Photos by Stacie Joy
Monday, March 13, 2023
March madness! Key Food continues to up its St. Patrick's Day game
A new home and name for Café Cortadito
Photo and reporting by Stacie Joy
Café Cortadito's new home is very close to its previous home.
Ricardo Arias and Patricia Valencia, the husband-and-wife owners of the Cuban restaurant, confirmed to EVG contributor Stacie Joy that they will be moving to the NE corner of Avenue B at Second Street (17 Avenue B) — the former Cornerstone Cafe.
In addition, Cafe Cortadito will be going as Cantina Cubana. They plan to be open six days a week, dark on Mondays with an 11 p.m. close on weekends. While there won't be a bar on the premises for patrons, Arias and Valencia will be applying for a liquor license in April for their mojitos and other drink specials.
No word yet on an opening date, though renovations have started behind the papered-up front windows...
As previously reported, Café Cortadito closed 210 E. Third St., just east of Avenue B, at the end of January after 18 years in business. The landlord increased the rent from $8,000 to $15,000 monthly.
The Cornerstone Cafe closed in December 2021 after 10-plus years in business. In an Instagram post, the Cornerstone cited the ongoing pandemic and the city's related mandates and restrictions for the closure.
Gelato and coffee for 1st and 10th
Updated 3/15: The shop is open now... and per a reader, there isn't a coffee service just yet.
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As you might expect from the name, the shop will be serving gelato, coffee and espresso.
EVG regular Lola Sáenz spotted the proprietors dishing up some samples on Friday...
The business takes over the space from Tarallucci e Vino, the all-day cafe that closed last June after 20-plus years.
Report: Angel's Share has a new home (and what of its old home?)
As The New York Times first reported, "Erina Yoshida, the daughter of Tony Yoshida, the restaurateur who opened Angel's Share in a second-floor room on Stuyvesant Street in 1993, has found a new space for the bar in Greenwich Village. She will own and run the rebooted Angel's Share."
The opening date is pending.
Meanwhile, it was nearly a year ago today that news first surfaced — via a tweet by Alex Vadukul, a correspondent for The New York Times — that Yoshida's four businesses along Stuyvesant Street between Ninth Street and Third Avenue were expected to close.
Village Yokocho, Angel's Share, Panya and Sunrise Mart were all gone by the end of April.
Eleven months later, the retail spaces remain vacant... there haven't been any for-lease signs posted during this time...
Another restaurant, Sharaku, in the corner space at 14 Stuyvesant St., shuttered earlier in the pandemic. (Sunrise Mart was in a separate building next door.)
Cooper Union, which leased the buildings from their owners and had subleased them to the Yoshida Restaurant Group for more than 25 years, said it was the tenants' decision to move on. (This post has more background. Yoshida had not paid rent since 2020.)
There haven't been any public statements on what the landlord, believed to be 29 Third Ave Corporation c/o Casabella Holdings, LLC, has in store for the spaces. A Cooper Union rep told us previously that no new building is planned on this site.
So far, no sign of any work permits at the Department of Buildings to suggest a renovation or anything else significant at these addresses in prime retail-restaurant territory.
Corner development battle: 360 Bowery takes commanding lead over 1 St. Mark's Place
Foundation work started in earnest on each lot last summer... though No. 360 (a pit start last June) is much further along. As the top photo shows, workers are up to the sixth floor of what will be a 21-story building with a generic 2024 completion date.
At 1 St. Mark's Place, a 9-floor office building is still in the pit stage...
The work down here began again late last summer, and there has been little noticeable progress above ground ... and this is after crews and equipment were on the scene in the summer of 2020...
The building is slated for a (now unlikely) summer 2024 completion. Our previous post has more details about what has transpired here to date.
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Week in Grieview
Posts this past week included (with a photo from Tompkins Square Park Friday by Derek Berg)...
• The owner of A&C Kitchen on Avenue C would like to reopen his business now (Friday)
• A rally at City Hall for the former Charas/El Bohio Community Center (Thursday)
• About Radhika & Saman, a pop-up shop featuring handmade clothing from India and Pakistan (Wednesday)
• News flush: The Tompkins Square Park restrooms, open once more (Thursday)
• Get ready to say so long to the Stomp sign (Wednesday)
• City and state officials continue cracking down on illegal smoke shops (Monday)
• For sale: 171 1st Ave., home of Momofuku and the only cast-iron building in the East Village (Tuesday)
• A corner lot awaits new development on 5th Street and Avenue D (Wednesday)
• Avant Garden is on the move (Monday)
• CJ Tattoo relocates from St. Mark's Place to Avenue C (Monday)
• Stump town no more in Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday)
• Oh my: Oh K-Dog & Egg Toast the latest concept to close at 36 St. Mark's Place (Monday)
• Renovations underway at the former Dallas BBQ (Thursday)
• The historic 137 2nd Ave. — the former Stuyvesant Polyclinic — is now for sale (Monday)
• First sign of the new Ichibantei outpost on 3rd Avenue (Thursday)
• Shinn East expands on 7th Street (Friday)
Transformer, day 2!
Photo by Stacie Joy
We're on Day 2 with the installation of a new transformer (and assorted pieces) at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.
Anyway, Avenue A will remain closed between Fourth Street and Seventh Street for lord knows how long today.
This impacts the M14 bus service. Per the MTA;
M14A-SBS stops on Ave A at E 5th St and Houston St will be closed in both directionsMar 11 - 12, Sat & SunFor service, use the stops on Ave A at E 11th St or Essex St at Delancey St.Eastbound buses will also make requested stops on Ave C, and westbound buses will make requested stops on 1st Ave.
Time check
And how much longer will we need to do this????
Per Gothamist:
The push to force permanent daylight saving time nationally gained momentum in Congress last year, when a bill to do so passed the Senate on a voice vote but died in the House. Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio reintroduced his bill this year.
Saturday, March 11, 2023
Saturday's parting shot
EVG Etc.: The NYC luncheonette trend; a Beth B retrospective
• Where is the NYCHA's Public Housing Preservation Trust? (The City)
• Village Works looking for a new home (PIX11 ... previously on EVG)
• A feature La Sala de Pepe, a social club and gallery on Avenue C (NACLA)
• Starting next month, the New York Restoration Project is giving out 3,500 free trees to New Yorkers (Time Out)
• Ghost signs along Avenue A (Untapped Cities ... previously on EVG)
• The artists paying tribute to NYC storefronts (Gothamist)
• NYC's luncheonette trend (Eater)
• A long-overdue showcase for Beth B (Metrograph)
• Highlighting the work of multimedia artist Friederike Pezold (Pezoldo) (Anthology Film Archives)
John?!
The question: Is this some kind of statement about John Varvatos next door? (CBGB until 2006.)
Dunno!
The piece is titled:
John?!
Spray paint on custom awning
72 x 36 x 24 in.
182 x 91 x 60 cm
And the awning is part of a new exhibit featuring the work of Louis Osmosis titled "Recording Artists."
Here's more about the artist via the gallery:
Louis Osmosis (b. 1996, Brooklyn, NY) is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in sculpture, drawing, performance, and text. His practice revolves heavily around craft/manufacture, performative actions, and readymades, incorporating found objects and vernacular materials from popsicle sticks to graphic t-shirts, and hornet nests to violins. Equally invested in reenactment and artistic production, Osmosis's speculative approach to form reflects his ongoing "investigation into affected modes of aspiration and lack." Osmosis received his BFA from the Cooper Union in 2018.
Tonight's opening is from 6-8. The exhibit is up through May 7.
Con Ed ready to transform your weekend along Avenue A!
The Bay Crane team is out in force this morning for what we understand will be the installation of a new transformer at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.
Posted signage last weekend tipped us off to this event ... though with some cliffhanging — maybe it will happen March 4-5... or maybe March 11-12! ("We don't really know!" didn't fit on the sign.)
The transformer work here, often 17 workers directing a beeping forklift, started as we welcomed 2023 ... 
Could this be the guest of honor?
Anyway! Pull up a chair and umbrella and enjoy.
The sign leaves out some vital info... like Avenue A is closed through traffic from Fourth Street to Seventh Street. (Perhaps that was optional to include, given the 47 flatbed trucks and various cranes parked along A.)
Friday, March 10, 2023
After 'Sun'
The New Colossus Festival continues this weekend at neighborhood music venues (Pianos, Mercury Lounge, Berlin, Heaven Can Wait, Bowery Electric and Arlene's Grocery).
Among the many acts to play: Local band Lukka, on a dream pop-shoegaze bill tomorrow night at Arlene's.
The video here is for "Wisdom of the Sun."
A clothing swap at Fish Bar
Interested parties may bring in unwanted clothing, accessories or jewelry (nothing dirty or damaged!) to exchange for other items from attendees.
It's happening from 1-3 p.m. at the good ol' Fish Bar, 237 E. Fifth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square.
The owner of A&C Kitchen on Avenue C would like to reopen his business now
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
On Feb. 27, a two-alarm fire broke out at 136 Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street.
Initial reports put the blame on a "lit object" discarded from a window down to the courtyard in the rear of the building.
The fire destroyed a ground-floor apartment. As a precaution, the FDNY opened up some walls and the ceiling in the kitchen at the Wayland on the corner, causing them to be closed for a few days to repair the drywall. (They reopened on March 2.)
Meanwhile, A&C Kitchen, the longtime quick-serve and affordable Chinese restaurant sustained some water damage — mostly in its basement.
Now, more than 10 days after the fire, Mr. Li, who has owned A&C Kitchen for the past 30 years, is frustrated with the city's response and the bureaucratic process.
Mr. Li says the electricity and gas are still turned off to his business, even though they have restored both services to the residents and nearby commercial tenants.
He pointed out that there is no fire damage to his restaurant and that any water damage in the basement has been cleaned up and the smoke scent mediated. Still, he has lost two weeks of business.
He is actively looking for assistance from the community and hopes that local elected officials might help him cut through the red tape...
Mr. Li also noted that people who live in the building are still tossing lit cigarettes out the windows and fears they may have a similar issue again...
Shinn East expands on 7th Street
Photo by Stacie Joy
The Omakase spot first opened here in May 2020.
They take over the space vacated by [plant-baked], whose owners decided to close its brick-and-mortar operation last September after 18 months in business. (Their online enterprise continues.)
Thursday, March 9, 2023
A rally at City Hall for the former Charas/El Bohio Community Center
Per the invite, attendees will "demand the city right the wrongs of the past and return our community center."
The rally starts at 11 a.m. on the south plaza outside City Hall this Wednesday.
The action comes before the landmarked building heads to a foreclosure auction on March 22 at the Hilton New York Midtown Fifth Avenue. (There is a Facebook invite to "Stop the Auction.")
The property that developer Gregg Singer purchased during a city auction in 1998 for $3.15 million fell into foreclosure last year. Through the years, Singer wanted to turn the one-time P.S. 64 into a dorm (more here), though those plans never materialized.
In October 2017, then-Mayor de Blasio's statement at a Town Hall put forth the idea that the city would take steps to reacquire the building.
Some residents want to see the space used again as a community center, as it was during its time as Charas/El Bohio Community Center. Singer evicted the group on Dec. 27, 2001.
There's also a petition in circulation titled, "Save Charas Community Center! Stop the Private Auction!"
Per the petition, which states, "Demand Mayor Adams use eminent domain to return the center to the people!"
For 22 years, from 1979 to 2001, 605 E. Ninth St. served as the home to the Charas/El Bohio Community & Cultural Center. Each year, thousands of people attended programs there. Charas hosted community meetings, children’s programming, art exhibits, music concerts, film screenings, plays, dance recitals, bicycle recycling, construction and youth jobs training, substance abuse treatment, and political organizing.In 1998, Rudy Giuliani sold Charas to a campaign contributor [Gregg Singer] for a paltry $3.15 million, and in December of 2001, Charas was evicted from the space, and the center was shuttered.
You can find the petition here.
News flush: The Tompkins Square Park restrooms, open once more
Photos by Stacie Joy
The saga continues... so! After the restrooms reopened to the public this past weekend in Tompkins Square Park for the first time in four months... the men's and women's rooms were promptly shuttered on Monday.
Why? According to a Parks employee, workers installed a new toilet on the women's side, but the flange was faulty and leaking. Plumbers (or whomever) were called to the scene. Yesterday, the repair was made... and the restrooms reopened once more.
Here is the newest addition to the women's restroom... inside a stall still wrapped in some caution tape...
... the new toilet lovingly plastered to the wall "in wonky Tompkins fashion," per EVG contributor Stacie Joy...
For the time being, the restroom hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (!?) ... until the restrooms are locked up again when the field house renovations start this month.
As previously noted, during the 18-month reconstruction project, parkgoers are expected to use restrooms at the McKinley Playground on Fourth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue adjacent to P.S. 63/the Neighborhood School.
Renovations underway at the former Dallas BBQ
Photos by Steven
The gutting of the old Dallas BBQ has begun on the NE corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...
Workers said that they didn't know anything about the new tenant.
Last June, hospitality vet Curt Huegel, whose portfolio includes concepts such as Bill's Townhouse, Campagnola and Printers Alley, received Community Board approval for the unnamed establishment. There was some debate over closing time, and the committee wouldn't approve a 4 a.m. close. Huegel did not respond to previous emails about whether he was still taking the prime space.
Dallas BBQ closed this past December after anchoring the corner since the mid-1980s. According to staff, the building's landlord would not renew the chainlet's lease and opted to rent the space to another business.
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