Global chain Sanku Maots'ai opening first U.S. outpost on 1st Avenue

Photos by William Klayer 

Sanku Maots'ai, a brand that claims 4,000 locations worldwide, is opening its first U.S. outpost at 167 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. 

Signage arrived late last week... noting its path from Chengdu, the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan, to NYC...

The restaurant specializes in Maocai, a spicy Sichuan dish. Patrons customize their meals by choosing from various ingredients, including broth. 

You can find the menu and more info here. No word on an opening date. The brand has a new U.S. Instagram account here.

This is the first business for the address since Tatsu Ramen closed in the fall of 2021.

Weekend's parting shots

Photos yesterday by Stacie Joy 

Yesterday (Saturday!) saw the launch of "Candy Store," a years-in-the-making photo documentary about Ray's Candy Store. 

Photographer Whitney Browne worked part-time at Ray's from 2012-2017 and documented the late-night scene there. 

A percentage of each sale will go to Ray. And yesterday, the book sales generated $1,000 for Ray.

A few copies remain at the shop, 113 Avenue A near Seventh Street. Some are also available on Whitney's website and in select bookstores.

A few moments from the annual Dance Parade and DanceFest

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The 19th Annual Dance Parade and Festival took place yesterday... with 150-plus dance groups taking part on the route from 17th Street and Sixth Avenue to its conclusion on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place, where EVG's Stacie Joy was stationed ...

The dance party continued afterward with DanceFest in Tompkins Square Park ... where no one looked as if they just walked and danced a few miles in mid-80s temps...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a post-graduation scene on Bleecker Street via an EVG reader)... 

• First look at the Whole Foods Market Daily Shop on 14th Street (Wednesday) 

• Day-long CBGB Festival in Brooklyn this September to feature Iggy Pop, Jack White (Monday) 

• Bands we like: Pop Music Fever Dream (PMFD) (Tuesday) 

• Local artists: Friends and 'Neighbors' (Monday) 

• The 2025 edition of the Ukrainian Festival is this weekend on 7th Street (Thursday)

• New photo book captures life inside Ray’s Candy Store (Thursday) 

• Kijitora, a Williamsburg-based coffee shop, is opening an outpost on 14th Street (Monday)

• Matcha House next for the former ChikaLicious space on 10th Street (Monday) 

• That's all for the Dunkin' at 100 1st Ave. (Saturday) 

• Signage alert: Lil Sweet Treat on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Nosh Up (officially) closes down on St. Mark's Place (Monday) 

• The retail spaces for rent in the Untitled building on Avenue A (Tuesday) 

• Owners of Penny and Claud looking at 12th Street space for a possible new project (Monday) 

As we noted on Tuesday, the Village Alliance BID celebrated the unveiling of a new public artwork by Juliana Woods, a first-year student at The Cooper Union. People responded very favorably to her work ... sharing a few more shots here.

Photos courtesy of Village Alliance (Ryan Muir).

Time (today!) for the Village View spring tag sale

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

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.

Saturday's parting shot

Photo on St. Mark's Place by Stacie Joy 

Just one of the 10,000 (or so!) dancers who took part in the 19th Annual Dance Parade and Festival today. 

We'll have more of Stacie's pics from the parade and DanceFest in Tompkins Square in another post...

Checking in on the St. George Ukrainian Festival

The annual St. George Ukrainian Festival continues along Seventh Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square. 

Edmund John Dunn shared this photo from earlier today. Not raining after all! 

This neighborhood event, celebrating Ukrainian culture, music, and food with various performances and vendors selling traditional arts and crafts, wraps up tomorrow evening. 

This Instagram post has a rundown of events.

Reminder: A book launch for 'Candy Store' at Ray's today

Image via @canigetawhitney 

ICYMI (EVG post here): There is a launch event TODAY (May 17!) from 5-8 p.m. for "Candy Store," a years-in-the-making photo documentary centered entirely on Ray's Candy Store. 

Photographer Whitney Browne worked part-time at Ray's from 2012-2017 and documented the late-night scene at 113 Avenue A.

If you can't make it by today, the books are available for purchase on Whitney's website and in select bookstores. A percentage of each sale will go to Ray.

That's all for the Dunkin' at 100 1st Ave.

Photo by Salim 

The Dunkin'-Baskin-Robbins combo on the NE corner of First Avenue and Sixth Street has closed.

Yesterday was the last day in business. The closure notice on the door directs patrons to other local Dunkin' outposts. 

The closure isn't a surprise, as the storefront appeared in a for-rent listing in April 2024. A tipster initially told us the Dunkin' was closing this past Dec. 31.

'Fun' was the plan

 

The debut record from Brooklyn’s queer femme punk band SHAGGO has a June 6 release date. (The record-release show is June 12 at Trans-Pecos in Ridgewood.) 

Tbe above video is for the band's single "I Wanted Fun."

Featured today on Wikipedia: The Merchant’s House Museum

An EVG reader let us know that the Merchant's House Museum is the featured article for today (May 15!) on the English edition of Wikipedia. 

The family home built in 1832 is at 29 E. Fourth St. between the Bowery and Lafayette. As we've been reporting in recent years, there are concerns about the Merchant's House Museum's future with a new development being greenlit next door. 

H/T Stockholm Turtle

The 2025 edition of the Ukrainian Festival is this weekend on 7th Street

The annual St. George Ukrainian Festival takes place on Seventh Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square this coming weekend (May 16-18!) 

The festivities start at 5 p.m. Friday and last through Sunday afternoon, as the organizers said in a statement: "until all 30,000-plus pierogies have sold out." 

The three-day festival — one of the best neighborhood events — celebrates Ukrainian culture, music, and food with various performances and vendors selling traditional arts and crafts. 

We haven't seen the scheduled times for the outdoor performances just yet — they're usually on Saturday afternoon and evening and again on Sunday. There is a Facebook page for the event here. 

Back to the organizers: "Come out and support our talented artists who dedicate every week to keeping Ukrainian traditions alive."

New photo book captures life inside Ray’s Candy Store

Photographer Whitney Browne is releasing her first book, "Candy Store," a years-in-the-making photo documentary centered entirely on Ray's Candy Store — the Avenue A mainstay since 1974. 

Browne, who first wandered into Ray's during late-night walks nearly two decades ago, spent years behind the counter, helping out and snapping photos. She became part of the place — trading stories with regulars, giving Ray breaks, and quietly documenting the rhythms of this East Village institution. All of it shot on film. 

Between 2012 and 2017, she kept her camera close, capturing what she describes as a "refuge" during her early years in New York — a place that offered both comfort and community during bouts of insomnia and uncertainty. 

The resulting book, "Candy Store," is less a glossy tribute and more a lived-in portrait — full of grain, charm, and quiet moments that feel like Ray's itself. 

To mark the release, there's a launch event at Ray's this Saturday (May 17!) from 5-8 p.m. Expect copies of the book, a DJ set by Lower East Sider Record Club, and the usual Ray's menu. Ray will be there, of course. 

The books are available for purchase on her website and in select bookstores.

And Ray's is at 113 Avenue A, just north of Seventh Street.

A soggy day for new sod

Photos by Steven 

If you were in Tompkins Square Park earlier today, you likely noticed the stacks of sod near the field house. (Thanks to everyone who emailed about this.)

Apparently, some of the sod didn't grow in behind the renovated building, so the reinforcements have arrived...

Updated: Looks like Park workers will be putting sod on the main lawn too (though maybe they should wait until after DanceFest on Saturday).

First look at the Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, which debuts this morning on 14th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The Whole Foods Market Daily Shop debuts this morning at 409 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. Doors open at 8 a.m. 

I received a sneak preview yesterday...

I met with local Forager John Lawson (below with, from left, Kristina Sosa and Veronica Delia), who used to work at 4th Street Food Co-Op many years ago.

He showed me around the store and pointed out the shop's local products, including Divya's, Mimi Cheng's and Genio by Una Pizza Napoletana. Lawson says 10 to 20% of the items in the shop, or over 400 products, are local.

The Whole Foods Market Daily Shop differs from the larger-footprint WF stores in that it has no butcher, seafood or cheese counter ... not to mention bulk foods or gallons of water for sale. 

There's a beer section, a grab-and-go/heat-and-eat, produce, and plentiful meal prep options.

Here's a look around...

There is also a Juice & Java counter...

During the tour, I noticed nothing was under lock and key, including the Manuka honey, which is locked up at other Whole Foods locations. What is the most stolen item, according to loss prevention teams? Frozen shrimp!

There isn't an Amazon return counter, although that might change if the neighborhood requests one.

Store employees told me, "There's no Amazon counter — yet, sometimes stores wait to put one in until the store's settled, and it is possible in the future."

Two staffed registers accept cash; all other registers are credit/debit/EBT card only and self-checkout. 

The self-checkout lanes are also palm-equipped for biometric data if you want to use a palm scanner.

The Daily Market concept is "to come in every day and pick up what you need for grab-and-go, and do your full shopping at Bowery or Union Square Whole Foods," a rep tells me. 

And what about the decision to open a Whole Foods across the street from Trader Joe's? 

"We feel there is an audience for both," says Veronica Delia from Whole Foods corporate communications team. "A lot of customers will cherry-pick," and "We're very competitive in the market." 

Adds John Lawson, "We think we offer a better shop than Trader Joe's." [Shots fired!]

Meanwhile, opening day festivities include... for anyone waiting in line at 7 a.m. (the usual opening time), there will be free Abe's mini muffins and Nguyen coffee. And for the first 300 people in the door, there is a free Whole Foods Stuytown tote.

Shop hours after opening day? Daily from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. 

This is the second Whole Foods Market Daily Shop to open in Manhattan (the UES debuted last fall). Another location will open on June 4 in Hell's Kitchen.

 Previously on EV Grieve: 

• This is when the Whole Foods Market Daily Shop will debut in the East Village next month