Friday, June 12, 2020
EVG Etc.: Violent-arrest victim sues city; Union Square Hospitality overhauls diversity program
[Photo on the Bowery and 1st Street by Derek Berg]
• "New York leaders faced an unanticipated crisis as the new coronavirus overwhelmed the nation’s largest city. Their response was marred by missed warning signs and policies that many health-care workers say put residents at greater risk and led to unnecessary deaths." (The Wall Street Journal, subscription may be required)
• One of the residents involved in the violent police arrest on Avenue D is suing the city (Daily News)
• The city will paint “Black Lives Matter” in bold lettering on a street in every borough (Curbed)
• Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality is overhauling its diversity program following staff complaints (Eater)
• An explainer on the city's coronavirus eviction moratorium (Curbed)
• Voters' guide for the 2020 Primary (City Limits)
• City playgrounds still on lockdown (The City)
• The East Village is home to several boutique pilates studios that offer 1-1 sessions. With that in mind, there's a petition in circulation to allow these studios to reopen in Phase 2 instead of Phase 3. Find the petition here.
• There's also a petition to reopen NYC dog runs in Phase 2. Find the petition here.
• City's indie movie houses prepping to reopen later next month (Gothamist)
• And indie bookstores are trying with curbside service (B&B)
• Honoring New York City Pharmacy on First Avenue, whose founder, Ali Yasin, passed away in early May (Off the Grid)
• NYC offers COVID-19 sex advice (Boing Boing)
• More about Terra Thai, which recently opened on Sixth Street (Eater ... previously on EVG)
• A pee-pun-filled expose on the alleged uptick in public urination in the city, including the East Village (The Post)
... and a cottage industry arises in the plywood era of recent weeks...
Checking in on Mikey Likes It
Text and photos by Stacie Joy
Mikey Likes It recently reopened at 199 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street after the COVID-19 PAUSE.
I stopped by to talk with owner Mikey Cole about his 6-year-old ice cream shop and love for the community.
"The time we're in is heavy," Mikey tells me, "and racial matters are on our minds. This isn't a one-day change. In racial situations, food is color-blind. If ice cream can be the medium to let tensions down, let it be. Let it be a slice of heaven in chaos."
Between serving customers, he talks about his experiences growing up in Stuy Town.
"The East Village is a mecca, a melting pot of different cultures, different ethnic groups," he says. "My parents are from Sierra Leone in Africa and my momma cooked dinners different from my neighbors. I learned about their cultures from visiting their homes after school, for example, tasting my friend’s parents Indian-food Thanksgiving dinner. And they learned about mine."
In pursuit of food experiences, Mikey went vegan for one month prior to creating his vegan ice cream so he could learn more about the process and experience a plant-based lifestyle for himself. This led to the Eat To Heal flavor, a vegan blueberry-hibiscus treat with pineapple and cayenne pepper swirl.
Mikey is also partnering with Kolkata Chai Company on Third Street for a vanilla chai with caramel swirl ice cream served, similar to an affogato, where the scoop floats in the hot spiced chai. Mikey Likes It has worked with other local shops, including Whitmans on Ninth Street for a bacon-vanilla-caramel bacon burger.
Mikey’s current favorite flavor is Southern Hospitality (a butter pecan with praline and pieces of pecan pie), which he says is like his store’s policy of offering wholesome family love.
The shop is currently offering deliveries, and pick-up pints and merch with online ordering only, plus a free scoop with every order. Mikey tells me that he shows his customers appreciation with the free treat, so people can eat their scoop on the way home and the ice cream makes it back to their freezers.
You can keep up with Mikey’s changing flavors and hours of operation on Instagram.
Wilson and Gator are missing from La Plaza Cultural
Wilson and Gator, two of the resident turtles at La Plaza Cultural, are missing.
EVG reader Chris W. shared this missing poster from outside the community garden on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street. There's an undisclosed reward for their return. No word if they were stolen or made a getaway on their own...
Villa Cemita is closing on Avenue A
If you've walked by Villa Cemita on Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street this week, then you may have noticed the sidewalk sale.
The Mexican restaurant is closing after service on Sunday. Several readers who stopped by to check out the sales were told that Villa Cemita may be relocating to an unspecified location in Brooklyn.
EVG contributor Stacie Joy, who took the photos in this post, noted the sidewalk sale, with items including plates, cups, glasses, flatware, and decor like mirrors and artwork...
Villa Cemita opened in March 2015. In April 2016, the son of the restaurant's owner, working as a bartender, was accused of drugging a patron and sexually assaulting another, according to published reports. The bartender reportedly denied any wrongdoing.
The restaurant also drew complaints from local Community Board members as well as the Board's district manager in recent years for a variety of infractions, including promoting boozy brunches and serving liquor while legally only possessing a beer-wine license. In June 2019, CB3 turned down their application for a full liquor license.
Per the official minutes of that meeting:
[G]iven that the applicant has made multiple alterations to its business, to wit enlarging and moving its bar, opening its façade, reducing its daytime hours of operation and adding drink specials, including "boozy brunches," without notice to the SLA, the community or the community board and contrary to its agreement with residents to obtain approval for its wine beer license, and given that there is still evidence that it continues to operate inconsistent from its current stipulations which are conditions of its license by continuing to have "boozy brunches" with unlimited drink specials and an open façade and it continues to access the residential portion of its building, Community Board 3 will not now approve its application to serve alcohol; now THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Community Board 3 recommends the denial of the application for a change in class of its wine beer license to a full on-premises liquor license ...
Thursday, June 11, 2020
Happy returns: Trash cans are back on East Village sidewalks
Reports are coming in today that the city is returning trash cans to the sidewalks... we've heard from a tipster on Avenue A as well as from MP, who submitted the above photo from Second Avenue and Ninth Street.
City workers started scooping up the trash cans back on May 31 in the aftermath of the post-protest mayhem that erupted on parts of Second Avenue, Third Avenue and Astor Place.
Grant Shaffer's NY See
This is the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood and NYC.
RIP David Gonzales
David Gonzales, a longtime employee at Frank Restaurant on Second Avenue, died on Saturday from complications due to COVID-19. He was 55.
He had been on a ventilator at Albany Medical Center since April 4.
Gonzales started nearly 15 years ago as a maintenance manager at the restaurant between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.
In an Instagram post, chef-owner Frank Prisinzano paid tribute to Gonzales:
I don’t know what we are going to do without David. Before this pandemic I would never have imagined it even possible to not have David. He was another of my sons
My entire restaurant family is crushed. He was really a savior they called for help. We feel a huge hole in our hearts.
He is survived by his wife and six children as well as his mother. The restaurant has a GoFundMe account to help pay for his funeral expenses.
Gonzales is the second member of the Frank-Supper-Lil' Frankies family to die from COVID-19. Miguel Grande, known as the Pasta King at Supper on Second Street, died in late April at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.
Ben's Deli returns, and there's a new pop-up taco shop inside
Ben's Deli reopened this week on Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street, as EVG contributor Stacie Joy reports.
The family-owned market, here for the past 45 years, temporarily closed on April 19 as concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak grew.
For now, Ben's will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, visitors to Ben's will find a new pop-up vendor renting the deli counter...
Ruben Cardoso (above, left) and Enrique Jardines are behind the still-unnamed Mexican spot. (Jardine previously ran Boticarios on First Street.)
The two are serving Mexican street food for breakfast, lunch and dinner ... specializing in tacos and quesadillas. Salad bowls are also available. The hours for now are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The last night, for now, at Ben's Deli
On Avenue B, Ben's Deli is closing for now; first time in 45 years
Farmwich pops up with speciality sandwiches at Ben's Deli on Avenue B
The L-train stop on 1st Avenue officially has all 4 entrances open
As we were saying back on Monday in this post, the MTA is wrapping up the L-train work along 14th Street.
And just like that on Tuesday, the north entrance (westbound side) to the L train on 14th Street at First Avenue opened ... and now for the first time all four entrances — two on Avenue A and two on First Avenue — are open for access to the L.
The MTA spells it all out in a news advisory:
This is the final major infrastructure element of the 1 Av Station expansion, which is part of the integrated resiliency, accessibility and capacity initiatives under the l Project. Previously, two new entrances near Avenue A and 14th Street were built and opened, one at Avenue A South in November 2019, and one at Avenue A North in February 2020. Following those openings, the existing entrances, which are part of the original 1924 station, were closed to be fully reconstructed. The First Avenue South entrance was reopened in April 2020, and this final original entrance at First Avenue North opened [Tuesday].
And kind of a but:
At this time, all entrances at 1 Av Station are open for customers with temporary finishes. Final finishes will be scheduled for one entrance at a time in the future, and the entrance will be temporarily closed at that time. Customers will be able to use the entrance to the station that provides complementary access.
Meanwhile, the two platform-to-street ADA elevators on either side of 14th Street near Avenue A will be complete by the end of the summer, per the MTA...
Look for some new crosswalks at Avenue A one day soon too...
The work officially began along this corridor in July 2017. In late April, Gov. Cuomo announced that the Sandy-damaged Canarsie tunnel rehabilitation phase was completed — reportedly several months ahead of schedule and less than $100 million as originally expected.
Khyber Pass closes on St. Mark's Place
Multiple EVG readers have shared that Khyber Pass has closed on St. Mark's Place.
One reader noted that the space was gutted the last week of May here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue: "This sucks. They were in the building already when I moved here in 1989. It was a great place and they were very nice neighbors."
While there hasn't been an official confirmation from anyone at the Afghani restaurant that dates to the mid-1980s, the space is now empty and their website deactivated. Khyber Pass had previously shut down in mid-March at the start of the COVID-19 PAUSE.
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Wednesday's parting shot
New wheatpaste art of James Baldwin on Lafayette and Great Jones... "the Best Baldwin Brotha" ...
Art by @erinkostudios ...
Twilight's last gleaming: One last electric version of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' on 7th Street
[Photo last night by Sarah Larson]
In case you were headed over to Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue this evening to hear the Jimi Hendrix-style version of "the Star-Spangled Banner" ... last night marked the final performance.
Starting on April 3, Seventh Street resident John the Baptist (aka John Fredericks) played the anthem on his Bobkat with a Stratocaster neck from his fire escape during the 7 p.m. cheer for health-care workers.
The song became a tradition, even attracting two off-duty ER doctors from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx who wanted to hear it live.
He recalled one night where he didn't break out his guitar, and "people were looking up at our fire escape, and they were, like pissed," he told Sarah Larson as part of The New Yorker's cover story on a day in the life in NYC during COVID-19.
The tribute was always personal, as his father and two brothers are ER doctors, per The New Yorker. It also received the approval of Janie Hendrix, Jimi's sister.
Here's a flashback to April 20 ... to a video via Stacie Joy...
And an upclose version that Rainer Turim shot for Gothamist...
An East Village community raffle for Black Lives Matter
The folks at East Village Postal, 151 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street, have organized a community raffle to raise funds for Black Lives Matter.
Here's how it works:
100 percent of all ticket sales will be donated to Colin Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp and the Equal Justice Initiative.
Each ticket is $5. For multiple entries, please purchase in increments $5. You can purchase tickets by venmo @eastvillageraffle and leave your email or phone number so that we can contact you if you win. To purchase tickets in cash, please purchase your ticket at our shop.
Visit this link for a list of all the raffle prizes, which include gift cards to East Village Organic, Veselka, Mr. Throwback, Superiority Burger, Abraco and Azaleas, among many others.
Updated:
East Village Postal shared this on Instagram this morning...
Violet won't be reopening on 5th Street
Violet, the restaurant by the Pizza Loves Emily Group and chef/owner Matt Hyland, will not be reopening after the COVID-19 PAUSE here at 511 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
Eater had the news yesterday about the spin-off from Emmy Squared and Emily:
[I]t wasn’t the runaway hit of the chef’s past restaurants. The restaurant built its menu around the grilled pizzas made famous at Italian restaurant Al Forno’s in Providence, Rhode Island, and critical reception was tepid. Eater critic Ryan Sutton found that the toppings-saturated pies at Violet often missed the mark, while New York Times critic Pete Wells praised the pizzas but saw some flaws in the pasta and dessert lineup. The restaurant, which opened its doors in January 2019, also featured pasta and seafood dishes like spaghetti with clams, and grilled shrimp with spicy butter and cilantro.
Hyland called the restaurant “a fun experience” in a statement on the closure, but said that Violet wasn’t feasible to run “in a New York that is increasing drastically in cost of goods and wages.”
FWIW, I liked the pizza, and it was a good spot after a drink at Sophie's a fews doors away.
The address has been home to several restaurants since Le Tableau closed in December 2007. Before Violet, there was Goat Town, Seymour Burton, Butcher Bay and GG's.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Emmy Squared's owners are bringing grilled pizza to the former GG's space on 5th Street
Getting 511 E. 5th St. ready for new grilled pizza venture from Emmy Squared's owners
Your Desire in Food now open on 4th and B
Your Desire in Food debuted back on Monday on the southeast corner of Avenue B and Fourth Street... the owner runs several other delis in the neighborhood, including on Seventh Street and Avenue C.
EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by and met the manager, Nassr Saleh...
So far the sandwiches are said to be popular ...
And they'll have beer for sale soon...
The previous tenant here, East Side Gourmet Deli, closed in April 2019.
St. Mark's Place seems a little more St. Mark's Place-like with the return of the sidewalk vendors
The sidewalk vendors returned to St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue on Monday... as these curbside operations are OK'd in the Phase 1 reopening. (You'll have to wait for any body piercings, though!)
Steven passed along these photos ... and as you can see, the open-air shops are well-stocked with the usual sunglasses, hats and scarves...
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Tuesday's parting shot
The Brant Foundation added their support to BLM on the plywood outside both the entrances on Sixth Street and Seventh Street ... photo by Derek Berg
These East Village venues are open today for protestors
As part of the Open Your Lobby campaign that we've been reporting on (here and here and here).
The venues are supplying protestors with water and snacks as well as letting them use their restrooms.
Check @openyourlobby on Instagram for updates every day at noon.
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