Friday, November 22, 2013
Donostia opens tomorrow on Avenue B
The tapas bar/cafe opens tomorrow morning at 155 Avenue B at East 10th Street, per the signs on the gate. We don't honestly know much about the place other than what was on their application for a beer-wine license back in May.
• Listed food: "Spanish tapas, sandwiches, salads, meats, cheeses, etc."There is also a small retail component here as well … selling "Spanish specialty goods," per CB3 documents. The space, previously home to Zee's Pet Shop (now on East 13th Street), has been meticulously renovated.
• "The principal has worked as an employee at several fine dining establishments including Craft, db Bistro Moderne, Estiatorio Milos."
[Photos by Bobby Williams]
Cafe Rakka looks to be a goner on Avenue B
[Photo courtesy of Ray LeMoine]
Ugh. Long-timer Cafe Rakka on Avenue B is for rent ... the familiar sign of Croman Realty's "Call Harvey" can't be missed.
Too bad — Cafe Rakka is always a nice, affordable option here near East Third Street. Anyway, it remains open for now.
Meanwhile, the Cafe Rakka — now called Rakka Cafe — is undergoing renovations on St. Mark's Place.
Today in posts about turkey mac-n-cheese
Via the EVG inbox from S'MAC on East 12th Street...
Our Thanksgiving Turkey MAC is back on the menu and you can find details on our website ...
It will stay on the menu through Christmas.
Report: St. Mark's Bookshop prepping fundraiser ahead of possible move to Avenue A
There's a fundraiser (online and in the store) set for Dec. 5 that will feature signed first editions donated by a variety of authors, including Ann Carson, Lydia Davis and Paul Auster.
Per Publishers Weekly:
But that is only one piece of the store’s fundraising plans so that it can stay in the East Village in a space near Avenue A and Third Street. The president of Cooper Union has offered to help the bookstore by letting it use the school’s Great Hall for a fundraiser and to contact some of the schools’s donors on the store’s behalf. Those details are still being worked out.
Cooper Union will reportedly allow the store to leave its current home on Third Avenue with four years left on the lease.
Back to Publishers Weekly:
The new location would be about half of the store’s current size, or 1,300 sq. ft. Co-owner Bob Contant regards the store's downsizing as a good thing. “The print book business isn’t as robust as it used to be,” he points out. “Where we sold 25 books, now we sell five.”
As for the new new location "near Avenue A and Third Street" … let the speculation begin!
The photogenic recyclables of East 2nd Street
The daily activity outside D & D Salvage on East Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue caught the eye of East Village resident Stephanie Nilva, who recently began documenting the streetscene here.
"I walk by every morning and I loved how the bundles look — the colors, the textures," she said.
Team behind Ofrenda bringing Black Ant to the East Village
The owners of Ofrenda, a homestyle Mexican restaurant in the West Village, is opening Black Ant in the East Village. The restaurant will be located at 60 Second Ave. near East Third Street, in the space previously occupied by Bona Fides.
The Black Ant Facebook page describes itself this way: "Contemporary Mexican Restaurant, Cocktail Bar and Garden."
The Facebook page shared plans for the new space as well…
Black Ant is aiming for a mid-Janaury opening, per their Twitter account.
Read more about Ofrenda's background here at New York magazine.
More on the closing of Continuum Coffee and Continuum Cycles
The coffee shop opened shortly before Sandy hit last October, and Underwood had a difficult time recovering from the storm damage. (An unresponsive landlord apparently didn't help.)
"I had taken all of my funds and put it into the cafe last year. Not only did our whole basement flood with sewage and salt water, destroying my stock for the cafe and bike shop, we also didn't have phone service or stable Internet service for over three months," he said via email. "This kept us from running credit cards, which is 80 percent of our sales."
Business lagged post-Sandy, and he wasn't able to get ahead of the mounting bills as the year continued.
For now, Underwood said that he plans to regroup over the coming months, with the expectation of reopening a shop somewhere in the neighborhood in the spring.
"I'm actually very excited about taking the winter off to look for the perfect space. I also do dog rescue and training, which I love, so this will give me time to take on more clients and work with more dogs in need," he said. "As for bicycles, I will still take on clients, but obviously at a smaller scale. My goal is to revamp my website for e-commerce, so that we can reach more folks.
"It has been a bittersweet couple of weeks. Closing was a bit hard but the love that people are showing is blowing us away."
Previously on EV Grieve:
Out and About in the East Village with Jeff Underwood
Reader photo from Nov. 17
ArtisanFEST returns to The Neighborhood School on Sunday
From the EVG inbox...
The Neighborhood School’s ArtisanFEST: Art, shopping, snacks and all your holiday gifting under one roof!
The Neighborhood School’s ArtisanFEST is back! On Sunday, Nov. 24, from 10 am to 4 pm, come out to support a local public school and get all your holiday shopping done in one fell swoop. Admission is free and open to the public. Scoop up silk-screened clothing, hand-printed linens, sample-sale items, home decorations, jewelry, fine art and more.
Confirmed artisans include: Lucky Fish (gorgeous screen-printed clothes and home goods); Vale (edgy yet dainty vintage-y jewelry); Wovenplay (imagination-sparking clothes and accessories for wee adventurers and artists); Interior Provisions (affordably luxurious home products with a conscience; Small Trades (men’s and women’s classic clothing inspired by Irving Penn’s 1950s photos); Winter Water Factory (boldly printed organic clothing and accessories); Atsuko & Akiko (exquisite and playful clothing, home décor and jewelry); Jillian Sherry (delicate ripped silk paintings and textile prints); Billie Beads (polymer beaded, bejeweled objets and killer tchotchkes); MUNY (Indian, boho, fair-trade, handcrafted textiles evoking both Mumbai and New York – hence the name); Odette Williams (delightful retro-hip aprons, kid clothes and wall art) and many more. There will also be homemade treats, kids selling their own beaded and Rainbow-Loomed jewelry, and some of those groovy food trucks.
A portion of the proceeds goes to Studio in a School, the wonderful organization that brings together professional artists and public school kids, and to The Neighborhood School PTA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization. The Neighborhood School is at 121 East 3rd Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Report: Arrest made in assault on tourist searching for Citi Bike docking station
The NYPD has arrested a Bronx man for a brutal assault against a British tourist in the East Village, according to the Daily Crime Blotter in the Post. (Didn't spot this online. for some reason.)
Christopher Kappel reportedly approached the tourist, who was searching for a Citi Bike docking station using an app on his smartphone, on First Avenue at East 14th Street around 2:30 a.m. Kappel and an accomplice struck the tourist in the face with a concrete slab and took his phone.
The tourist suffered a broken nose, per the Post.
Report: Some Midtown bars will now ban drunken SantaCon revelers
[Image via Eater]
As DNAinfo reports today, the NYPD's Midtown North Precinct sent letters to about 30 bars in Midtown and Hell's Kitchen urging them not to welcome SantaConners.
Per the letter:
The number of participants has grown large enough to completely overwhelm the sidewalks and public spaces...Having thousands of intoxicated partygoers roam the streets urinating, littering, vomiting and vandalizing will not be tolerated in our neighborhood...It is my recommendation that you do not sponsor this event in any way.
SantaCon is scheduled for Dec. 14 this year. For those of you concerned by all this, we've heard that residents should call 311 in advance of Dec. 14 to either request extra NYPD patrols for the day... or at least express concern.
Back on Oct. 17, State Sen. Brad Hoylman sent a letter to organizers, stating in part:
I strongly urge you to work with the New York City Police Department in order to come up with a strong and effective plan to combat public intoxication and to ensure all participants are respectful of the neighborhoods they visit, as well as handling the overwhelming crowds associated with an event this size. In addition, I urge you make this plan available to the affected local Community Boards well in advance of your event so that they have time to comment and help shape it.
H/T Eater
Previously on EV Grieve:
How was your SantaCon?
A few scenes from SantaCon 2012: Scourge of the city or good time had by all?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)