Burritos coming for West Coast snobs (and others!) who say East Coast Mexican food really sucks compared to the West Coast

Back in May, we mentioned something about a coming-soon Mexican joint on Fourth Avenue near 13th Street....at this spot of a former Tasti D-Lite.




Anyway, we completely forgot about it. Until now.

Thrillist NY had a writeup on the place, called Dos Toros. It opens Friday. Here's what they say about it:

From two Bay Area brothers who trekked to NYC only to find a complete lack of true West Coast food missiles, DT's serving just that from behind a takeaway counter in a reclaimed wood and exposed brick sleeve, flush with black steel cladding and rustic woven leather stools; the casual vibe's augmented by an instrumental funk playlist hand picked by the brothers, one of whom toured as a bassist for Third Eye Blind, but apparently hasn't considered how it's gonna be when you don't love beans anymore. Believing the superiority of WC burritos owes to the attention given each component, everything but the cheese, crema, and tortillas are made in-house, having undergone hundreds of batch testings to ensure quality; rice, pinto/black beans, cheese, salsa, and sour cream are carefully layered for structural integrity, and wrapped in their favorite hand-stretched, super-thin-yet-resilient flour tortilla...

Fork in the Road notes that the Dos Toros space was designed by the same people who did Spitzer's Corner, the Box, Boqueria and Hill Country.

New mural for Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen

Uh, after I got home, I realized that you really can't make out the mural all that well...




The artist was taking a break when I happened by... In any event, a good sign... perhaps the store will open soon...

Previously.

A missing son

Given the number of lame viral marketing attempts involving missing people, we can't help but be cynical about fliers we see in the neighborhood...these fliers went up this weekend... (A friend told me he says these in several other parts of the city....)



After doing a little research, this seems to be a genuine missing person. Here's an article on the man from the Pocono Record.

Gleaming the Coop

Curbed has noted some of the shenanigans occurring on the ramp outside Cooper Union's new academic building... got a chance to see some tomfoolery myself Friday night... About five or six teen skateboarders were enjoying the new makeshift park...






This went on for a good five minutes. Right when someone watching remarked, "I can't believe security hasn't said anything," a lone security guard brandishing a walkie talkie appeared... one of the skateboarders yelled "go, go, go" to his friends, who took off and hung a left on Sixth Street.

Welcome to the neighborhood!: First tag spotted on the new Cooper Union Building

Also, noticed that some folks are finding shelter alongside the building.



I also noticed that someone threw up alongside the building. I took a photo. But I decided to spare you.

Xoom coming soon

The new canopy is up at Zoom on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. We noted back in August that Xoom, a healthy smoothie shop, would be opening soon.

The owner left a comment on that post explaining a little more about Xoom:

Hello everybody. I would like to introduce myself. My name is Jennifer London and I am the owner of Xoom. I live in the Lower East Side and am very fond of the East Village, which is why I chose to open there. I wanted to assure you that although there are three other Xooms (all owned and operated by the founder in Tucson), Xoom is far from a chain. I was a regular at Xoom when I lived in Tucson and became friends with the owner. This spring, I asked him if I could open a Xoom in New York and he agreed. For all intents and purposes, this is a locally owned business with its own personality that I assure you will make a good neighbor in the East Village. If you have any questions feel free to go to our website, click on the New York side of the site and you can find my contact info there.

(And for the record, in that post, we also misspelled Tucson about 50 times.)

Showy is missing -- marshal's office to blame?

On Seventh Street and First Avenue.

Joe's has reopened

A very good sign...Joe's was closed due to what one commenter described as an "insurance snafu." It was shuttered for at least one week...the above photo was taken Saturday...Anyone know when it reopened? I didn't go by Thursday or Friday nights.

Previously on EV Grieve:
"Joe's is only closed temporarily"

"Something Sweet is back"

Good news. Per EV Grieve reader rmom Friday evening: "Something Sweet is back. I walked by today, Cathy wasn't there but the son was."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Not so Sweet: Old school bakery temporarily closed

Ad takeovers

As the Times reports, there was "a bizarre cat-and-mouse game" on billboards across the city yesterday.

One group of artists and activists spread across Lower Manhattan, transforming innumerous wheat-pasted posters — the ones that readily sprout over scaffolding — into their own canvas.

They would whitewash the posters and then create their own work, or allow anti-advertising advocates to spread their own messages.

But just as quickly as they whitewashed and put up art, workers arrived to put up new posters where the artists had obscured the old ones.

And so it went, back and forth, with drama, confrontation and even a few arrests by day's end.

The takeover efforts were organized by an artist, Jordan Seiler, who founded a group called the Public Ad Campaign to question and challenge the use of outdoor ads in public areas.

I took the photo here on Seventh Street and First Avenue.

Tompkins Square Park, 1:16-1:17 p.m., Oct. 25

Helicopter city

Have now counted four different helicopters flying over the neighborhood the last 90 minutes...from Houston up to Stuy Town and back around.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Updated! Mysterious, low-flying helicopter returns...

Turning "Cocktail" into a Broadway musical isn't the worst idea ever -- it just seems like it

Page Six has the story today:

Tom Cruise's "Cocktail" is to be turned into a Broadway musical by legendary producer Marty Richards -- and Katie Holmes could be up for a role. The '80s movie is being adapted by Heywood Gould, who wrote the original book and film. Gould told us, "I am writing it as we speak. Marty Richards is on board and he's working on the score. It's far too early to talk about casting. We haven't approached anybody yet. But I do like Katie Holmes." Gould was guest of honor at the other night's "Cocktail" 20th anniversary party at TGI Friday's at Penn Station.

Pup crawl: Drinking for Zoey

More details are here.

Reminders: Halloween Freakfest today in Tompkins Square Park

From 2-6 p.m. A free Halloween-themed show in Tompkins Square Park, featuring great music, creative costumes, a costume contest, a clothing swap, political speakers, helpful information and lots of surprises.... Details.

Since it's raining cats and dogs out...Halloween Dog Parade rescheduled for tomorrow

Ha. Borrowed that headline from dogster.org...the annual Halloween Dog Parade has been rescheduled for tomorrow...

Noted

"Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has spent $85 million of his own money on his latest re-election campaign, more than anyone in U.S. history." (The New York Times)

Ghouls Gone Wild!

Ghouls Night Out, one of the many great bands playing the Halloween Freakfest Sunday in Tompkins Square Park. {Uh, sorry -- as you'll see in the comments...this is a different Ghouls Night Out...this is not the band playing in TSP Sunday....)

Car accident on First Avenue and Fourth Street leaves one dead

Streetsblog has the story, with an update here from Gothamist, who's reporting that a 55-year-old woman was killed in the two-vehicle collision.

The Post has just filed a report too, saying the victim was a passenger in the minivan involved in the collision.

[Photo via an EV Grieve reader]

Le Souk will have their liquor license cancelled

An SLA spokesperson told me: "[The SLA] will re-serve the cancellation order, which will terminate their liquor license."

From the State Liquor Authority:

COURT OF APPEALS UPHOLDS STATE LIQUOR AUTHORITY DECISION

Liquor Licensees Must Comply with SLA Rules Mandating Health and Safety

Albany NY – State Liquor Authority Chairman Dennis Rosen today announced the New York State Court of Appeals has upheld the SLA’s determination in the matter of 47 Ave. B. East, Inc. vs. the New York State Liquor Authority. Yesterday’s decision by the Court of Appeals reverses the order of the Appellate Division with costs, dismisses the petition of 47 Avenue B (doing business as “Le Souk”), and holds that the SLA’S findings that the licensee allowed the premise to become overcrowded and failed to supervise was supported by substantial evidence. Most significantly, the decision upholds the validity of the SLA rules, which provide the SLA with the regulatory power to ensure licensees comply with local health and safety rules.

On April 9, 2008, 47 Avenue B challenged a March 3, 2008 determination by the SLA canceling the bar’s liquor license. In an earlier lower court decision issued on May 21, 2009, the Appellate Division ruled in favor of the 47 Avenue B, finding that the record did not contain substantial evidence of overcrowding, that it was beyond the rule-making authority of the SLA to issue a rule requiring licensees “to insure that a high degree of supervision is exercised over the conduct of the licensed establishment at all times,” and that it was beyond the rule-making authority of the SLA to issue a rule requiring, “all on-premises licensees, regardless of type of premises, to conform with all applicable building codes, fire, safety and governmental regulations.”


“The Court of Appeals correctly found that the SLA must have the authority to act when bars break local laws,” said Chairman Rosen. “Bars that allow overcrowding or fail in their basic duty to adequately supervise their premises are often just setting the stage for more serious violations to occur. The Court's decision yesterday was essential for the SLA’s continuing efforts to ensure public safety at licensed establishments.”

This matter was handled by Senior SLA Attorney Scott Weiner, under the supervision of Thomas J. Donohue, Counsel to the Authority.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At CB3/SLA meeting: Le Souk denied; residents speak of "mayhem" and "crazy fistfights"; proponent suggests people would prefer living in Staten Island

"LE SOUK IS BACK!"

Your chance to nab a piece of junk from Le Souk

Get your Freakfest on Sunday in Tompkins Square Park

THE TOMPKINS SQUARE HALLOWEEN FREAKFEST IS ON!!

A free Halloween-themed show in Tompkins Square Park, featuring great music, creative costumes, a costume contest, a clothing swap, political speakers, helpful information and lots of surprises....

Halloween Freakfest is part of a series of shows that celebrate the vitality of the counter cultural scene that has survived on the Lower East Side, despite the rampant gentrification, soaring rents and lost venues that have contributed to the cultural genocide sweeping New York City.

SHADOW Press/PMS productions present:

HALLOWEEN FREAKFEST! FREE PUNK AND VARIETY SHOW
Come Wig Out in the Park!
Sunday 2-6pm, Tompkins Square Park

Co-Emceed by OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL PMS (GLOB - Gorgeous Ladies of Boodwrestling) and DIANE O' DEBRA (subversive-comedic rap songs)

LONE VEIN: (Day of The Dead-inspired rock gloom-tunes)
SKUM CITY (amazing punk from our own gritty city)



CATHY CATHODIC (one woman avant-rap artist from Boston)
GHOULS NIGHT OUT: (all female MISFITS cover band featuring members of Kissy Kamikaze)
THE CHI-CIONES (craftastic Halloween-themed burlesque dancers/muses)
RACHEL CLEARY (political speaker)
ENDANGERED FECES (demented comedic punk from Queens — sounds like every toilet in Queens flushing simultaneously)
RACHEL TRACHTENBURG AND SUPERCUTE (Teen Girl pop-rock band doing a set of political songs plus a few Halloween specialties)
DETHRACE (a theatrical art rock experience...10 ft. tall fiberglass super-robots, playing 666 volts of metal!)



JUGGERNUT (Manly Freak Electro-Punk featuring 2 hot back up dancers in nutsack suits)
GLOB — GORGEOUS LADIES OF BLOODWRESTLING Live lady warriors, with ridiculous vendettas, wrestling in face blood to punk rock! w/special guests the Gorgeous LADS of Bloodwrestling!

Also featuring a CLOTHING SWAP.
Bring or take clean fall/winter clothes only.
Plus a COSTUME CONTEST.
Come in your Halloween best (or perhaps find some stuff in the swap!

A SHADOW Press/PMS production: (producers of June's: ALPHA WOMEN ATTACK THE LOWER EAST SIDE

Breaking mews (sorry, you'll realize how corny this headline is when you read the post...)

At the Anthology Film Archives tonight and tomorrow night: The Cat Art Film Festival. Includes a screening of the original "Pink Panther."

V.A. Musetto, taking a break from interviewing Asian film starlets, has a feature on the festival in the Post.

"Active demolition" this morning at the former P.S. 64

Over at the former P.S. 64/CHARAS/El Bohio community center on Ninth Street/10th Street:

An EV Grieve reader notes this morning that "active demolition going on ... dumpsters being loaded into trucks..."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Good morning from Ninth Street (and 10th Street!), where you'll wake to the sound of power tools and demolition

Lower East Side vs. the East Village

The Villager revisits the topic this week. So, if you live within the geographical boundaries of 14th Street to Houston, Fourth Avenue/Bowery to the East River, then is it the Lower East Side or the East Village? Opinions vary! Tempers flare!

Among the people weighing in on LES vs. EV is Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation:

“I think the East Village does have a clear identity separate from the broader Lower East Side, but it clearly also has an identity as part of it, as well,” stated Berman. “It seems that of late there has been a revival of that thinking, and I find many people, especially neighborhood activists, are seeking to rejoin the East Village to the broader Lower East Side and re-identify with it. Interestingly, this may reflect the fact that today the East Village and the Lower East Side in many ways share more in common than they have since the 1960s when the ‘East Village’ identity was first created and the blocks north of Houston St. began to develop a distinct ‘bohemian’ character.”

Both areas are struggling equally with issues of overdevelopment, large-scale gentrification and the difficulty of longtime residents and businesses being able to afford to stay here.

“Not only are they once again very similar in character,” Berman said of the two areas, “but I think in many ways they are seeking to hearken back to the days before the big high-rises, frat bars and exorbitant rents swept over the neighborhood — and the name ‘Lower East Side,’ which is less associated with the gentrification process than ‘East Village,’ may be one way of doing that.”

Nuts? One plan to expand Tompkins Square Park

Last Friday, we ran the post on Yelp's reviews of Tompkins Square Park. And a commenter floated this idea:

I keep thinking: I'd love to see the park grow into Ave. A and Ave. B, even given the obvious work that would have to done to reroute traffic, etc. (Well, Union Sq. expanded into the street. And, the George Hecht Viewing Gardens grew up in the street. And, um, well, yes, it would require some doing. I know it's nuts. The Parks Dept. is more likely to, I dunno, turn the Temperance Fountain into a Shacklet and set up craft vendor stalls in the oval, at best, than get expansionist on our asses.)

The expansion would present logistical nightmares galore. (And what to do with the Farmer's Market? Move it to Seventh or 10th Street?). And what purpose would this additional space really provide?

Still, using our sub-remedial Photoshop skills.... dare we dream?

Former Gateway School building still on the block

Last Oct. 23, the Real Deal reported that the former Gateway School building on Second Avenue between 14th Street and 15th Street had hit the market.

The 12,366-square-foot edifice at 236 Second Avenue at 15th Street has seven floors, including a basement, sub-basement and mezzanine. It has nine classrooms, a gym, multi-purpose room, art room, library, offices and a courtyard.

Cool! I'll take it!

Anyway, no price was set.

Said a Massey Knakal partner: "We're asking for offers. We want to see how the market responds to it."

So far, the market hasn't responded at all — one year later, I noticed that the building is still for sale. And no one has tagged the lion.

Posts that I never got around to posting: New fence at St. Brigid's

Before!



Now!



That should keep out those squatters...

Previously on EV Grieve:
We hope the Archdiocese didn't spend any of the $10 million on the new "no parking" sign for St. Brigid's

Posts that I never got around to posting: Mad hatters

Outside China 1 on Avenue B near Fourth Street.

Ugh: Bazzini — "final holdout of Tribeca's past" — to become fancy eatery

Downtown Express has the bad news:

In the latest example of “new Tribeca” beating out “old Tribeca,” the Bazzini grocery, cafe and nut shop on Greenwich St. will soon become a Sarabeth’s restaurant.

This won’t be the first time that a neighborhood fixture in Tribeca becomes a chichi food destination — but it could be one of the last, as some see Bazzini as the final holdout of Tribeca’s past.

Bazzini opened 119 years ago. The current owners said the new Whole Foods down the street was cutting into their business.

The Tribeca Tribune had the story earlier this week. And apologies to Eater: I missed their piece on this news last week. The story is here.

Tishman Speyer Properties lose

From the Bloomberg wire:

Tishman Rent Rise in Manhattan Voided by New York’s Top Court

By Patricia Hurtado

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Tishman Speyer Properties LP, owner of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, Manhattan’s largest apartment complex, lost a tenants’ lawsuit in New York state’s highest court accusing the company of improperly raising rents.

The New York Court of Appeals in Albany said today the rent increase on about 4,350 apartments in the massive complex on Manhattan’s east side violated the law because it was built with city assistance and the building’s owners received tax breaks.

The ruling upheld a decision by a lower appeals court in Manhattan. That court ruled in March that Tishman and the prior owner, MetLife Inc., wrongfully deregulated the apartments by raising the rents because of a sale of the property in 2006.

Today’s decision means the companies might have to pay millions of dollars in rent rebates to thousands of tenants. State law entitles tenants to triple damages for illegal rent increases, lawyers in the case said.

Will Avenue D finally turn into Avenue C?

The three-story building that houses the bodega on the southeast [OOPS! SouthWEST] corner of Seventh Street and Avenue D is now for sale for $1.4 million...



According to the listing:

91 Avenue D is a 3 story mixed-use building that is available through an estate sale. There is one store and two residential units. The two apartments are currently vacant while the lease on the ground floor expires in June of 2011. The store is currently paying well below market rent. It is perfect for a user looking for a space to run their business and expand in the future.

This is a tremendous opportunity to buy an investment property with future development potential on a prime corner in the East Village. It is located in one of the most densely populated areas in Manhattan and benefits from the heavy pedestrian traffic.

This is interesting for many reasons. For starters, the new home of the Lower Eastside Girls Club will be built on Avenue D between Seventh Street and Eighth Street. (This 12-story building -- a new development that will actually give something back to the neighborhood -- will include a community center and 72 apartments.)



And, just around the corner on Seventh, you'll find the Flowerbox Building, where the record-breaking $10 million penthouse recently closed for $5.2 million.



Perhaps some enterprising foodie type will nab this corner spot at Seventh and D for some signature-drinks outpost... and be ahead of the pack for the day when the condofication reaches the eastern edge of the neighborhood. Or maybe some luxury housing.

Could this finally be the start of Avenue D turning into the new Avenue C?

Of course, this speculation has been going on for years... As the Times noted in March 2005:

The frenetic about-face that transformed Alphabet City from a drug-infested no man's land to the epicenter of downtown cool hasn't quite made it to Avenue D, and some predict it never will. Capped at the south by the bustle of Houston Street and at the north by the soaring smokestacks of Con Edison's East River generating station, the 12-block artery remains largely a relic of the neighborhood's pre-hip past.

There is nary a bar in sight. Not a single boutique. The handful of restaurants serve tostones and chicharones, not goat cheese tapas or tuna tartare. Tough-looking boys hold tough-looking pit bulls at the end of steel chains, mothers push shopping carts to coin laundries, and wrinkled old men in newsboy caps putter in front of the grocery store, keeping a cagey eye on the street.

Still, recent rumors about the fate of the two sprawling public housing projects on the avenue has fueled broader speculation about the avenue's future. Now that Avenue C has become what Avenue A was a decade ago, many residents of Avenue D wonder if their street will become the new Avenue C.

[Flowerbox photo: Elizabeth Felicella for The New York Times]

Chico's new anti-violence mural on Houston and Avenue B

As we mentioned on Monday, the Lower Eastside Girls Club was bringing Chico back from Florida to paint a few murals. Yesterday, Chico and the POP (Power of Peace) Youth Anti-Violence Coalition finished work on a new mural on Houston at Avenue B.




The Lo-Down stopped by to catch the work in progress yesterday.

Mr. C's, we hardly knew ye

Well, this was one of the quicker open-and-shut eateries that we can recall...



Mr. C's, the Italian Trattoria that opened back in May on Avenue C near Seventh Street, certainly appears to be closed. It has been dark the past few times that we've walked by... and there's not much inside to indicate the place has seen any life of late.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Mr. C's on C now open
Ayyy: It's Mr. C's on Avenue C

Costumes on a budget

Out front of the deli on Second Avenue and Third Street. I dig the Village People look.