East Village classic B&H Dairy is getting a refreshed storefront (don't worry)

B&H Dairy will be closed today and tomorrow (Dec. 26-27) for (gulp!) a storefront renovation. 

Owners Fawzy and Ola explain in an Instagram post: 

The new restoration is happening thanks to a Backing Historic Small Restaurants grant from American Express together with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. B&H is one of 25 restaurants in the entire U.S. — and the ONLY restaurant in NYC — to get the grant. 

New storefront, yes, BUT in line with our look historically; we are working with plans approved by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.

We got the grant in June 2022, but it took us until just last Friday to get the work permits! (Long story, we'll tell you over a blintz someday.) 

The lunch counter has had a few different looks since it opened between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place in 1938... seen below in the 1980s...

 

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A post shared by B&H Dairy Kosher Restaurant (@bandhdairy)

A super soft opening at Barnyard Cheese Shop, back in biz on B

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

In recent days and weeks, Beatriz Gutierrez has been getting the next iteration of the Barnyard Cheese Shop ready at 168 Avenue B between 10th Street and 11th Street. (We first reported on her return in August.)

"We're having a super-soft opening, an ultra-soft opening," Gutierrez said of her meat, cheese and fine foods shop and quick-serve restaurant next door to her Brix Wines. "We quietly opened our doors to test some things out, and we did six sandwiches the first day, 16 the next, then 35, and then 50, and it was too fast for us." 

They took a few days off to reset, and for Beatriz to visit her mother on her 80th birthday before reopening on Dec. 21, the day I paid a visit...

Returning sandwiches include the Figgy Piggy, prosciutto, fig jam, and goat cheese on flauta creation... and the Barnyard Classic (below) with eggs, thick-cut bacon and cheddar cheese...

And here's a look around...

We found Luke behind the counter...

There are several seats for dining inside Barnyard...

Hours right now are flexible. Ideally, Barnyard will be open Monday-Saturday from 11:30 a.m. until 6 or 7 p.m. The shop is cash or Venmo only until their point-of-sale system is running.

The original Barnyard Cheese Shop closed in October 2021 at 168 Avenue B. (The business dates to 2008 on Ninth and C, with a 2016 opening on Avenue B.) Like other food service establishments at the time, Gutierrez said she was having difficulty finding kitchen help. Victor, her longtime cook, lost his brother during the pandemic ... and he returned home to be with family in Mexico. 

Gutierrez gave this current Barnyard Express concept a test run for several months in a limited capacity on weekends starting in December 2021.

Petopia reopens today (Tuesday!)

Photos by Stacie Joy

Petopia reopens today (11 a.m.!) at 29 Avenue A at Second Street ... 

The shop had been closed since late summer after work on the building caused a ceiling collapse.

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

Monday's parting shot

A look to the east earlier today as the sun was breaking through the clouds-fog (and a view of the Williamsburg Bridge toward the bottom of the image)...

Noted

Photo by Steven 

In case you wanted to be first with dropping off your Christmas tree today ... we had the first arrival early this afternoon at the site of the MulchFest signage in the center of Tompkins Square Park. 

MulchFest is coming up on Jan. 6-7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Monday's opening shot

Tompkins Square Park this morning...

Christmas Eve's parting shot

Amanda from Stuytown shared this photo of a sad-looking tree today... and asked: "This year's tree gone wrong? Last year's? 1987?"

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a classic holiday window at Russo's on 11th Street)... 

 

• New Yorkers Foodmarket is closing soon on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Displaced 14th Street tenants seek support after city orders them to vacate their building (Monday) 

• EV Loves NYC looks for support and a partnership with the city to aid in feeding asylum seekers (Tuesday) 

• Home for the holidays: The East Village Community Cookbook is ready for pre-order (Thursday) 

• End of days for High Vibe on 3rd Street; 'I would like to stay open!' (Friday) 

• A new name and expanded space for Downtown Threads on Avenue A (Wednesday)

• Reports: State directs Mount Sinai to stop its closure of Beth Israel (Saturday)

• Instant Noodle Factory ready to punch the ramen clock on 7th Street (Monday) 

• Petopia close to reopening on Avenue A (Wednesday) 

• The former Gaia Italian Café is for rent on 3rd Street (Monday) 

• Openings: Chick-N-Smash on 1st Avenue (Thursday) 

• ICYMI: Cacio e Vino has closed on 2nd Ave.; new cafe on the way (Tuesday) 

• Closings: Mi Salsa Kitchen on Houston and Allen (Monday)

• No more love for Cinnamon Girl on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• The new smoke shops of lower Avenue B (Tuesday) 

• EVG turns 16 (Thursday) 

... and on Second Street, a Bad Santa for the holidays...

When it was time to light up the clocks on the bell tower at Most Holy Redeemer

Photos and video by Stacie Joy

Last evening, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of New York, presided over a mass and ceremony to dedicate the newly restored bell tower at Most Holy Redeemer/Nativity Parish on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

The four clocks on the tower that reaches 232 feet have been in disrepair for the past two-plus decades.

Outside, parishioners and residents gathered as Cardinal Dolan blessed the bell tower ... and the clocks were to be illuminated for the first time.

There was a countdown to the big moment... then an awkward pause and some chuckles as it took a moment for the lights to come on...

   

The four clock faces on the circa-1851 church will now be illuminated...

You can read more about the church's history and the restoration project in the links below...

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Up in the under-restoration bell tower at Most Holy Redeemer

• It's time for new clocks on the Most Holy Redeemer bell tower on 3rd Street 

Saturday's parting shot

Photo by Lola Sáenz 

Happy holidays from Pompeyo at the great Zaragoza Mexican Deli & Grocery, 215 Avenue A between 13th Street and 14th Street...

Something to strive for this holiday season

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Seen at the Union Square Greenmarket today...

Reports: State directs Mount Sinai to stop its closure of Beth Israel

ICYMI: The New York State Department of Health has ordered Mount Sinai to "immediately stop" the closure of its Beth Israel campus on First Avenue at 16th Street. 

Per Gothamist:

"Continuing to close beds without approval is unlawful and may result in civil penalties of $2,000 per day for each day that the beds or services are closed without approval," wrote Stephanie Shulman, director of the Division of Hospitals and Diagnostic and Treatment Centers at the health department, to Elizabeth Sellman, Beth Israel’s president and CEO. 

The letter also said the department would pursue other remedies, such as a court order, if the closures don't stop.

Background: 

Mount Sinai submitted a proposal to the state health department in October to close Beth Israel by July 2024. The health system then submitted an addendum last month saying it would be necessary to close some services before the end of the year because of an exodus of doctors and decreased patient volume, which it said put patient safety at risk. 

Reaction:

📢Our statement on @HealthNYGov issuing a cease & desist to @MountSinaiNYC Beth Israel Hospital. 📢 pic.twitter.com/so1AHIrkdL

— Harvey Epstein (@HarveyforNY) December 21, 2023

We have received word from the NYS Dept. of Health that they have issued a cease and desist directing Mount Sinai Beth Israel to stop closing beds and services without prior approval. This is big news and more to come #SaveBethIsrael

— Carlina Rivera (@CarlinaRivera) December 21, 2023

There is also a survey for community members to let the New York State Department of Health know how important the community hospital is... and why Beth Israel needs to be be saved. Find the survey here.

Reminders: A ceremony for the restored bell and clock tower at Most Holy Redeemer

ICYMI ... 

There's a dedication ceremony this evening for the recently restored bell and clock tower at Most Holy Redeemer/Nativity Parish on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of New York, will preside over a 5:30 p.m. mass and ceremony featuring a procession on Third Street (the block will be closed to traffic during this time).

Cardinal Dolan will bless the bell tower, which will be illuminated for the first time. The new electronic carillon system will also play a rendition of "Silent Night." Then, the bells will play Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music in its entirety. 

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Up in the under-restoration bell tower at Most Holy Redeemer

• It's time for new clocks on the Most Holy Redeemer bell tower on 3rd Street 

Saturday's opening shot

You're in luck if you need a last minute 50-foot (or so!) tree... outside St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery this morning... where the Tree Riders are wrapping up another holiday season (no. 13!) on Second Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street.

Friday's parting shot

Always a solid holiday window display, the Sock Man, 99 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue...

Have yourself an etc., etc.

 

A version of a holiday song that maybe you aren't tired of yet (and isn't by, say, Wham, the Waitresses, Paul McCartney & Wings ... all fine classics, but.)

This is a cover of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" by the Beths... (The Cat Power cover is great too.)

Hold your horses, we're posting these photos!

Top photo yesterday by Cecil Scheib; pic below by Steph 

We received LOTSA photos of these horse sculptures ... first arriving on Sixth Street at Second Avenue... and now overnight on Sixth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...

One reader said these are the work of Deborah Butterfield ... updated: Franco Cuttica. 

... and hopefully, we didn't just spoil someone's Christmas surprise!

Spiritualized: End of days for High Vibe on 3rd Street; 'I would like to stay open!'

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The end is near for High Vibe after 30 years at 138 E. Third St. Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Robert "Bobby" Dagger, owner of the health/natural foods and goods store, plans to close on Dec. 31 after a rent hike courtesy of the landlord, the NYCHA, and an underwhelming response to a crowdfunding campaign. 

Everything is marked to go inside the small, comfortable shop...

Dagger said that he owns $40,000 in rent to NYCHA. The lease was up in October, and the business has been running month-to-month. 

He tried local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera's office, though that didn't lead to anything. "They were nice but didn’t provide any help," he said. 

So now what? 

"If I got $40,000, I can stay open. I would like to stay open! NYCHA raised my rent during COVID and only gave me three months of concession," Dagger said. "NYCHA doesn't care about small businesses. For 30 years, I paid taxes here. We're a link in the chain here, keeping America alive. I'm all for immigrants, but what about us? We're paying taxes for these people."

The shop is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. for now... and they may shut down before Dec. 31. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• A visit to High Vibe on 3rd Street

• High Vibe looking for some help to continue spreading the love

Thursday's parting shot

Photo by Lola Sáenz 

A favorite moment on Thursday evenings outside Village East by Angelika on Second Avenue and 12th Street — the changing of the letters on the marquee...

(Sweet??) 16

Above: A joke from Sophie's a few years back

The first post arrived on this platform on Dec. 21, 2007, at 5:48 p.m., which research later showed is one of the worst times of the day to post items on platforms like this. 

ICYMI (and 99.999999999% of people did), the item was a cut-n-paste from Page Six about the possible sale of Sophie's (Fifth Street!) and Mona's (Avenue B) ... and before Josie's (Sixth Street) was part of the family. 

I'd spent some time at Sophie's and couldn't imagine an EV world without it. So, like any once-a-week bar regular would do, I created a Blogger site called Sophie's Bar Blog blog (honest, that's what the name was)... as a way to chronicle the sale of Sophie's (sorry, Mona's) and the possible end of its several-decades existence. 

After a few weeks of under-the-radar chronicling on a site that no one was reading, we learned that Bob, the owner of the bars, was selling them to his brother Richard and another friend (hi, Kirk!). 

That was that, or so I thought. Now I've told this story a few times, so if you've already read it, I'll make some shit up to make it seem more interesting than it actually was. 

I announced the end of Sophie's Bar Blog blog. [Crickets] Vanishing New York author/blogger Jeremiah Moss somehow had seen the site (thanks, Google!), and he encouraged me, just because Sophie's and Mona's were going to be OK, to keep the site going, covering other comings and goings. 

So Sophie's Bar Blog blog was rebranded to EVG (I give this site six months!). And here we are 16 years after the first post. 

Two people recently told me they started reading the site in high school and were in their late 20s/early 30s. Which is really cool and obviously terrifying.

A sincere thank you to everyone who has read the site and continues to read it, sharing comments and tips and creating a sense of community. 

A BIG thank you to everyone who contributes to the site, particularly Derek Berg and Steven, for their ongoing daily dispatches... and to Stacie Joy for her intrepid reporting from bell towers, abandoned schools or former motorcycle clubs. 

May your holidays be filled with warmth, peace, and joy ... and had we created an Etsy account 16 years ago, Sophie's Bar Blog blog T-shirts, hoodies, and customizable tabletop beer pong games.