Indian hit masters Unapologetic Foods opening Filipino restaurant Naks on 1st Avenue

The Unapologetic Foods Group team — owner Roni Mazumdar and Chef Chintan Pandya — has announced details for its latest East Village restaurant. 

Reps for Unapologetic Foods describe Naks, 201 First Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street, as "a soulful heritage Filipino restaurant." Dhamaka Chef de Cuisine Eric Valdez, raised in the Philippines, will helm the kitchen at Naks.

A Naks rep shared this info about the restaurant expected to open this fall:

In Tagalog, Naks is slang for an expression of surprise and admiration. The menu and dining room will be divided into two sections: one serving regional dishes a la carte, and the other a tasting menu known as Kamayan, where the food is served family style on a banana leaf and eating with one's hands is encouraged. 

You can sign up for updates from Naks here. Grub Street has a preview of the restaurant here.

Last year, we heard that Unapologetic's acclaimed restaurant, Adda Indian Canteen, would relocate to No. 201 from its current Long Island City home. However, they decided to pivot to a different concept for the space.

No. 201 was previously home to Jeepney, the Filipino gastropub that closed in September 2021 after nine years at this location.

Unapologetic also operates the fried-chicken outpost, Rowdy Rooster, at 149 First Ave. at Ninth Street. They previously announced plans for the kebab-focused Kebabwala at 82 Second Ave.  

Hello to Hello, Yam! on 9th Street

Coming soon signage is up for Hello, Yam! at 443 E. Ninth St. at Avenue A (H/T Steven!) ...

The shop will specialize in Japanese sweet potatoes... seen in some quarters as the best sweet potatoes.

The business takes over the space, adjacent to Village Creperie, from Anine Eyelash Extensions, which relocated to Bond Street.

Whim Golf has closed on Avenue A

After a summer pop-up at 66 Avenue A, Whim Golf has closed fore good here between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. 

The golf-themed fashion brand had a well-attended wrap-up party last Thursday night with several jazz musicians, including longtime East Village resident William Parker. 

We also understand they were able to find a home for their putting greens.

We'll have a follow-up post on what's next for this storefront, located in a building that changed hands last fall for $64 million and is undergoing a gut renovation that saw the departure of longtime retail tenant Ink in this strip in July.

ICYMI: Petopia is temporarily closed on Avenue A

Several readers have mentioned this... so passing it along: Petopia is currently and temporarily closed on Avenue A at Second Street. 

Signage on the storefront notes the closure is so "the landlord can perform emergency repairs to the ceiling in our store." (Photos below by Stacie Joy)

The outposts on 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue and Third Avenue at 29th Street are open. 

Workers have been doing roofing and façade-repair work in the city-owned First Houses on Avenue A between Second Street and Third Street.

The J Crew on the Bowery is back open

After a nearly two-week closure, the J. Crew Men's Shop on the Bowery at Bleecker is back open as of late last week.

At first, there was a handwritten sign stating that the J. Crew Men's Shop was "temporarily closed."  Then a more formal sign on the storefront at 316 Bowery noted that the shop was "experiencing technical difficulties." 

The reopening has a notable absence: a reader said the coffee bar has been removed, per a reader.

This men's-concept outpost debuted last September. A J. Crew outpost is expected to open in the months ahead on Lafayette and Bond.

Flashback to 2011, when the Big Gay Ice Cream shop opened on 7th Street; and today's current legal battle

Labor Day 2011 saw the grand opening of the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

It was a memorable shitshow with an entertainment lineup that featured an all-bassoon band, Bea Arthur lookalikes, Roller Derby stars and Anthony Bourdain dressed as a priest blessing the shop.

This was the very first storefront for the business that started with an ice cream truck. In the years that followed, the good-natured brand grew in popularity, and co-founders Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff (seen above in 2011) authored a cookbook on frozen treats, opened multiple outposts and launched a pint-sized product line in grocery stores. 

Today, however, just one shop remains in business ... and the future of the brand is in jeopardy. (The EV location never reopened after the Pause of 2020.)

This past week, The New York Times reported on a story we'll continue to follow:

On Friday, a founder and partner, Doug Quint, filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court accusing another partner, Jon Chapski, of mismanaging the company and fraudulently collecting government loans during the pandemic.

And...

During the pandemic, though, the good vibes evaporated. Today, after multiple missteps, unpaid debts and evictions, the company's future is murky. Mr. Quint is working in a Walgreens pharmacy in Pittsfield, Maine, where he grew up. Mr. Petroff works in human resources for a New York restaurant chain.

Both men say they hope to pull the company back from the brink and continue without Mr. Chapski, whom they hired as a financial adviser in 2011 and made a partner in 2016. The founders continued to develop new products and marketing efforts, but Mr. Chapski effectively ran the business.

Mr. Quint is seeking at least $4 million, claiming damages arising from breach of contract, fiduciary irresponsibility and "willful misconduct" by Mr. Chapski. (Mr. Petroff, who like Mr. Quint still retains a 35 percent ownership stake, has declined to be a party to the suit, citing the expense of legal representation, but said Mr. Quint had his "full support.")

In his lawsuit, Mr. Quint accuses Mr. Chapski of failing to pay landlords, vendors and the I.R.S.; concealing legal proceedings and business moves from him and Mr. Petroff; and collecting government loans during the pandemic while the stores remained closed and employees went unpaid. Public records show that the four New York City stores — each of which is a separate limited-liability corporation — received loans totaling more than $500,000.

Through a spokesperson, Chapski told the Times he'd respond to the lawsuit "when appropriate."

In an email to us over the weekend, Quint referred to the current situation as a "disaster." 

Reports of smashed car windows on East Village side streets

East Village residents woke up yesterday to find several cars vandalized overnight. 

Mammad Mahmoodi, co-founder and executive director of East Village Loves NYC, came to his car yesterday morning to find that someone smashed in his rear window and the passenger side window and door. 

The thief made off with some shoes Mahmoodi planned to donate yesterday at the Sixth Street Community Center, the home base for East Village Loves NYC. There were other reports of smash-and-grabs on Fifth Street and Avenue D and Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B (and likely more).

Mahmoodi filed a report with the 9th Precinct, which apparently has turned this into a felony case.

Sunday's parting shot

This evening on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg)...

• Asylum seekers are no longer staying at the former St. Brigid School in the East Village (Monday) 

• The Tompkins Square Library branch reopens; a conversation with Lenny Kaye on deck (Monday) 

• The long-neglected 6 Avenue B is for sale (Thursday) 

• A Fresh new look for CTown on Avenue C (Wednesday) 

• Ayat signage alert on 7th and C (Monday) 

• After 2 bagel shops, Cuban cuisine is next for 238 E. 14th St. (Wednesday) 

• Openings: Salter House on 2nd Street (Thursday) 

• A new Indian restaurant for the former Little India on 6th Street (Friday)

• Someone Barbified Basquiat's former space on Great Jones (Monday)

• Dim sum joint looking closer to being a go (go) on 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

• 7 floors of steel for 1 St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) 

• The New Up & Up Laundromat has closed on Avenue A (Friday) 

• Plywood report: The Commodore at 14 Avenue C (Thursday) ... El Pulpo at 51 Avenue B (Thursday) 

• About the VIP portable toilet in Tompkins Square Park (Friday) 

• Tompkins Finest Deli & Grill is now the East Village Mini Market (Saturday) 

• Smoke shop comings and goings (Wednesday) 

• Bong World is officially cashed on 14th Street (Saturday)

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Neighbors come together to create a streetscape on 9th Street

We've been watching a communal mural project unfold this past week outside 418.5 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. (Top photo by Steven.)

Local resident and artist Javi Vecino Cintron led the project with the assistance of neighbors.

Here's how it started back on Tuesday (photos below by William Klayer)...

... and how it ended...

Not so pretty in pink at 57 Great Jones St.

Back on Monday, we noted that someone rolled over the exterior at 57 Great Jones St. between the Bowery and Lafayette with pink paint.

Several media outlets picked up the story (and credited and linked to EVG) ... so thank you...

• Artnet News 

• Curbed 

• Hyperallergic 

• Bollyinside (!!!)

Anyway, the pink painter (whose identity is known) also defaced the memorial plaque for one-time tenant Jean-Michel Basquiat, who lived and worked here from 1983 to the time of his death in 1988. 

The incident motivated EVG regular Lola Sáenz to spend an hour on Friday trying to clean up the plaque and make some progress, though it will need to be professionally buffed out ... (see the top photo)...

As for the address ... earlier this summer, Angelina Jolie announced a new venture, Atelier Jolie — "a creative collective for self-expression" — opening this fall inside the space. 

Sunday's opening shot

Hope everyone is enjoying the Labor Day Weekend...

Saturday's parting shot

A view of the in-progress 21-story 360 Bowery from Great Jones...

Tompkins Finest Deli & Grill is now the East Village Mini Market

Photos by Steven 

Tompkins Finest Deli & Grill abruptly closed this past week at 153 Avenue A near 10th Street... and just like that, the new business signage is up for the East Village Mini Market. 

A tipster said the new owners took over and fired the previous staff. The incoming market, we're told, will focus more on smoking-related products... gone are the sandwiches and deli case from TFDG's days ...

There was a similar abrupt switcheroo here in early 2012 when the Avenue A Mini Market abruptly closed to make way for Tompkins Finest Deli.

Bong World is officially cashed on 14th Street

Unfortunately, ownership of Bong World at 226 E. 14th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue could not resolve the back-rent issues with the landlord. 

An eviction notice arrived on Wednesday...

... and the interior of the shop is in the process of being packed up...

... a few items remain, including a topless and armless female mannequin in an orange camouflage hat...

Bong World debuted here to some fanfare in March 2022. 

Several readers have asked for recommendations for other local businesses that sell smoking accessories. 

Unfortunately, we're unaware of any other place in the immediate area that sells, say, rolling papers/trays, dab rigs, bubblers, or exotic Cheetos snack collections sourced from China, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and India.

Saturday's opening shot

New work up on the Bowery Mural Wall at Houston... wheatpaste panels by Tomokazu Matsuyama... with piano accompaniment this morning via Kristopher Hull. 

Not sure at the moment if this is an officially commissioned work (probably: updated confirmed YES) via Goldman Properties. 

After the art kept getting bombed in the spring of 2022, Jessica Goldman Srebnick, co-chair of Goldman Properties and curator of this wall, put the space on hiatus. And the street took over in the interim. 

H/T @catscoffeecreativity

Updated 9/3

 

Someone quickly tagged the collage of murals...

Let the 'Goodtime!' roll

 

After two buzzy records, the Nashville-based Be Your Own Pet called it quits in 2008. 

Here then, 15 years later, the band is back with Mommy, which shows BYOP staying true to their garage punk roots. 

The video here is for "Goodtime!"

The New Up & Up Laundromat has closed on Avenue A

Photos by Daniel Carlson 

Multiple EVG readers have shared the news that the New Up & Up Laundromat at 13 Avenue A between Houston/First and Second Street has closed. 

Starting yesterday, workers were spotted removing the equipment from the longtime business...

The space is for lease, though we haven't spotted any listing online just yet.

About the VIP portable toilet in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Steven

Several readers have asked about the luxury portable trailer — VIP to Go! — that has been near the Seventh Street entrance between Avenue A and Avenue B this past week. 

Perhaps the city found some extra budget $$$ and is treating us to some upscale facilities while the field house is closed for renovation? 

Haha! No! 

The facilities remain here after the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival on Sunday. These were brought in for the use of the musicians backstage. 

But, they remain... and are unlocked... as an intrepid EVG correspondent discovered... 

By the way, this model is the two-station Rolls Royce restroom trailer. Per the description: "Impresses everyone who sees it with its clean, simple white exterior that opens to a beautiful, warm wood interior and all the luxuries of home." 

Anyway, enjoy it while you can.

A new Indian restaurant for the former Little India on 6th Street

Photo by Goggla 

A coming soon sign for a restaurant serving Indian cuisine has arrived outside 324 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue... and next door to the shuttered Raj Mahal. 

And just last week, we noted that the block was down to one Indian restaurant, Malai Marke, when there were more than 25 at one point in its Little India heyday.

We don't know at the moment who's behind the new establishment.

Koo'k just closed at No. 324 after eight years in service.