Batteries not included: Food and drinks options on this block of 7th Street

Last week, we reported that the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop would not be reopening on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. When it debuted in 2011, this was the very first storefront for co-founders Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff.

In a letter about the closure, the founders understandably cited the challenges of running a business during a pandemic, and how difficult it would be to make it work on Seventh Street ... they also noted that what was once one of "the hottest food blocks" in the city wasn't what it used to be... that "[t]he batteries have gone a bit dim on that street."

It's true that Caracas Arepa Bar decided to close in November after 17 years, continuing on with their Williamsburg location instead. In addition last year, the now-global Luke's Lobster shut down their Seventh Street location, having outgrown the space. And there was the loss of Porchetta a few years back.

Still, we heard from a lot of readers who took exception to the claim that the block between Avenue A and First Avenue was dimming. While they appreciated the good cheer that Big Gay Ice Cream brought to Seventh Street for nearly 10 years, some readers contend the block has never been more vibrant — even during the pandemic. (The readers were also sorry to see the ice cream shop close, and hope that it can reopen elsewhere in the neighborhood some day.)

For starters, Pylos, Butter Lane and Ruffian (among others, like Papilles and Giano as well as dessert spots mochii and Jell & Chill) continue on.

Ravi DeRossi has three restaurants — Saramsam, a Filipino restaurant at 111 E. Seventh St. that opened in September, Ladybird and Avant Garden — on the block. (They are currently closed for a winter break.) His Overthrow Hospitality is preparing for the opening of a fourth establishment this year on the block — Cadence, a take on southern soul food via chef Shenarri Freeman.

Meanwhile, several of the newer businesses seem to be a hit, including Ho Foods and 787 Coffee, which is a welcomed lively spot in the morning.

Meanwhile, four quick-serve businesses have opened in recent months... Shinn East ... Los Tacos ... plant-based, a vegan bakery, and the newly opened Medan Pasar, the Malaysian restaurant that has drawn rave reviews from Eater and Gothamist this year. 

In addition, Trash & Vaudeville still holds forth on the block... now in its 46th year of business (No. 5 on Seventh Street) ...

... and a look at the block from this past September...

Tamam is now open on 14th Street

The plant-based Tamam Falafel (first reported here) is now open on 14th Street at Third Avenue right next to Joe's Pizza. (Thanks to Pinch and Nick Solares for the tip!)

Tamam is operated by Simon Oren, whose credits include 5 Napkin Burger. 

Here's part of a review of the UES location when it opened last summer via The Beet:

The name, Tamam, which is Arabic and Hebrew slang for "thumbs up," definitely elicits that kind of response for all sampling its tasty — and affordable — fare and Oren clearly hasn't lost his edge in the falafel-verse. The short menu has several standouts. 

First, the Eggplant Sabich Plate ($11.50) is a must, with the crispy eggplant savory and crunchy, and the perfect complement to a drizzle of amba sauce, a piquant condiment made of pickled mangoes and spices. Served on a bed of quinoa with a side of Israeli salad or cabbage salad with delectable hummus—extra creamy and mild — and warm chickpeas, along with freshly baked fluffy pita, the generous portions mean you may just have late-night leftovers to anticipate.

Tamam replaced the 5 Napkin Burger Express outpost. Find their menu here.

A message for Short Stories

Short Stories is currently on a winter hiatus here on the Bowery between Third Street and Fourth Street.

And perhaps no one is around to mind the store on a full-time basis... as such, a neighbor left a sign on the door asking the bar-restaurant to clean up its curbside dining space...

... seen worse, but...

This has been a common complaint among some residents when a bar or restaurant temporarily closes... who's taking care of the curbside space... and, in some cases, if the venue closes, who's responsible to take down the structure... ?

Sunday's parting shot

Lola Saénz today made a large card for Ray... who is celebrating his birthday this month... the card is up at Ray's Candy Store, 113 Avenue A, for anyone to sign.

As previously noted, the Ray's Annual Birthday Celebration isn't happening this year...  organizers instead are asking Ray fans to record a video message here. 

Week in Grieview

Posts from this past week included ... (with an optical illusion on Seventh Street via Derek Berg) ...

• Report: Man shot and killed on Avenue C and 3rd Street (Tuesday)

• In open letter, community groups seek answers over recent removal of 2 CB3 committee chairs (Tuesday) 

• Big Gay Ice Cream founders say goodbye to their very first shop (Friday) 

• How you can record a virtual 88th birthday greeting for Ray (Monday) 

• Halloween Adventure is hoping for one more Halloween (Friday) 

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday) 

• Gallery Watch heads to Paige Beeber’s Farbe at Freight and Volume Gallery (Wedensday)

• Phony Express returns with "Laurie Anderson" (Friday) 

• The former Meet Noodles space is for rent on 3rd Avenue; Taste Wine looks closed next door (Tuesday) 

• 2021 development watch: 38-46 2nd Ave. (Wednesday) 

• Amsterdam Billiards reopens (Wednesday) 

• Happy trails: the sidewalk bridge has been removed from the all-new 619 E. 6th St. (Tuesday) 

• Taiwanese noodles for 7th Street? (Wednesday) 

• Camellia will not be reopening on 3rd Avenue (Wedensday)

... and are the cones getting larger at Van Leeuwen on Seventh Street? Pic by Derek Berg...

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Follow EVG on Instragram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Layers of signage on Avenue A

Workers yesterday removed the layers of signage at 36 Avenue A between Second Street and Third Street. 

Until this past September, this storefront was home to Native Bean. The coffee shop was here since January 2015, having moved the one block from 50 Avenue A. 

The Native Bean sign always looked rather temporary here, stuck over the name of the previous tenant – Angelina Cafe, which moved across the Avenue in 2012 (before closing and becoming Bin 141 on Third and A in 2019!). 

Anyway, the rumor is that another coffee shop is opening at 36 Avenue A... something to keep an eye on in the weeks ahead.

Previously on EV Grieve:

Native Bean wraps up 20 years on Avenue A 

Bernie meme goes offline in the East Village

The ubiquitous bemittened Bernie meme is now a wheatpaste... as seen above on 13th Street at Avenue A... and here on Bleecker and the Bowery...

... and outside Overthrow, the boxing gym on Bleecker near the Bowery... Bernie is wearing boxing gloves instead of hand-knitted mittens...

Art by @zui_nyc

Saturday sunrise

From 14th Street just west of First Avenue ...

Friday's parting shots

EVG reader Andrew shared these photos from 7:45 a.m today on Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

"We thought an apartment in our building was on fire, but instead it was a DSNY truck."

Mind the 'Store'

 

New York-based trio Palberta have a new release out this week... Palberta5000 is the band's fifth record. 

The video here is for "Corner Store." 

You can read a interview with the band, who have drawn comparisons to Captain Beefheart and the Raincoats, among others, at NPR.

Halloween Adventure is hoping for one more Halloween

Earlier this month, reports surfaced that Halloween Adventure is shutting down in the weeks ahead at 808 Broadway/104 Fourth Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street.

However, store ownership is now hoping for a reprieve... with the goal of staying open through this Halloween.

Here's part of their statement via the store's website:

Unfortunately, due to diminishing traffic as a result of COVID, Halloween Adventure is tragically facing the reality that we will have to close. 

While the store has always been open all year, Halloween is always the critical season that funds the rest of our year. The effects of COVID on Halloween 2020 caused us to lose over $2 million in sales. Due to this harsh reality, we are facing closure and are selling off all goods at 75% off. 

At this rate we will not even be able to celebrate Halloween 2021 with the East Village and our last Halloween will have been one that had severely muted celebrations because of COVID. 

Nothing would mean more to us than to have at least one more full, true Halloween celebration with the community. After seeing the outpouring of support over the past two weeks across social media and in the store, we have realized there could be a light at the end of this dark tunnel. 

If we could make back this month even half of the $2 million in Halloween sales that we lost, we could stay open through Halloween and have that last great adventure with the community. This last week in the store has already gotten us nearly 20% of the way there!

If you cannot come to our store in person, we would greatly appreciate if you could support us by purchasing a gift card for the store. Every gift card helps us make it that much closer to our goal and our dream to celebrate that final Halloween with the East Village! 

We truly appreciate all the support we have received from our fans over the years and how you have shared our store with your friends and families.

You can find the gift card info at this link.

The Times has a feature on the shop from today right here.

Photo by Steven

Previously on EV Grieve:

Costume drama: Halloween Adventure is closing next month

Big Gay Ice Cream founders say goodbye to their very first shop

Big Gay Ice Cream co-founders Doug Quint (above left) and Bryan Petroff (above right) shared this message with us yesterday about the closure of their Seventh Street shop, as reported yesterday ...

With great sadness but with no regrets, Bryan and I decided that the time came for Big Gay Ice Cream to close our East Village location. 

125 East Seventh Street is where Big Gay Ice Cream became more than just our overblown hobby. Big Gay Ice Cream Truck a grew into a legitimate hit and in 2011 we decided that it was supposed to be what we did with our lives. 

We signed the lease, quit our day jobs, and built ourselves a perfectly imperfect hole-in-the-wall soft serve joint. I would work a late night in the ice cream truck, staying out long enough to be able to afford a prep sink the next day so in a way every Big Gay Ice Cream Truck customer helped build that place.

For a decade the shop hummed along and put tens of thousands of Salty Pimps in the hands of folks from Tierra Del Fuego to Lapland. It made many people, including us, very happy. 

We always knew that if we ever opened a shop it would be in the East Village. It had to be. In its heyday that section of East Seventh was one of the hottest food blocks in the city — even The New York Times singled it out. We wanted to be right there with Caracas, Luke’s Lobster, Porchetta, Butter Lane and Pylos. Damn, that block had energy and we loved it.  

The batteries have gone a bit dim on that street. The empty storefronts (kept vacant by landlords working tax breaks) that plague the city have settled in. It ain’t what it was. 

We decided that even if the shop managed to make it through “the COVID thing” it would never truly recover. We need to be able to jam customers in during the summer to make enough money to get us through the off season. That won’t work anymore. Knowing that the usual fall semester student rush won’t be coming this year we have decided to call it. 

Thank you all for making wonderful memories at our first shop and thank you to the East Village for having us. We’re going to “keep on keeping on” at our other locations and hope to open another East Village or Lower East Side location before too long. 

Goodbye East Seventh. So long and thanks for all the calories.

Photo from 2011

Bush Tetras, live on livestream tomorrow night at Le Poisson Rouge

Local legends Bush Tetras, the post-punk no-wave band with roots in the East Village, will be perfoming live tomorrow (Saturday!) night from the stage at Le Poisson Rouge (LPR) ... you can find the livestream info at this link. 

The band will also be introducing new bassist RB Korbet. 

Photo of founding members Pat Place and Cynthia Sley by Stacie Joy from February 2020

Phony Express returns with 'Laurie Anderson'

 

Phony Express, the pandemic-era band started by some local artists, writers and musicians, have released a new single — "Laurie Anderson." 

To refresh your memory... here's info from our post on the anonymous band from last week:

"Phony Express is what happens when artists, writers and musicians, who'd normally be making shows live at La MaMa and in our neighborhood watering holes, decide to use our own devices. We've formed an anonymous band inspired by EV Grieve — anonymous, so that listeners may focus on the music itself, not what they find online about the persons performing it; local, sparked by our neighborhood's unique legacy, free and fun ... Our plan is to collaborate by phone, making music quickly (Phony Express) and upload to Phony Express's YouTube channel."

Previously on EV Grieve: 

The debut of Phony Express, a local pandemic-era band who collaborates by phone

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around NYC ... as well as political observations on current events...

The Big Gay Ice Cream Shop will not be reopening on 7th Street

A lot of people have pointed this out in recent days: The for-rent sign in the front window of the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Co-founder Doug Quint confirmed the closure, though didn't offer any other immediate comment. [Updated: Read their farewell-to-Seventh-Street message here.]

This outpost had been closed since the PAUSE went into effect last March ... the Big Gay locations in the West Village and UWS did reopen.

The popular shop opened in September 2011 with a memorable array of entertainment, including an all-bassoon band, Bea Arthur lookalikes and Anthony Bourdain dressed as a priest blessing the shop. 

This was the very first location for the business that started with an ice cream truck. Since then, Quint and co-founder Bryan Petroff authored a cookbook on frozen treats and launched a pint-sized product line in grocery stores. 

Photo by Steven

A show of Local Artists this weekend at 3rd & B’Zaar

3rd & B’Zaar, the mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, is hosting an art show this weekend with an array of local artists.

The opening reception is tomorrow (Friday!) evening from 6-9. The show will then run this weekend — 1-6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

And coming soon: the space will become the Sex, Love & Vintage Market from Feb. 1-Feb. 28. Stay tuned for more details on that.

3rd & B’Zaar debuted late last year as a group of local merchants, artists and designers hosted a month-long Holiday Market.

Noted

As seen this afternoon on the Bowery at Bleecker... photo by Robert Miner...

Gallery Watch: Paige Beeber’s Farbe at Freight and Volume Gallery

Text and photos by Clare Gemima  

Paige Beeber’s Farbe

Freight + Volume Gallery, 97 Allen St.

Freight + Volume Gallery is a space I regularly walk past, but it wasn’t until seeing Paige Beeber’s large scale paintings that I had wanted to ring their doorbell for a tour. 

I had initially thought these were oversized textiles. Crazy in composition and almost panicked in their abstraction, as I drew closer to Beeber’s mixed-media canvases, a clear and painterly dialogue seeped through her strategically applied pallet of wet media, paint and found objects instead.

Ink splotted, cross-hatched and heavily patterned, what I enjoyed most about this show was how reminiscent of a studio scene these works exuded. It was almost as if all the paintings had kicked up a fuss about being transported to the gallery. It is immediately clear from their proud experimentalism that every work has a life of its own. Farbe (German for color ) felt like it was incredibly fun to put together and is an evocative showcasing of Beeber’s vibrancy and growing talent.

Beeber’s works operate as frames of time, snapshots of external and internal circumstances articulated and crafted by the artist. She has investigated ideas like order and chaos, which can be seen on her canvases through controlled, more orderly mark-making amongst the more frenzied and fluid gestures. The draw to these works is found within their multitudinous layers. Countless mark-making techniques that have managed to survive within the constraints of a canvas —how she has not run out of room I do not quite understand. 

What Beeber’s work does successfully is a call for contemplation from her viewer, as there is simply too much to comprehend from one glance. 

The scale of these works aid in this as well. As each work in the gallery towers over you, they demand some kind of attention and calculation — are they puzzles? A game of snakes and ladders? Painted knitting swatches? It is definitely not a case of what you see is what you get. 

Aside from the brilliant choice in showcasing Beeber’s paintings, I learned that Freight and Volume publish beautifully designed catalogs for each of their exhibitions. For a gallery that is dedicated to providing opportunities for emerging visual artists, an incredibly unique resource such as this — so kindly extended to their artists — is rare enough to be highlighted. 

Paige Beeber’s Farbe at Freight + Volume Gallery will be on view until Feb. 21.

 

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Clare Gemima is a visual artist from New Zealand. New-ish to the East Village, she spends her time as an artist assistant and gallery go-er, hungry to explore what's happening in her local art world. You can find her work here: claregemima.com 

When it snowed for a few minutes this morning

In case you missed the snow flurries this morning around 7:30... here are two scenes from along Avenue A... inlcuding a shot of Key Food's new awning that workers installed yesterday...