A look at Little Tokyo in the East Village

Over at Eater, Robert Sietsema has filed a comprehensive look at the neighborhood's Little Tokyo, highlighting some of the specialty shops and restaurants by category. Find the article here.

Sunrise Mart photo via Foursquare

Tompkins Square Park's February Wonderland

Photo yesterday by Fenton Lawless

The East River's ice age (circa 2015)

An EVG reader checked in on the East River earlier this morning… we no longer have the Freezepocalyptic conditions that we saw from Monday, but ice floes remain…



… and a panoramic shot…


[Click on image to enlarge]

Meanwhile, if you were planning on using the ferry service today… no luck…

Due to ice conditions in the East River, service is currently suspended until further notice. To sign up for text alerts, text ERF to 57682.

— East River Ferry (@eastriverferry) February 21, 2015

Window shopping for the next holiday!

Looking at Ricky's on Third Avenue near East 14th Street.

This looks like a promising item to help class up the day!

#Woo

Something other than a bar or restaurant is opening on the Lower East Side

The New York Times reports that Richard F. Taittinger — a great-grandson of the founder of the Taittinger Champagne empire — is opening a 5,000-square-foot art gallery at 154 Ludlow St., where a rent hike forced The Living Room to decamp to Williamsburg.

Here's more from the Times about the gallery:

It will show the work of a roster of internationally established, midcareer contemporary artists who are underrepresented in the American market, Mr. Taittinger, 34, said.

And!

He said he had chosen the Lower East Side over Chelsea as a location for the gallery because of the neighborhood’s potential.

“It is better to be a big fish in a small pond,” he said.

Work on the space got underway last month. The gallery is expected to open on March 3.

Previously, Lucky Cheng's was hoping to open a new LES outpost at No. 154 between Stanton and Rivington. However, the landlord reportedly pulled out of the deal.

Wind chill? What wind chill?

Christo in Tompkins Square Park today… apparently he was seen checking out even more new real estate in the area for nesting…

Photo by Bobby Williams

Blow Out

Here is Made Violent with "Two Tone Hair," a track from their new EP that is out on Tuesday. And the Buffalo-based band plays an early set tomorrow night at the Mercury Lounge.

How Zoltar passes his down time?

By reading Time Out?

Wait.

OK.



Or maybe this a paid product placement? Or just highjinks? After all, poor Zoltar had to endure another fallen piece of plexiglass on this frigid day ...



Photos by Derek Berg

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[2nd Avenue this morning via Derek Berg]

Sheldon Silver's indictment (DNAinfo)

Trying the Sri Lankan vegetarian fare at Sigiri on First Avenue (Fork in the Road)

Adding art to the construction containers and cement blocks along East Houston (BoweryBoogie)

A look at Marco Canora's new Fifty Paces on East 12th Street (Gothamist)

Kim Gordon discusses her new memoir (The New York Times)

Bring on the hipsters: Gentrification is good for the poor (The Economist)

Check out "The Dryline," a flood barrier for the East River (The Lo-Down)

Oh, and a photo of an icy East River this morning (East River Ferry Instagram)

No one apparently recognized "Fifty Shades of Grey" star Dakota Johnson dining at Avenue A's Black Market (Page Six)

Third Street Music School Settlement will undergo a $5.3 million construction project (Bedford + Bowery)

Chuck Connelly: The Spirit of Vision continues on East Ninth Street (Dorian Grey Gallery)

Heh: A workout video for fans of the Talking Heads (Dangerous Minds)

Broome Street Bar isn't closing after all (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Revisiting Chantal Ackerman’s "News From Home" (Flaming Pablum)

Cool photos of a band that we like: A Place To Bury Strangers, "Transfixiation" record release show at Music Hall of Williamsburg (Walter Wlodarczyk)

Montauk in the winter (Gog in NYC)

Getting 'Physical' again on St. Mark's Place

EVG reader Allen Semanco came across this scene this morning at 96-98 St. Mark's Place, the buildings between Avenue A and First Avenue that served as a backdrop for Led Zeppelin's 1975 studio album "Physical Graffiti."

A photographer said she was setting up this shot as part of next week's release of a 40th anniversary remastered/expanded super-duper-deluxe version of the album.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tenements of the holy: 'Physical Graffiti' 40 years later

RIP Joy Ryder

Penny Arcade shared the following with us…

The iconic rhythm-and-blues singer Joy Ryder passed away a few minutes after midnight on Valentine's Day, in keeping with the hours she kept for the past 4 decades since her early days at CBGB at the beginning of the punk era, losing her battle with liver cancer caused by Hepatitis C.

Joy Ryder embodied the best of all possible styles ... Although Ryder has been called a blues singer, she was a jack of all trades: jazz stylist, punk diva, and rock 'n' roll rabble rouser and deeply and widely loved by the whole of NY's musical community who are the poorer for her loss.

Brooklyn-born Ryder (nee Denise Whelan) was the daughter of jazz singer and bassist Phil Whelan, who had a hit with the song "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" with his band The Five Encores. Her childhood was filled with her father's rehearsals and her own piano lessons from the age of four.

I met Joy when she was 16 and I had just turned 17 on St Mark's Place and Second Avenue in front of Gem Spa in the fall of 1967. We both worked with Wavy Gravy and The Hog Farm performing at the Electric Circus, attended peace demonstrations, volunteered with The Yippies, UATWMF, and The Diggers.

Joy also worked with Kusama, the famed avant-garde painter in her large-scale happenings. In 1968, after the summer of love, when the East Village was awash with pedophiles lured by the massive population of homeless teenagers and the flower power vibe changed to hard drugs and violence ushered by not only the murder of Linda and Groovy who we both knew and the brutal murder of another friend, a boy named Sunshine, who was beaten and burned alive, Joy decided to leave NY to study at the University of Hawaii.

She started singing in bands that played local Army bases and then changed her name to Joy Ryder. She dropped out of the University of Hawaii, returning to NY and looked for singing work. She studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute, then at an audition, she met guitar player, Avis Davis and they started a band, The Davis/Ryder Band, and toured the underground rock circuit, opening for acts like the Ramones, John Cale and Iggy Pop.

After recording their rock anthem "No More Nukes," they performed for a quarter of a million people at Battery Park City in 1979 with Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and others.

In 1980, Joy moved to Berlin to work with underground theatre director Tony Ingrassia, where she appeared in films, plays and had several mainstream recording contracts with RCA, Polydor, CBS and Mercury Records. Since the late 1980s Joy made her home on Staten Island and was a much beloved figure in the NY music scene known for her generosity, kindness and sweetness.

She is survived by her son Jessie Franklin of Staten Island. Joy's funeral is tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 21) at 11 a.m. at All Angels' Church at Broadway and West 80th Street, where Joy sang in the gospel choir. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Joy's fund for medical and funeral expenses.

Plywood arrives ahead of demolition at 14th and C; 15-story retail-residential building on the way

Workers yesterday erected a plywood fence around 644 E. 14th St. at Avenue C, site of the former R&S Strauss auto parts store.

All the paperwork is in place to demolish the one-level structure … and build a 15-story mixed-use retail-residential complex here on the southwest corner.

Per our last post on this: The Karl Fischer-designed building will total 61,789 square feet. DOB permits show 8,578 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. The remainder of the first five stories will host a community facility, which will span 18,937 square feet, and 50 apartments will sit above, some even with views of the Con Ed power plant.

Thanks to ‏@KellerPeacenow9 for the photo!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Development back in play for East 14th Street and Avenue C

More details on the sale of 644 E. 14th St.

Here comes a 15-story retail-residential complex for East 14th Street and Avenue C

Prepping the former R&S Strauss auto parts store for demolition on East 14th Street and Avenue C

City OKs 15-story mixed-use retail-residential building on 14th and C

2 storefronts for rent at 42 Avenue B

Just noting that both retail spaces are for rent at 42 Avenue B between East Third Street and East Fourth.

The storefront on the left has been vacant since Coyi Cafe quietly closed here in January 2014. The storefront has a new broker now... Per the Sinvin listing, the asking rent is $6,995 a month for the 650-square-foot space (there is also a shared basement).

The north space became available when the former tenant, Shampoo Avenue B, moved down the block to 14 Avenue B last month ... and it has the same space and asking rent as next door.

You may not get Nimble on St. Mark's Place

There was a Grand Opening Party (were chin-ups and dips served?) last evening at Nimble Fitness, the new gym on the second level of 6 St. Mark's Place…

DNAinfo recently had more on this small-group training facility:

Like its original Union Square location, the East Village gym will focus on individualized programs and “holistic lifestyle coaching” to encourage long-term physical and mental health benefits, he said.

The East Village branch, however, contains the “Octagon,” a steel fitness rig that allows up to 12 people to perform several different exercises — like deadlifts, chin-ups and dips — at the same time.

Annnnd, as we've cut-n-pasted before, before the quick succession of ground-floor restaurants, No. 6 was home to Mondo Kim's ... and going back ... No. 6 was first, starting in 1913, home to the Saint Marks Russian and Turkish Baths ... which, in 1979, became the New Saint Marks Baths, the gay bathhouse (purportedly the largest one in the world) that the city eventually closed in 1985 during the AIDS epidemic.

Also, because someone will ask, the new New York Sports Club at 28 Avenue A will open on March 2.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Gym taking over part of the former Mondo Kim's space on St. Mark's

Here's what the inside of the luxury condos at 50 Clinton St. will look like

An EVG reader sent us this photo last Thursday showing the newly arrived sidewalk bridge along the soon-to-be-demolished 50-62 Clinton St. between Stanton and Rivington.

As previously reported, 7 stories featuring 37 luxury residences will rise from the single-floor row of storefronts that once included noted chef Wylie Dufresne's WD-50.

Now today, Curbed got the first look at the new teaser site for the condos. Take a gander at what awaits, including soft-looking towels in the bathroom ...





Per the 50 Clinton St. site, one-bedroom units will start at $975,000, two-bedroom homes are priced at $1.75 million and "penthouses in glass and with amazing city views at $3M." There will also be a doorman, gym and "lush gardens and rooftops terraces."

And last we saw... here's the final Ramy Isaac rendering ...



Head over to BoweryBoogie for more on all the comings and goings at this address.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] The future of 50-62 Clinton St will look something like this

Report: New Clinton Street condos start at $1 million

Meet The Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force

"The city and state are rolling out a new task force to take on landlords who are trying to harass tenants into giving up their apartments. The task force will be empowered to sue landlords or even pursue criminal charges against them." (DNAinfo)

Tracking the coming changes to East 13th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue

For starters, workers have prepped the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office for demolition, as we've been reporting.


[EVG file photo]

As previously noted, an 8-story retail-residential building will eventually rise here. The residential entrance will be on the East 13th Street side. The project is awaiting city approval.

-----

Across the street at 444 E. 13th St., the ground-floor space where that brick wall currently resides ...



is being marketed for use as retail or a restaurant…



According to the listing, the "Landlord will present as a restaurant ready space." The asking rent is $10,000 a month.

The city approved the work on the new storefront space on Tuesday, per DOB records.

-----

And then we have the garages on the block. As The Commercial Observer reported last month, developers Amirian Group and Bridgeton Holdings bought both properties — No. 436 and 442 — for $9.5 million…


[436 E. 13th St.]


[442 E. 13th St.]

Coming soon: Two 6-story luxury condos (one residence on each floor). Each building will include garages, balconies, roof decks and fitness centers. (Bedford + Bowery, who first reported on these developments, has more details here.)

Perhaps the influx of new residences will put an end to revolving door of restaurants, at least at 432 E. 13th St.

Manitoba's crowdfunding campaign a success; bar will remain open

The Manitoba's crowdfunding campaign came to an end at midnight.

Proprietor Handsome Dick Manitoba took to Facebook last night for an update.

There have been hundreds and hundreds of individuals from dozens of countries who have contributed to "SAVE MANITOBA'S"

Well, the good news is, MANITOBA'S has ...BEEN SAVED!

According to my calculations, we have money to pay the man demanding money, fix the bar to the standards required, buy, package and mail many hundreds of perks, throw my lawyers, who have thus far worked for NOTHING, and asked for nothing, SOMETHING!

In total, 688 people contributed at the Indiegogo page to help raise more than $31,000. (The goal had been $25,000.)

The campaign was reportedly a result of "a settlement with a man who has sued dozens of businesses under the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to court filings," as DNAinfo put it. The man, a former East Village resident identified as Luigi Girotto, 50, has reportedly sued at least 27 other businesses for failing to provide accessibility, according to court papers that DNAinfo obtained.

The bar at 99 Avenue B between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street opened in January 1999.

Back to Facebook:

The combination of creating something that physically and vibe wise preserves our great culture has obviously touched a nerve....A heart.

We hope to continue to be a fun place for people in the neighborhood, and Rock and Roll fans from everywhere. We so greatly appreciate your love and support.

137 Avenue C getting its extra floor

We've been meaning to check in on the building-wide gut renovation underway at 137 Avenue C near East Ninth Street. Workers pretty much gutted the place, leaving, as far as we can tell, just the north wall and some joists from the old place.

Anyway, the city-approved extra floor is well on its way...



Probably eventually the address will look like the rendering via architect Ramy Isaac …



Approved DOB permits show one residential unit (condo?) on each floor… with a ground-floor retail tenant.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Renovations in store for 137 Avenue C, home to the Sunburnt Cow

The Sunburnt Cow closes for good at the end of this month

137 Avenue C, hollow on the inside

Casablanca now serving hookahs and French-Moroccan cuisine on East 3rd Street

Casablanca opened last week at 189 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

The restaurant-lounge with French-Moroccan cuisine replaces the rather short-lived Lumiere.

Gothamist got a sneak preview. And among their observations:

[Chef Wesley] Wobles's menu features an excellent Hummus Mezze platter as well as a very tasty wild mushroom ravioli entree with roasted garlic cloves, spinach and cognac. You'll also find a Lamb Moussaka with layered eggplant and sliced potatoes and pan seared monkfish with ginger saffron broth, among other savory items.

And!

The decor, which alludes to the classic Bogart-Bergman movie after which the establishment is named, feels a bit haphazard and scattershot, but there's something a little refreshing about a new East Village bar/restaurant that doesn't come fully loaded with an overwrought aesthetic Concept.

And in case any undercover NYU students are wondering, Casablanca's hookah menu is reportedly tobacco and nicotine free.

Casablanca is open every day for lunch noon to 4 p.m., and dinner from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m.

A Citi Bike winter update

[Photo on East 4th Street by Derek Berg]

An EVG reader shared this Citi Bike email update from yesterday... which discussed what the bike-renting/sharing/whatever! has been up to this winter...

Overhauling bikes: We’ve overhauled more than 2,800 bikes since November and are on track to overhaul our entire fleet before the start of peak riding season. This means in addition to fixing anything that’s broken, we’re also replacing cracked seats, fixing or replacing broken bells, checking and fixing brakes, fixing hubs so bikes shift more smoothly and giving the bikes a thorough cleaning to reduce further wear and tear caused when grit gets into the chain and other moving parts. We want your spring rides to be smooth and comfortable. Once our fleet is in good repair, we aim to keep it that way. Starting this spring we will also increase our collection and repair efforts to ensure that broken bikes are quickly identified, removed, repaired and promptly put back into service.

Fixing docking points: We’ve repaired over 1,500 docking points since November and are on track to start the spring with our docks in good working order. If you experience a broken docking point, we want to know about it. Report the station name and the number on the side of the dock to our Customer Service team by phone or email.

Planning for expansion: The first Citi Bike expansion stations are planned for installation this year in Long Island City, Greenpoint and more in Williamsburg and Bed-Stuy. These station locations have been selected through a community planning process lead by NYCDOT and involving the local Community Boards and local residents that took place starting before Citi Bike’s launch.

A to-go order

Christo (probably???) with dinner on East Seventh Street at Avenue B this afternoon… photo by Bobby Williams

Out and About in the East Village, Part 1

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Sheila Rothenberg
Occupation: Production Manager at Works in Progress NYC
Location: St. Mark's Place between 1st and 2nd
Time: 6:30 pm on Thursday, Feb 5

I’m from Midwood, Brooklyn. My bank was the "Dog Day Afternoon" bank where the real bank robbery happened. So we were not on the map until then. I think I was in high school then. It was a real middle-class neighborhood — private houses, not real big, mostly Jewish and Italian and kind of suburban.

I moved to East 7th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues in 1978. I didn’t really know anyone in the neighborhood. I was just looking to move out, because in those days you could afford to move out when you were 21. My apartment was $185 a month and I paid half of that when I first moved here. It was great. I had a job in an office then, and in those days you had to earn your rent in one week. That was the formula back then.

There were Italians who owned the 24-hour vegetable store on the corner of 7th and 1st, and there was the 24-hour Souvlaki place on the other corner. There was one nice restaurant, Pier 9. When my parents would come to visit that’s where we would go. It was a seafood restaurant where the 13th Step is now on 2nd Avenue. Or Hisae was a place on the Bowery and those were the only acceptable places to take my parents.

I’ve worked in this neighborhood most of my life. When I first moved here I was working at an office and I wanted to be a waitress so badly. I got a job on 6th Street. One of the Indian guys opened up Hiros, a fake version of the macrobiotic restaurant The Cauldron. Macrobiotic was the way that vegan is now, but they eat fish. For $3.50, you would get a big pile of brown rice with vegetables and tempura and tahini and orange carrot sauce. It was a very popular restaurant and it was kosher. You’d see religious people in there, which was always funny to me being Jewish, never thinking of the religious Jews I grew up around eating with chopsticks in a macrobiotic restaurant in the East Village.

[Hiros] was my first waitressing job. The owner also owned a bunch of the other Indian restaurants and he was a pig. He sexually harassed one of our friends who worked there, so we all left en masse. I went to the Kiev and they didn’t have any waitressing jobs but they hired me as a cashier. I got the first waitressing job that opened up there.

I loved working at the Kiev. I met a lot of people. And then we tried to start a union because they were treating us terribly. It was bad pay and it was freezing in there. I fell one day. It was raining and they didn’t have good clean-up practices or mats and I just fell completely back. They paid for my chiropractor because they didn’t want me to report it. Then I realized all these things, because I was pretty young and idealistic and very pro-union. So we contacted, I think it was Union 1, and we signed the cards and we started to organize, and then I got fired. They closed the counter down and fired all the counter men.

I never went to cooking school but I was always a good cook. I learned from watching the guys at the B&H and then at the Kiev. My first time cooking [at a restaurant] was one night when the Kiev got busted by immigration. That was another thing that got us really mad. The owner would get people here and give them fake social security cards and then house them, since he owned the building on the corner. So like eight people would share an apartment and sleep in bunk beds. They’d sleep in shifts. He was a bastard. Then when they got busted he denied knowing them. When immigration came and took everyone I had to cook. I was waitressing and cooking.

So I sued them and I won and then I opened my own restaurant on 2nd Avenue, between 1st and 2nd. It was called Dine East. We bought it from Sam of Sam’s Luncheonette. We didn’t know at time, but the reason he made money was because he had poker games in the back. I bought all the equipment from some cokeheads who had a restaurant in Chinatown. I was there from ’83 to ’86 and that’s where I met my husband — he was teaching at La Salle across the street.

It was so much fun and so much hard work. It was like a greasy spoon. My dad was working as my dishwasher. I’m still friends with everyone who worked with us. I really had my regulars. But in ’85, ’86 the crack stuff started happening. The heroin wasn’t so bad because they would not bother you so much. They'd ask, ‘Do you sell bottled soda? Do you have a bathroom?’ They wanted the bottle cap. I’d say, ‘No, because you want to shoot up in the bathroom.’ But crackheads were crazy, so it got a little sketchy. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I had five years left on the lease when I left. It was 28 seats. I made $100, $200 a week. I didn’t know about business so well and I gave a lot of stuff away, but it was really fun. I just realized that I couldn’t really go on with the life we were planning.

Next week: Life after the restaurant business

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Adieu Casimir

[Photo yesterday by Dave on 7th]

As we noted this past Jan. 13, Casimir closed for renovations at 103-105 Avenue B.

In the comments, several EVG readers who saw renderings for the revamped space noted that the bistro is relaunching as Pardon My French. Yesterday, workers removed the Casimir awning from the premises here between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street.

Said one EVG commenter:

They are not making Casimir a speakeasy. There was a huge private dining room that was being under utilized right off the front of the restaurant. So it makes sense to move the bar into it, creating a really cool bar and lounge room.

The owner showed me the renderings for the renovation and it looks brilliant. The menu will keep some of the staples but also move the menu a bit more nouveau French, more smaller plate options. Although I wouldn't have changed a thing about the old Casimir, some weeknights and even weekends were a bit slow at dinner. It is a deceptively big restaurant so I applaud the attempt to bring in more of the dinner crowd and I am sure they will do it. As for the new name, hopefully they keep it off the door, ha. I am going to call it PMF. Or Pe-em-euf.

Bedford + Bowery recently spoke with Antonin Brune, a Casimir waiter who partnered with owner Mario Carta on the relaunch. Per B + B:

Casimir fans can rest assured that Brune values the old-school feel of the interior, with its decorative tin ceiling and tiled archway leading to the bar. “It’s still going to have the same look with the low light and candles,” he said. “We don’t want to kill the atmosphere of Casimir, but the restaurant needed some love.”

PMF was hoping for a Feb. 14 reopening. No word on a new opening date.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Casimir temporarily closes to move its bar

Amona Deli & Grocery leaving the Red Square strip on East Houston

Looks like the Shoppes at Red Square will have another vacancy.

An EVG reader sent us these photos of the half-off sale going on now at Amona Deli & Grocery at 250 E. Houston near Avenue B.





While there aren't any store closing signs posted, the cashier confirmed that Amona, always good for an inexpensive egg sandwich, would be shutting down by the end of the month. However, the cashier, who didn't know why they were closing, said that the owner hoped to move to a new storefront nearby.

Officially down to 1 2 Bros. on St. Mark's Place

Workers have stripped away the remaining evidence of the $1.50 2 Bros. Pizza at 36 St. Mark's Place.

The low-budget, low-taste pizzeria quietly closed at the end of January. The $1 2 Bros. a few storefronts away at No. 32 between Second Avenue and Third Avenue remains in business.

This marks the second of the three East Village 2 Bros. to close. The location on First Avenue near East 14th Street abruptly shut down last summer.

Meanwhile, this is the third business on the south side of this block to close in recent weeks … joining the Pinkberry and Hanjoo.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The $1.50 2 Bros. on St. Mark's Place has apparently closed

Sleepy's for the rest of your retail life

A Sleepy's opened back in December at 111 Third Ave. near East 14th St.

At first glance, it's really not exciting retail news. Or is it?

Uh, anyway, Bloomberg Business had a post on Sleepy's yesterday. The Long Island-based company has 32 locations in Manhattan alone … which, as Bloomberg points out, is more than than the Gap (13), Whole Foods (7) and Best Buy (6) combined.

Per Bloomberg: "That's no mean feat, considering that the average American replaces a mattress only once every 10 years."

How do they succeed? Well, you have to watch the video report for the answer… but basically Sleepy's enjoys 50 percent profit margins… with minimal risk (low inventory) and flexible location opportunities (Sleepy's doesn't need prime window-shopping real estate, and will do fine on a second-floor spot).

Of course Sleepy's isn't completely bulletproof. The location at 138 Delancey closed last August.

That storefront between Norfolk and Suffolk remains on the market….

Enjoying the classics with Lou Reed

In case you haven't heard this interview making the rounds the last day or two… PBS released another interview in its Blank on Blank series, this time with a conversation with Lou Reed from 1987… where he puts down everyone from the Doors ("What I mean by 'stupid,' I mean, like, the Doors") and the Beatles ("I never liked the Beatles … I thought they were garbage").

And who did he like?

"I liked nobody."

H/T Dangerous Minds

Raclette now serving croques and tartines on Avenue A

Raclette is now open at 195 Avenue A just north of East 12th Street.

The quick-serve restaurant is the creation of East Village resident Edgar Villongco, who originally tried to open the cafe in 2012 on East 12th Street.

At the time, he was seeking a beer-wine license. After a handful of residents spoke out against another liquor license for the block between Avenue A and Avenue B, Villongco — who lives nearby — dropped the plans rather than pursuing the matter directly with State Liquor Authority. (You can read all the background in this article published in The Local from June 2012.)

Instead of the cafe, he opened a scooter shop, Urban Motion, at 508 E. 12th St.

However, after nearly three years, he recently closed Urban Motion to put his focus back on launching Raclette (without a beer-wine license still).

Villongco shared a little more about the cafe.

"It's got both French and Swiss Raclette dishes, but the croques and tartines are mainly French influenced with some twists. For example we have a Cubano with dijon mustard, and a tartine with that comes on naan with curried cauliflower and hummus," he said.

And here's a look at the menu...





Updated: Yes, they do serve racelettes…