Monday, September 19, 2022

On tonight's CB3 SLA committee docket: Balkan cuisine for the former Starbucks on 2nd Avenue

Here are several more applicants seeking new liquor licenses during tonight's CB3-SLA docket... the virtual meeting starts at 6:30. This is the Zoom link.

• Sugar Mouse LLC, 101 E 10th St (op) 

Sugar Mouse is the name of the concept proposed for the NE corner of Third Avenue at 10th Street, in space (pic above) that TD Bank previously used before downsizing

The bar, offering pizza and snacks, will feature a variety of table games (foosball, billiards, shuffleboard, etc.). The hours are daily from 2 p.m. to, depending on the night of the week, 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. Read more on the application here

Ownership also operates Sour Mouse on Delancey, billed as "the Hottest underground social club in the LES." 

We've heard from several residents who live nearby with concerns about the business,  particularly the late-night closing times. Flyers on the block noted (in all caps): "Nothing less than the quality of life on these streets is at stake."

• Lava Ground LLC, 4 St Marks Pl (wb) 

There's not a lot of information about the bar concept proposed for the lower level of 4 St. Mark's Place near Third Avenue. 

The unnamed establishment will offer bar food such as wings and beef patties with daily hours of 10 a.m. to 4 a.m. According to the questionnaire, which you can read here, the owner previously worked as a security guard and now owns a beverage company.

The space was previously (and briefly) an outpost of the Wanyoo Cyber Cafe. 

• Balkan Streat (Wolf of 3rd Ave LLC), 145 2nd Ave (wb) 

A fast-casual restaurant called Balkan Streat is in the works for the NW corner of Second Avenue and Ninth Street (the former Starbucks).

As the name implies, owners William Djuric and Jason Correa plan to provide a menu with food from the Balkans. (The questionnaire here includes a sample menu.) According to his bio, Djuric, who worked at Gramercy Tavern and Momofuku Ssam Bar, decided to "pursue his dream of opening a Balkan restaurant that would be inspired by his [late] father's Serbian heritage and childhood summers spent in Yugoslavia." 

The restaurant has proposed daily hours from noon to 11 p.m., with a 2 a.m. close on Friday and Saturday. 


This storefront has remained empty since Starbucks closed in April 2019.

• El Primo Red Tacos (El Primo Red Tacos NYC LLC), 151 Ave A (wb) 

The Miami-based taco shop is back on the agenda this month without the full-liquor ask.

There are still concerns from neighbors about the use of the backyard space here.

• Corp to be formed by Ronan Downs, 210 Ave A (op) (Public input occurred on this item in August and in September will only have committee discussion)

Also returning: The bar-tavern concept from a management team led by Ronan Downs, whose numerous credits include Becketts Bar & Grill down on Pearl Street.

You can read the questionnaire here

Several applicants have looked at this space on the northeast corner of Avenue A and 13th Street since Percy's Tavern closed in 2017. 

1 guess on what is coming to this empty storefront on Avenue A and 13th Street

Activity, including the installation of glass cigar cases, continues inside the storefront on the SE corner of Avenue A and 13th Street... a worker on the scene said it will be a — SMOKE SHOP. 

The business is expected to be open in the next few weeks. Until then, you can try one of the other two dozen smoke shops in the neighborhood.

Back in May, the owners of Keybar on 13th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue were looking to relocate here, but the application didn't make it past Community Board 3.

Caffè Bene closed here in December after nearly six years in business... until 2014, the space was Kim's Laundromat & Cleaners for some 30 years. 

Thank you to EVG reader Erika for the photo and tip!

Good Beer has closed

As a follow-up to last Monday's post... Good Beer has closed at 422 E. Ninth St., wrapping up nearly 12 years between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

As Chris O'Leary wrote in his Brew New York newsletter
The shop-and-bar was a craft beer pioneer when it opened, and was the first beer-focused bottle shop with on-premise drinking in Manhattan, paving the way for others throughout the borough that continue to operate to this day.
Photo by Steven 

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Sunday's parting shot

Photo on St. Mark's Place today by Derek Berg...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo of Ruckus Interruptus playing the excellent Ninth Street block party yesterday... photo by Derek Berg)...

• Report of a 2-alarm fire at 11-13 Avenue D (Tuesday

• Remembering East Village artist M. Henry Jones (Wednesday)

• Astor Wines & Spirits has new owners — its employees (Tuesday

• City unveils Adela Fargas Way in honor of Casa Adela's legendary founder (Friday ... Saturday)

• Green days: 6&B Garden program teaching East Village kids how to garden and cook (Thursday

• Good Beer is closing (Monday

• What is the city planning for the multipurpose courts in Tompkins Square Park? (Wednesday)

• Compilation Coffee debuts on St. Mark's Place (Thursday

• Jo's Tacos coming to 14th Street (Monday

• The state of this Stuyvesant Street retail space (Thursday

• A full reveal at Zero Irving on 14th Street (Monday

• These cats need a home (Thursday

• The pre-dawn Moon in Taurus (Thursday

• A new broker for 44 Avenue A (Tuesday

• J. Crew signage official a day before its grand opening on the Bowery (Monday

• Signs of fall: the Feast of San Gennaro is underway (Thursday

• Thursday's parting SERVE (Thursday

• Full reveal at 15 Avenue A (Wednesday

• City removes the outdoor dining structure from Pardon My French on Avenue B (Friday

...  and after nearly seven weeks of rent-free business while parked on Sixth Street at Avenue A, the Mo' Eats truck disappeared on Wednesday...
... though it was spotted again Saturday morning not too far away...
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Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Sign up to sing with the Most Holy Redeemer Church youth choir

Via the EVG inbox... 
Calling all children and youth ages 7-16 to join the Youth Choir at Most Holy Redeemer Church! Tuition-free and open to all backgrounds, creeds and experience levels. Come and make new friends, find your unique voice, and learn to make music together as a team. 
Instructor Clara Gerdes Bartz is an experienced organist, pianist and choir director, a recent graduate of Yale University School of Music, and has worked with children's and youth choirs since 2015. Please text her at (704) 928-6280 if interested! 
The church is on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Sunday's opening shot

Last weekend of the summer! Photo from Tompkins Square Park by Steven... 

P.S.

Saturday, September 17, 2022

Saturday's parting shots

Photos by Derek Berg

The Loisaida Open Streets this afternoon welcomed the Bindlestiff Flatbed Follies to Avenue B between Eighth Street and Ninth Street...

Adela Fargas Way

Adela Fargas Way is now official on the corner of Fifth Street and Avenue C. 

During a noontime ceremony today, friends, family and local elected officials gathered on this NE corner to pay tribute to the restaurateur who ran Casa Adela at 66 Avenue C for decades.    
Fargas died in January 2018. She was 81.

As we reported in May, District Leader Aura Olavarria drafted the petition ... and worked with Adela's son Luis Rivera and other community members-groups. They collected hundreds of signatures and presented the petition to Community Board 3's Transportation, Public Safety, Sanitation & Environment Committee, who overwhelmingly approved the petition ... and the entire Board passed a resolution in support on May 24. 

On July 14, the New York City Council Committee passed Councilmember Carlina Rivera's bill for the co-naming.
Top photo by @the_clemente

The latest headlines from the Riis Houses water scandal

Photo via @THECITYNY 

 • NYCHA CEO steps down in wake of the arsenic crisis at the Riis Houses on Avenue D (1010 WINS) ... hefty pay left intact (The City

• Arsenic alarm still a drain on Riis residents' routines and resources (City Limits)

• Residents file lawsuit against NYCHA over arsenic water scare (NBC New York

 • City officials to testify under oath on NYCHA arsenic readings (The City

• City Council to launch two investigations into NYCHA water quality (NY1

In other headlines...

 • A suspect has been arrested for fatally shooting a gang rival outside Haven Plaza (Daily News ... previously on EVG

• City Hall says major crimes up, but NYPD response times slower (Gothamist

• Some thoughts on the Bowery (Flaming Pablum

• Take the M14a for these downtown dining spots (Eater

• History of the Sixth Street Industrial School (Ephemeral New York)

• Model Ivy Getty provides this "Cool Girl’s Guide to the East Village" (Elle

• On Henry Street, several galleries have enjoyed low rent from multi-year leases signed in 2020. What happens when those expire? (Artnet News

• The owners of LES party venue the Bowery Savings Bank filed for Chapter 11 protection to stave off a forced sale after defaulting on their $12 million loan (Commercial Observer)

• The possibility of a 23% taxi fare hike, base fare increase (The Post

• Dimes Square, post-shark-jump (The New Yorker

• Halloween with some early David Cronenberg (Film Anthology Archives)

Saturday's opening shot

A recent arrival outside the Second Avenue F stop — "There's no crying in street art" ... a take on the Tom Hanks' quote from "A League of Their Own" — "There’s no crying in baseball." 

Mural by @sacsix

Friday, September 16, 2022

Friday's parting shot

This clown (Coco!) was entertaining motorists on Houston at Avenue A/Essex late this afternoon...

Booted in the bus lane — day 8

The Subaru with the missing plates enjoyed its eighth day booted in the bus lane here on Avenue A between Third Street and Second Street... (thanks to EVG reader Carl Bentsen for the pics!)...
And there is an addition of a windshield note today... with a phone number (not to the mayor's office!) for the Subaru owner to call if he/she can't afford to have the boot removed...
A reader said the city towed the car here from Third Street on Sept. 8 ahead of the milling.

Freaks to the front

 

Australian punks Amyl and the Sniffers released this live video clip this week from a recent show... a good preview of what to expect when they play Terminal 5 on West 56th Street next Friday night... in support of their most recent release, Comfort to Me.

City removes the outdoor dining structure from Pardon My French on Avenue B

This morning, workers from the Department of Sanitation and Department of Transportation swooped in on Pardon My French, and removed the restaurant's curbside dining structure on Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. (The block was shut down to through traffic during this time.) 

An EVG reader shared these photos...
A resident who lives nearby told us that the structure had been used for storing chairs and tables for the sidewalk cafe. And we don't know if the city had fined the restaurant for the space or asked them to remove it.
The city recently began cracking down on abandoned curbside-dining structures through the Open Restaurants program. 

Per the city
Having removed the initial 24 abandoned sheds, the task force has begun identifying and removing additional sheds, investigating another 37 sheds identified as egregious violators of Open Restaurants program guidelines, and reviewing complaints and summons data to identify and remove other abandoned sheds throughout the five boroughs. Sheds reported to be abandoned will be verified as abandoned two separate times before receiving a termination letter, followed by removal and disposal of the shed. 

The task force will also review sheds that, while potentially active, are particularly egregious violators of Open Restaurants program guidelines. In these cases, sheds will be inspected three separate times before action is taken. 
After each of the first two failed inspections, DOT will issue notices instructing the restaurant owner to correct the outstanding issues; after the third visit, DOT will issue a termination letter and allow 48 hours before issuing a removal notice. DOT will then remove the structure and store it for 90 days — if the owner does not reclaim it in that period, DOT will dispose of the structure.

Recent East Village removals include PocoDia, the Ainsworth and Baker's Pizza. Of those four, only Poco remains in business. 

Thank you to Concerned Citizen and Salim as well!

Flashback Friday: this morning's sunrise, last Saturday's harvest moonrise

Thanks to EVG reader Jeanne Krier for these photos...

City to unveil Adela Fargas Way this weekend in honor of Casa Adela's legendary founder

Tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 17) at noon, the city unveils new street blades for Adela Fargas Way on Fifth Street and Avenue C. 

Fargas was the founder and namesake of the popular Puerto Rican restaurant Casa Adela on the block. Fargas, who ran Casa Adela here for decades, died in January 2018. She was 81.

As we reported in MayDistrict Leader Aura Olavarria drafted the petition ... and worked with Adela's son Luis Rivera (pictured below) and other community members-groups. They collected hundreds of signatures and presented the petition to Community Board 3's Transportation, Public Safety, Sanitation & Environment Committee, who overwhelmingly approved the petition ... and the entire Board passed a resolution in support on May 24. 

On July 14, the New York City Council Committee passed Councilmember Carlina Rivera's bill for the co-naming.
Here's more about Fargas from the petition:
Adela Fargas was a working-class, Afro-Puerto Rican fixture in Loisaida and the owner and matriarch behind the iconic and authentic Puerto Rican restaurant Casa Adela. She was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, where she became a domestic worker who prepared frianbreras, or packed lunches, for factory workers. 

She moved to the United States at age 39, where her first job in the Lower East Side was at a restaurant on East 4th Street and Avenue D. When the restaurant closed, Adela found a way to provide for her family and feed those less fortunate through selling pasteles on street corners. In 1973, Adela opened her family-run restaurant, Casa Adela. 

Adela Fargas's impact goes far beyond a restaurant, which represented an important meeting place for the Puerto Rican community in New York City, in the diaspora, and worldwide. Outside the restaurant's walls, Adela was a center of Latino life on the Lower East Side and a tireless community advocate. Adela became the godmother to many on the Lower East Side, employing those who lived in the neighborhood and feeding anyone who came in hungry. 

Her soul food attracted a profound sense of community and this street co-naming will serve to honor her living legacy. Each year at the Loisaida Festival, Adela provided food for the community and organized dance and music for the festival as well.

Photo from May by Stacie Joy 

The annual 9th Street Block Party is back, and happening tomorrow (Saturday!)

For the first time since 2019, the 9th Street A-1 Block Association Block Party — one of the best around — is back in action... happening tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 17) from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Both residents and merchants along the block — Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue — will have items for sale. Expect some live music too.

Thanks to Steven for the photo!

The annual Village View Tag Sale is tomorrow (Saturday!)

There's a tag sale at Village View tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 17) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ... it's on the Fifth Street basketball court between Avenue A and First Avenue... as we've noted before: We've found (bought) some pretty good stuff here through the years.

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Thursday's parting SERVE

Photo by Derek Berg 

Some folks from PingPod were at the ping-pong table in the center of Tompkins Square Park today... offering $10 for anyone who could return one of three serves from one of their table-tennis pros. 

The fellow in the above photo returned all three — AND WITH A GUITAR STRAPPED TO HIS BACK. 

Maybe the video will show up @pingpod.