Thursday, November 19, 2020
Flyer alert: More about Love and Sex on 10th Street
Grant Shaffer's NY See
A visit to Van Da on 4th Street
Text and photos by Stacie Joy
There is something magical watching a close-knit team work together to create something.
In that light, I was pleased to arrive early enough at the elegant and modern Vietnamese restaurant Van Da, 234 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, to watch the chefs prepare, taste, and perfect the day’s special, tôm rim shrimp. It’s a seafood dish cooked over high heat with caramelized fish sauce, peppers and toasted cashews, all served over broken rice, which executive chef Mary Celine Bui calls “tortured rice” due to the process that it undergoes to become “broken.”
The dish is tasted by all staff members and discussed (chef Jay Bui, Mary’s husband and partner in the kitchen, offers to add some green onions), and notes are jotted down to inform diners about the special, before the chefs make a new batch with modifications under the watchful eye of owner Yen Ngo.
Yen, Mary and Jay go through several iterations of the plate before Yen is satisfied that it is ready for her customers.
We feel so fortunate to have such amazing writeups and to be recognized by the Michelin. It’s such an honor. Restaurant businesses are so hard, we love this kind of recognition plus the reviews of our guests.
This is definitely the biggest challenge. It’s hard for people to eat outside in the cold. However, I agree that we need to keep everyone safe.
We are in a dense neighborhood, it’s so important for us to make sure the people who live nearby are not constantly bother by loud music and worse — bad music. As a diner, I also am completely turned off by terrible and loud music so that you have to scream to be heard.
Normally, I ask business owners about what’s next for them, what their plans are going forward. Knowing that we don’t know a lot about how the pandemic and its surrounding issues will play out, what are your thoughts on the restaurant industry as we look toward next year?
Wow, this is a tough one to answer. I am very worried about the restaurant industry altogether. There are already so many closures and will be many more the next few months. In January and February of 2020, we were doing extremely well and thought that we are going to make it and become a neighborhood destination.
Two-plus years after devastating fire, Yakiniku West reopens next week on 9th Street
AO Bowl softly opens on St. Mark's Place
Using Blendtec technology, which prevents the oxidation of fruits and vegetables, AO Bowl juices retain over 90 percent juice compared to about 60-70 percent in standard juicing. Vacuum blending removes the air from ingredients within the blender, allowing juices to retain the majority of their original vitamin and mineral content.
Workers gutted this single-level structure on the corner ... dividing the storefront into several spaces. The other new tenant here will be the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop one of these days.
Former Mace space for rent on 12th Street
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Gallery Watch: Cotton Mouth by Tschabalala Self
Text and photos by Clare Gemima
Cotton Mouth presents as a formal critique on projected viewings (or constructions) of Black bodies in America. This show is physically and figuratively in your face, hitting the nail on the head with what needs to be addressed socially and artistically right now.
As you walk into the beautiful space that is Eva Presenhuber on the historically rich Great Jones, you will quickly find yourself surrounded by mixed-media paintings made out of materials such as fabric, thread, charmeuse, silk, velvet, paper, pigment, acrylic and canvas that completely dominate the space.
The title of the show and Self’s making process simultaneously speak to slavery, and the mutually exclusive relationship that cotton has with the African-American experience.
The work is so hard not to touch based on the array of different fabrics used and sewn together. What was hard for me to believe is that through stitching and constructing, Self has made characters that undeniably hold their own presence and somehow even look different in age and personified life experience.
Self’s practice marries her interests in the psychological and emotional effects of projected fantasy with her sustained articulation of Black life and embodiment. Seeing every hand stitch in Self’s work shows the viewer how painstaking and timely it is to create. The labor in each stitch holds affection, memory and protection according to the artist, and I feel as though the painted hands directly applied to the gallery’s walls touch on this too.
EVG Etc.: The MTA's financial crisis; the latest essays from Luc Sante
The Bowery Mission's 141st Thanksgiving
Reader reports: E. 10th St. Finest Deli will close next month
A full reveal at 639 E. 9th St.
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Tuesday's parting shot
While we're 'Younger': Filming in Tompkins Square Park today
Street appeal: East Village resident David Godlis has a new book of photographs
His previous book, "History Is Made at Night" (from 2016), chronicles the heyday of the scene at CBGB between 1976 and 1979.