These East Village residents are still cooking up a unique book of recipes

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Like a good meal, The East Village Community Cookbook is taking longer to prepare. 

As we reported last August, three East Villagers who bonded during the pandemic — Will Kroeze, pastor at Trinity Lower East Side, Dan Hyatt, a middle school teacher, and Will Horowitz, a chef and author who co-founded Ducks Eatery and Harry & Ida's Meat and Supply Co. — decided to create an old-school neighborhood cookbook. 

And they were able to secure more than 100 recipes from an array of local restaurants (C&B Café, Katz's, Nom Wah Tea Parlor, Russ & Daughters, SMØR, Superiority Burger, and Veselka, among many others) and residents (Alan Cumming and Richard Hell, to name two). 

We haven't heard much about the project since the end of 2023, and some residents who pre-ordered a copy wonder what's happening. 

"We've also gotten people asking about the cookbook, which is taking quite a bit longer than we had expected," Pastor Will told me the other day. "What originally was going to be a DIY project is turning into a real design masterpiece and is going through several rounds of edits .... it’s really going to be something so special for our community." 

Regarding design, East Village-based artist and illustrator Marcellus Hall (whose New Yorker covers are among our favorites) is lending his talents to the cookbook. 

Pastor Will and Horowitz shared some pages with me during a recent production meeting...

"I've been telling people that it's a volunteer-driven labor of love, and like any community project, it's taking time to get right," Pastor Will said. "But it will be so great that it will be worth the wait." 

The organizers said they hope to get the work to the publisher shortly and print it toward the end of the summer. 

Donations for the East Village Community Cookbook started at $30. Proceeds benefit Trinity Lower East Side Services and Food for the Homeless (SAFH) on Ninth Street and Avenue B. 

While I was talking with the organizers, workers were busy preparing meals at Trinity Lower East Side...

The present and future of the NW corner of 1st Avenue and 2nd Street

The three-parcel property at 33-37 First Ave. is disappearing. Workers are focusing on demolishing the tallest building, the 5-story No. 37 (where the New Double Dragon was in the retail space).

As previously reported, a 7-floor residential building with ground-floor retail is now slated for 33-37 First Ave., the vacant three-building assemblage between Second Street and Third Street. 

According to DOB paperwork, the proposed building — using the address 88 E. Second St. — will be 19,278 square feet, with 2,994 square feet designated for commercial space. Plans call for 22 residential units, likely rentals, given the square footage. 

We haven't seen a rendering for the project yet... though we did spot this schematic for the address...

If this is, in fact, an accurate look at the new building, it appears the residential entrance will be on Second Street. 

The filings list Manny Ashourzadeh of Romah Management Corp. as the owner.

Openings: Sunflower Cafe on 2nd Avenue

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Sunflower debuted last week at 88 Second Ave. at Fifth Street. 

This is a sibling to the cafe of the same name on Third Avenue in Gramercy Park with the Instagram slogan "Let’s Brunch baby!" 

They serve some breakfast staples, lunch, and various coffee and drinks (menu here). 

Daily hours for now: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Sunflower is owned and operated by the same folks as the previous tenant here, Eros, the Greek restaurant that quietly closed in August 2022. Eros took over for their diner concept, The Kitchen Sink, in September 2021.

Previously

May 19

Spring cleaning time in Village View... thanks to Elissa for the photo!

The duck stopped here

From this past week on Avenue B at 14th Street ... when a man stopped at a newsbox to feed his pet duck, who was wearing custom booties on its webbed feet. (Unsure if the carriage was for the duck.) 

Thanks to EVG reader Kris Divney for the photo!

Week in Grieview

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

• After a fire upstairs, a gutted TabeTomo hopes to reopen on Avenue A in August (Friday) 

• Don Juan's Barber Shop closing after 25 Years following rent hike (Monday)

 

• A look at Carnitas Ramirez, opening soon on 3rd Street in the East Village (Thursday) 

• Angels Boutique gets its wings on Avenue A (Tuesday)

• Coming together in Tompkins Square Park to remember Al 'Hammerbrain' Landess (Sunday) 

• At the first Show Brain show of 2024 in Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday) 

• Xi’an Famous Foods opens an outpost on 4th Avenue (Monday) 

• Planet Taco exits East Village orbit (Tuesday) 

• After 17 years of not being open on Mondays, Abraço is now open on Mondays (Monday) 

• Former Walgreens space on Union Square to be home to a Times Square-friendly business (Monday)

• 'Stayin' True' with Toofly at CLLCTV NYC (Saturday) 

• After a short break, Zaragoza Mexican Deli & Grocery is back open on Avenue A (Friday) 

• Some Cool pizza street art (Monday) 

• Citi Bike dock swap along Avenue A (Tuesday)

• Wonder debuts its new kind of food hall on Stuyvesant Street (Thursday) 

• At the annual Ukrainian Festival (Sunday) 

... and another moment from the Ukrainian Festival yesterday afternoon via Adriana Leshko ...

At the annual Ukrainian Festival

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The St. George Ukrainian Festival continues today on Seventh Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square. 

Here are a few scenes from yesterday... when the intermittent drizzle didn't dampen the festivities...

Team Veselka was on hand with refreshments...

Today's outdoor stage performances begin at 1 p.m. ... before the festival concludes later in the afternoon...

Time for the Village View spring tag sale

The spring edition of the biennial Village View tag sale happens today (Sunday!) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The rain date is Sunday, June 2, but the forecast looks solid enough. 

As always, you can find the resident vendors — selling various items, including clothes, books, houseware, jewelry, bric-a-brac, and more — on the Fifth Street basketball court between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Sunday's opening shot

Knicks legend Walt "Clyde" Frazier as seen in First Street Green Art Park ... mural by @mcmaniphes. 

And the ol' do-or-die game 7 between the Knicks-Pacers is at 3:30 p.m. at MSG.

EVG Etc.: Report: NYCHA mishandled Riis Houses arsenic crisis; Beth Israel patient care lagging

Morning view of Astor Place

• Watchdog report: The NYCHA bungled its response to concerns about the water at the Jacob Riis Houses two years ago (Gothamist) ... NYCHA failures led to panic over nonexistent arsenic (The City) 

• 19-year-old Riis House resident on Avenue D arrested for alleged role in killing 16-year-old Mahki Brown in Soho (The Post)

• With Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital winding down to close, patient care suffers (The New York Times)

• Human service professionals discuss what's needed to reduce homelessness in NYC (NY1) 

• Harvey Epstein to run for City Council District 2, currently represented by the term-limited Carlina Rivera (City & State)

• E-bike shops are blowing off the city ban on unsafe batteries (The City) 

• Police arrest man who has allegedly been menacing neighbors for years along Avenue C (The Post) 

• The red-tailed chicks are GROWING in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography) 

 • Lower East Side History Month continues (Official site)

• Pastrogi: When you merge Katz's Deli pastrami and Veselka pierogi (1010 WINS)

• New single by Scottish alt-rock band Travis pays tribute to the now-closed Black & White on 10th Street (Billboard ... previously on EVG)

• A feature on East Village Pizza at 145 First Ave. (NBC 4) 

• Sietsema checks out the boba pancakes and Japanese souffles at Little Uluh on 14th Street (Eater) 

• Revisiting the sincere glamour of Candy Darling (Document Journal) 

• Out of the shadows! See "The Third Man" on the big screen on Monday (Village East by Angelika) 

• And a month-long trip back to the 1980s started yesterday at the Film Forum on West Houston (details)

 

DanceFest reinforcements

Photos by Steven 

In case you are attending or participating in today's DanceFest in Tompkins Square Park ... the city did bring in some additional porta-potties to handle the overflow (sorry) crowd...

We counted seven extra toilets, which, with the three existing comfort stations, brings the grand total to 10 for the day. 

As previously reported, the restrooms in the Tompkins Square Park field house are now closed as part of an 18-month renovation that has now reached the one-year mark.

At the start of Joey Ramone Weekend at Metropolis Vintage

Photos and text by Stacie Joy 

Ahead of Joey Ramone's birthday (May 19!), East Village resident John Holmstrom, the co-founder, editor, and illustrator of Punk Magazine, is hosting a special celebration of the lead singer of the Ramones in the basement at Metropolis Vintage, 803 Broadway and 11th Street.

I stopped by the longtime shop last evening as Holmstrom's "Cartoonist Jam Session" was just getting started. 

As Holstrom put it, a group of artists and cartoonists "will be scribbling drawings on huge murals that will be auctioned off to raise money for the Lymphoma Foundation." (Ramone died of lymphoma in 2001 at age 49.) 

Among the early arrivals... illustrator Cliff Mott...

... and SVA student Noah Zeines...

Elsewhere, I talked with owner Richard Colligan, who started the business on Avenue B in 1990...

... and sales associate Skeleton Boy...

Tonight's festivities include Monte A. Melnick, the Ramones' tour manager, hosting a "Rock ‘N Roll High School" screening in the Metropolis basement...

Saturday's opening shots

Early morning along Avenue A... barricades are up for the 18th annual Dance Parade... and then the DanceFest from 3-7 in Tompkins. Details here. 

And on Seventh Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square...

... getting ready for day 2 of the Saint George Ukrainian Festival...

'Close' encounters

 

Gustaf, the Brooklyn-based art-punk band, is wrapping up a tour with a homecoming finale next Thursday at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Check out their live-wire set sometime if you can.

The video here is for "Close."

After a fire upstairs, a gutted TabeTomo hopes to reopen on Avenue A in August

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

TabeTomo remains closed after an early morning fire upstairs at 131 Avenue A on April 24. 

According to ABC 7, five residents sustained minor injuries while fleeing the six-floor building on the NW corner of St. Mark's Place. Firefighters recovered a lithium-ion battery from a unit, per ABC 7. 

At TabeTomo, a tskumen specialty shop, owner Tomo Kubo (below) told me yesterday that reconstruction of his restaurant is expected to start in the week ahead.

Once underway, Kubo hopes that renovations will be complete in two to three months — with an eye on reopening in August if all goes well. 

The business was insured, he said. 

"It costs a lot — very expensive," he said of the gut renovation ahead. "We want to renovate and reopen as soon as possible." 

Kubo ushered me inside the space, where the air was still thick with the smell of a fire. 

"There was no fire damage — all the damage was water," he said. "Between the ceiling and the second floor, there was much damage to the wood, which could warp. And we want to avoid mold. It's not a good environment for food. We cannot sell food in here now." 

The interior has been stripped to its studs.

Tubo is grateful for all the support from neighbors. He also praised the FDNY for their quick response. 

"I appreciate people who care about the store and encourage me, and I care about the employees who work here," he said. "Since it takes so long to renovate, I am worried, Will customers return? It's heartwarming that people in the East Village care. This gave me confidence and a reason to reopen." 

The TabeTomo staff onsite yesterday (from the left): Esan, Victorino, Tomo Kubo and Abe Naoto.

-------------------------

On May 8, some tenants of 131 Avenue A rallied outside the building in conjunction with the Cooper Square Committee. 

The concerned tenants demanded that landlord Citi-Urban adequately address problems, such as cleaning smoke- and water-damaged units and allowing residents who feel unsafe to move out without penalty. Tenants, some of whom had to navigate rusted fire escapes, said that this was the second fire in the building in the past six months, the other occurring on Nov. 8.

A Celebration of Joey Ramone this weekend at Metropolis Vintage

Joey Ramone was born on May 19. In addition, 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the Ramones' first live show.

To honor his memory and celebrate his life, East Village resident John Holmstrom, the co-founder, editor, and illustrator of Punk Magazine, is hosting a special Joey Ramone Weekend in the basement at Metropolis Vintage at 803 Broadway at 11th Street. 

As Holstrom wrote in his newsletter: "A bunch of artists and cartoonists will be scribbling drawings on huge mural that will be auctioned off to raise money for the Lymphoma Foundation. So feel free to hang out with a bunch of crazy artists who love the Ramones..." 

Joey died of lymphoma on April 15, 2001. He was 49.

The mural event is tonight (around 7 p.m.). On Saturday evening, Monte A. Melnick, the Ramones' tour manager, is hosting a screening of "Rock ‘N Roll High School" at Metropolis.

   

The annual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash at Bowery Electric on Sunday night is sold out.

After a short break, Zaragoza Mexican Deli & Grocery is back open on Avenue A

Photo yesterday by Lola Sáenz 

It was good to see the gate open yesterday at the wonderful Zaragoza Mexican Deli & Grocery, 215 Avenue A between 13th Street and 14th Street. 

The Martinez family (Pompeyo and Maria) had been away for a break since May 7. Apparently, there wasn't a sign for patrons, and we heard from a few nervous Zaragoza fans. 

All is well!

Thursday's parting shot

This week, a new mural arrived outside 50 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street. It was created by L.A.-based artist Corie Mattie and curated by the Lisa Project NYC.

The 18th Annual Dance Parade steps off on Saturday, ending in Tompkins Square Park

The 18th edition of the Dance Parade takes place this Saturday, winding up in Tompkins Square Park for the DanceFest. 

According to organizers, more than 10,000 participants —"representing a kaleidoscope of dance styles"  — will participate in the festivities starting at 11:30 a.m. on 17th Street and Sixth Avenue. 

The parade makes its way across Eighth Street to Astor Place, where there's a grandstand at St. Mark's Place, before ending in Tompkins where hopefully there will be more than three (unlocked) porta-potties for the thousands of people expected.

And here are details on the activities from 3-7 p.m.: 

The festivities culminate with DanceFest in Tompkins Square Park, offering a cultural extravaganza that's inclusive for everyone. Expect dance performances on two stages, site-specific acts, a DJ dance party, and free dance classes at The Joyce Theater's New York Center for Creativity & Dance offered by Grand Marshal Lil Buck, Mark Morris Dance Group and Peridance. Bring your dance shoes and rock out to disco DJs Tone Love, Misbehaviour, Kenny Parker, Ameer and a Soul Train set on the Social Stage. 

This is a rain-or-shine event, and the forecast looks pleasant enough RN, with overcast skies and temperatures in the 60s.