all the current amenities, including the recently unveiled new running track and soccer field, according to multiple published reports. (The Post and CBS 2 had stories on these plans.)

The meeting starts at 6:30 tonight (third agenda item) at the BRC Senior Services Center, 30 Delancey St. between Chrystie and Forsyth.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: The reality of storm-proofing East River Park in 2020

What's next for 131 1st Ave., the former Foot Gear Plus space?

Foot Gear Plus closed this past July 31 after nearly 40 years on the southwest corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

The space — 131 First Ave. — has been on the market since then. Per Meridian Investment Sales:

Owned by the same family for 54 years, this single story building, located on the southwest corner of St. Marks Place and First Avenue, presents a distinct opportunity for an investor or end-user to establish a retail or food and beverage presence.

The property is currently constructed as a single story, 1,350 square foot building with a large usable basement. Investors have a unique value-add opportunity to either reposition the retail or monetize 4,150 square feet of air rights in the future.

The listing at LoopNet notes that the property is now in contract. (There wasn't any mention of the price.)

So we'll see what the new owner has in mind with those air rights... and that artificial turf atop 134 First Ave.!



As for Foot Gear Plus, Tony Scifo, who opened the shop here in 1980, told this to EVG contributor Stacie Joy in July: "After several years of peaks and valleys in business there were just too many valleys. Companies now sell direct to consumers and once they started offering free shipping it was all over. This is happening everywhere, not just locally. The landlord wanted us to stay. She offered us a fair price and she's been great. We just couldn't make it."

Images via LoopNet

Previously on EV Grieve:
After nearly 40 years, Foot Gear Plus is closing on 1st Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Future You Café debuts on 7th Street

The Future You Café officially opened on Tuesday at 117 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue (thanks to Steven for these photos on Tuesday) ...



They're serving up a variety of coffee drinks and teas ... and dairy-free "wellness drinks," such as the Golden Latte with turmeric and steamed almond milk. (This link has the drinks menu and list of their vendors.)

Owner Roberto Levinson put together the shop with inspiration from the cafés from his native Mexico. Accordingly, Future You Café offers a variety of Mexican pastries and candy. (The food menu is here.)

Levinson lives nearby. "I have always loved the neighborhood and its people so it was a very easy choice [to open a café here]," he said. "I hung out in the East Village for many years and it is my favorite neighborhood in NYC."

Future You is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, with an 8 a.m. start time on weekends.