About Hi Noona, serving up unique Korean-influenced juices and smoothies on 12th Street

Photos by Stacie Joy

Hi Noona, a Korean-American juice bar, debuted earlier this summer at 515 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

Owner Stella Pak serves juices and smoothies with unique ingredients such as chamoe (Korean melon), a family favorite while growing up in Queens. 

Pak, who comes from a family of restaurateurs, answered a few questions about her new business...

What were you doing before opening Hi Noona?

I grew up in a Korean BBQ restaurant in Queens, but most of my career has been in the beauty industry. When COVID-19 came around, I found myself helping my mom rebuild her noodle shop in K-Town. I ended up falling in love with it. I reconnected with my family, food and my Korean-American identity deeply this past year. Hi Noona is another lens for me to further explore that.

Tell us about Noona Noodles. 

Noona Noodles is home. The kitchen and all its ingredients inspire Hi Noona. It's my mother's heart in the middle of K-Town. Our cooks have been with our family since we had a Korean BBQ restaurant in Queens for over 20 years. It's a space for my mother and brother to connect, share and learn from each other through food.

What is the origin of the Hi Noona name? 

"Hi" is the opening of a new chapter and a casual introduction to who I am. "Noona" means older sister for a younger brother in Korean. My brother, Steve, is the true chef in the family, so it was a wink to him. "Noona" is the vibe of how I'd like to take care of my customers.

Why did you decide on the East Village for the shop?

The East Village is free-thinking and has always been open to new ideas and tastes. Daikon and red cabbage are staples in the Korean diet dense in nutrients and haven't been fully explored with juicing. It felt safe to share ideas here.

How has your experience been so far in the neighborhood?

I'm in awe. Minnie, a ballet dancer, copywriter and chalkboard artist, came in and just offered to spruce up my sign. Erika and Tim hooked me up with a couple of chairs and a table for an outdoor seating moment. Kuki from the community garden is helping me with flowers. Eddy and her kids Annelynn and Phoenix are my biggest fans and critics of new menu items. Mary Kate, Ben, Lily and Bella are my regulars/unofficial board members. Jules and Gabby from Bassia Bassia touch up my hair, so I feel like a Goddess. Marissa is my marathon athlete ambassador. Randall from upstairs just knows how to reel them in. I mean… It takes a village to keep this going!

Here's Stella with her shop assistant Willow...

Hi Noona is open Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a 9 a.m. start on Saturday and Sunday.

Here's what's coming to the former Brindle Room space on 10th Street

Chic-hen, which specializes in fried chicken over in Clinton Hill, is the new tenant for 277 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

The quick-serve restaurant offers a variety of salads, fries, wings, sandwiches, burgers and rice dishes. Find a menu here.

This address was home for 11 years to the Brindle Room, whose closure was made official in June. Owner Jeremy Spector told us that he is looking for a new location for his restaurant that served "eclectic comfort food."

Photo from June by Steven. H/T Upper West Sider!

Gutting the former Food Emporium on Union Square

While waiting for the second half of 2023 for the Wegmans to open on Astor Place... here's a quick look inside the former Food Emporium on 14th Street in the base of the Zeckendorf Towers. 

Workers have gutted the interior ...

... and someone punched out the front door...

As you likely know, a Target is slated for this space. Lois Weiss at the Post first reported on the deal in February 2020. At the time, Food Emporium was expected to be here until April 2023, with Target arriving by the end of the year, per the article. 

While this location is listed on Target's future store locations, there isn't any update about an amended opening timetable. 

Food Emporium closed on May 29.

Mug & Cup bringing coffee and juice to Avenue C

Signage arrived this week for Mug & Cup, a coffee and juice shop coming soon to 115 Avenue C between Seventh Street and Eighth Street. 

This will be the second outpost for Mug & Cup, which got its start in East Flatbush. 

No. 115 has been vacant for the past few years as the building was sold and gut-renovated. The retail space has been empty since Le Jardin Bistro closed in June 2015. Previous ventures here include Apartment 13 and The Porch.

Thanks to Dave on 7th for the photo!

Lucky Star signage arrives on St. Mark's Place

The signage went up yesterday at 34 St. Mark's Place for Lucky Star, one of three downtown outposts for the 1950s-style ice cream shop.

As reported in early June, Trigger, the longtime owner of the live music venue/bar the Continental (1991-2018) on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place, is behind this new venture serving Italian Ices, milkshakes and sundaes.

There's a shop on Delancey and Clinton, with another coming soon to the Two Bridges neighborhood.

Here, Lucky Star is opening in part of the former Kyber Pass space between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Thanks to Steven for the photo

Tuesday's parting shot

Tonight's no-filter sunset courtesy of @cecilscheib ...

A farewell, for now, as Pinc Louds hit the road

Late Saturday afternoon, local favorites Pinc Louds played a farewell (of sorts!) show at La Plaza Cultural, the community garden and open-air theater on the southwest corner of Ninth Street and Avenue C.

In support of La Atómica, the band's second full-length release,  Claudi, RaiMundo and Marc Mosteirin are embarking on a 10-city tour starting tomorrow night in Chicago. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by La Plaza for the concert...

... which included a performance by Maira Duarte of Dance to the People...

... in what was truly an all-ages show... 

And Claudi's fans got the chance to say goodbye as well...

[Updated] Construction hell is consuming the intersection of 1st Avenue at 7th Street

Photos and story by Daniel Efram

The ongoing roadwork on the west side of First Avenue at Seventh Street continues to negatively impact the quality of life for both residents and business owners along this corridor. Noise from backhoes, earth flatteners, jackhammers, circular saws, and cars and commercial cartage trucks on the uneven metal plates on the streets and avenues have brought this intersection to a boiling point.

Piping and construction materials, garbage and standing water are the norms. Human waste oozes from the rarely emptied portable toilets. Worst of all — there isn't any timetable for the end of the roadwork.

Crews reporting to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) returned to the intersection to replace portions of the water main back in May. 

As previously reported, there were back-to-back breaks here in late December. The multiple ruptures sent water rushing into businesses and residences along Seventh Street between First Avenue and Avenue A. 

In the weeks/months after the breaks, there was a patchwork of quick fixes on the intersection, and a hodge-podge of sinkholes and cracked surfaces emerged

The DEP contractors covered the various holes with metal plates, and the sound of cars, trucks and buses driving over the plates overnight has disrupted the sleep of residents living within earshot.

   

A resident assembled the above video in March — a best-of montage of cars and trucks driving over the metal plates.

However, it's not just the noise — the reverberations have caused cracks in several nearby buildings. Two residents in the area said when they called 311, the city eventually dispatched inspectors, who subsequently fined the landlords for the cracks in the buildings exacerbated by the ongoing street repairs. Meanwhile, there has been near-constant jackhammering in the past two-plus months, with some complaints being lodged for work on Saturdays. Residents said they are also irked by workers apparently slacking off on the job and crews taking weeks off without explanation. "I live in one of the buildings on the corner and have had a front-row seat to the shoddy work and laissez-faire attitude of this crew since December," said one resident, who asked to remain anonymous. "They show up at 7 a.m. with a crew of six or so, stand around yelling to each other until about 10 a.m., work for an hour, take lunch, work for a little bit more and finish by 2 or 3 p.m." According to the resident, only a few workers will be active at any given time, and they "walk around like they own the block." "They have taken over a huge part of our block and make no effort to clean up where they have worked or minimize the effects on the residents," the resident said. According to the residents I spoke to, there appears to be little, if any, oversight on this sprawling project. Several residents said they have reached out to local elected officials, including City Council Member Carlina Rivera, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, to request immediate accountability with a transparent timeline — delivered by an independent third party. According to Rivera's office, there is someone assigned to oversee this case. Residents and business owners hope that elected officials can have the work expedited with a definitive timetable. (Anyone wishing to file a complaint can use the subject "7th Street & 1st Avenue Construction Complaints." Community Board 3 has a service complaint here.) Updated 8/5 We asked Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer for an update. She said that her office has asked the DEP for a timetable and signage to let people know what is happening. As for complaints, Stetzer said to let her office know via the service complaint form here.

"We will not be able to fix all the problems, but we can try to have mitigated as much as possible," she said. And residents should file a complaint sooner rather than later: CB3 has an interagency meeting that will include the DEP this coming Tuesday. "So it would be helpful to have complaints before then," she said.

Indoor masking recommend for vaccinated New Yorkers; local businesses change entry policies

Updated 10:30 a.m. 

New York City will require proof of vaccination to enter all restaurants, fitness centers and indoor entertainment venues, Mayor de Blasio announced this morning. 

"If you're unvaccinated, unfortunately, you will not be able to participate in many things," de Blasio said, as reported by CNN. "If you want to participate in our society fully, you've got to get vaccinated." 

The mandate will go into effect next month and apply to employees and customers. 

Eater has more details on the program, dubbed "Key to NYC Pass." 

"The program, which appears to be the first of its kind in the United States, will start on Aug. 16 with full enforcement beginning on Sept. 13."

 ----- 

Yesterday, city and state officials recommended that New Yorkers start wearing masks indoors again — even if they have been fully vaccinated.

Said NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi: "I am making a strong recommendation that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear a mask in public indoor settings. This is based on our review of the latest scientific evidence showing that the delta variant of the coronavirus can spread even more easily than previously thought." 

However, Mayor de Blasio is not issuing a mask mandate at this time. "We want to emphasize vaccinations, vaccinations. That is the whole ballgame," he said yesterday, as reported by Gothamist.

NYC: Wear a mask to prevent the spread of #COVID19!
😷 Masks are required on public transit and in hospitals, schools and congregate settings
😷 Unvaccinated people MUST wear a mask in all public settings
😷 Vaccinated people should wear a mask in ALL indoor public settings pic.twitter.com/ODG62pNLAC

— nychealthy (@nycHealthy) August 2, 2021

In addition, Gov. Cuomo said that he is asking private businesses — including bars and restaurants — to require proof of vaccination as a condition for entry. 

"I am asking them, and suggesting to them, go to vaccine-only admission," Cuomo told reporters. "I believe it is in your best interest." 

Meanwhile, before yesterday's announcements and recommendations, several East Village businesses had announced a change in their policies. 

To eat inside at Yellow Rose, the Tex-Mex restaurant at 102 Third Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street, diners must show proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test. Outdoor seating will remain open to all diners. 

Starting today, Nowon, the Korean restaurant at 507 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, will only serve vaccinated patrons indoors. Outdoor tables will remain open for any guests. 

The owners of Ruffian, the wine bar at 125 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, and Kindred (pictured above), 342 E. Sixth St. just west of First Avenue, are suspending indoor dining until further notice. Their outdoor spaces will remain in service.

Eater is compiling a list of restaurants requiring proof of vaccination here.

The Anthology Film Archives, which reopens for in-person screenings on Thursday, had previously announced that only vaccinated (and masked) moviegoers will be allowed in for now at the theater on Second Avenue and Second Street. To see Stomp at the Orpheum Theatre on Second Avenue, guests 12 and over must show proof of vaccination. 

Elsewhere, White Trash, specializing in mid-century modern furnishings at 304 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, requires vaccination proof for entry.

According to city data, 55 percent of all adult New Yorkers have been fully vaccinated; the number is 66 percent in Manhattan — and even higher in the 10002, 10003 and 10009 zip codes. 

La Plaza Cultural debuts two free lending libraries

La Plaza Cultural, the community garden and open-air theater on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street, now features two free lending libraries ... with a third on the way.

For now, one of the bookshelves is on the outside fence along Avenue C, while the other is inside the garden, which is open on weekends from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (as well as for other special events during the week).

Passersby are welcome to drop off books and pick up a few in exchange. According to a La Plaza volunteer, the bookcases are built of sustainable bamboo plywood paid for through a Citizen's Committee grant. 

Local residents and activists founded La Plaza in 1976. It was renamed in honor of Armando Perez, a community activist who was murdered in 1999, in 2003. 

Photo via La Plaza Cultural

New signage day for the NW corner of 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Workers yesterday started putting up the signage for the new business on this most high-profile of East Village corners — the NW side of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

As previously reported, the Taiwan-based Xing Fu Tang, a bubble tea chain specializing in brown sugar boba, will be setting up shop here...

No word on an opening date...

Nobletree Coffee closed here in May 2019 after just five months in business. This storefront previously sat empty for three years — ever since DF Mavens closed in January 2016 ... after a Dec. 26, 2014 debut. (It took the Mavenators 14 months to open the space.)

Other tenants in recent years include Eastside Bakery (.net?) and Roastown Coffee. And the only business to last here in the past 30 years: the Gap, from 1988 to 2001.

Thanks to Steven for the photos! (And thanks to Jeff and Brian for sending some along as well!)

Monday's parting shot

An early morning look at the southwest corner of 11th Street at First Avenue... thanks to Jason Solarek for the photo!

The RBG mural by Elle Street Art went up here last November.

Remembering Biz Markie

There's a new memorial in place for the late Biz Markie outside the Second Avenue F stop at East Houston. 

Will Power created the mural over the weekend for Markie, the legendary beatboxer, DJ and rapper who died on July 16 at age 57. 

Services for Markie, who was born in Harlem, were held this afternoon. 

The mural is expected to be up here for the next two weeks.

First sign of the B Bar & Grill-replacing 21-story office building on the Bowery

A banner ad for the new 21-story office building coming to the southwest corner of the Bowery at Fourth Street now looms over the space it's replacing — the former B Bar & Grill.

The ad, titled "A Singular Experience," touts the "limited collection of full-floor office suites" ...

There's also a teaser site for the building, which will use 360 Bowery as its address. Per the site, with a Midtown-looking rendering, occupancy is expected in the spring of 2023...

Included is info about potential tenants in the ground-floor retail spaces:

Permitted uses in M1-5B (Includes Wholesale, Light Manufacturing, Bicycle Rental and Repair, Clothing Rental Establishment, Public Auction, Room & House of Worship). No UG6 retail, office, or restaurants.

As we first reported in January, permits were filed for a 21-floor mixed-use development — a 283-foot-tall office building. (For a comparison, the Standard East Village a block to the north is 21 floors.) 

According to the proposed plan, the well-employed architect Morris Adjmi's building will encompass 98,799 square feet, with 26,000 square feet set aside for use as an unspecified community facility. 

CB Developers paid $59.5 million for a stake in 358-360 Bowery, previously a gas station before its conversion into the bar-restaurant. B Bar owner Eric Goode, who owns a handful of hotels, including the Bowery Hotel across the way, assembled air rights to build the larger development on this corner space. 

As for the B Bar, the one-time hot spot (circa the mid-1990s) was expected to close for good last August. However, the bar-restaurant never reopened after the PAUSE in March 2020. On April 3, 2020, nearly 70 B Bar employees were laid off without any extension of benefits or offer of severance pay.

Permits are on file now to demolish the single-level structure on the corner. This will be the second office building to rise along this corridor... joining the 10-floor structure in the works on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place.

It will be interesting to see how the developers position this office space for a post-pandemic world. As WNYC/Gothamist recently reported, "Across Manhattan, office buildings are still suffering from a glut of available space more than a year after the pandemic sent workers home and shut down most leasing activity."

Previously on EV Grieve:
• CB Developers pay $59.5 million for an interest in 358 Bowery — current home of the B Bar & Grill and likely a new development

• B Bar & Grill lays off its staff without severance

• Permits filed to demolish the former B Bar & Grill on the Bowery

Bagel Boss opens on 14th Street

The Bagel Boss outpost at 238 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue is now open. (Thanks to the reader for the pic!)

Hours: Daily from 6 a.m. to, we're told, 4 p.m.-ish.

Meanwhile, the BB coming to East Houston and Mott has a little longer before its debut...

Bagel Boss, founded in 1975, will now have 15-plus locations in NYC (including First Avenue between 15th Street and 16th Street) and on Long Island. 

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Bagel Boss to preside in storefronts on 14th Street, East Houston

Gorillas will be in the mix at this 14th Street retail space

We have a new retail reveal in the renovated storefronts at 428 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... signage went up this past week for Gorillas, the on-demand grocery delivery startup... 

A tipster told us that this space will be a small distribution outpost (as opposed to merely an ad) for the Berlin-based company that "promises to let you order groceries and other 'every day' items for delivery in as little as 10 minutes," as TechCrunch noted. Gorillas debuted in Brooklyn in May. 

There isn't any signage up yet for another new tenant — a European Wax Center. (Winick Realty reported this on its Instagram account.) There's also a European Wax Center on University Place — in the former home (the last one anyway) of the Cedar Tavern.

No. 428 has been undergoing a gut renovation ... the previous retail tenants were victims of the L-train work here. 

Updated 11 a.m.: Sifted has a post today on workplace tensions titled "Gorillas: The new WeWork?"

Thanks, Upper West Sider! 

The two-story dining structure that almost was on 4th Street

Back on Thursday, EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these photos from Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... where workers were starting to add a second level — complete with artificial turf — to the dining structure outside Izakaya NYC...

Work continued on Friday morning ...

Though by the end of the day, the job's mission changed to a removal after neighbor complaints — two-story structures are not allowed — led an inspector from the Department of Transportation to the site, who nixed the double-decker.

Here's a look at the de-constructed second level and streeteatery yesterday...

Curbed, who first reported on this Friday, received a statement from Izakaya NYC owner Yudai Kanayama:

Kanayama said he wanted to add extra outdoor space as COVID cases are rising once again, but reiterated that he was taking down the upper level. "I thought the only potential to create more seating was this," he said. The plan had been to lay fake turf upstairs and make the area more like a park or lawn than a restaurant with tables and chairs. "I was basically looking for the best we could do under the restrictions by being more creative and ambitious."

The DOT said that an inspector will return this week to confirm that Izakaya NYC removed the in-progress second deck. 

The ill-fated duplex also made the cover of the Post on Saturday, in which Steve Cuozzo excoriated al fresco dining structures.