A celebration of Mike Bakaty's life tomorrow night at the Bowery Electric

Mike Bakaty, owner of the city's longest-running tattoo parlor, died on Jan. 29 after a battle with cancer. He was 77.

Tomorrow night from 6-9, his friends and family will hold a celebration of his life at the Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery.

Bakaty opened Fineline Tattoos on First Avenue near East Second Street in 1997 after the city lifted the 30-plus year ban on tattooing. He started his business during the tattoo prohibition from his Bowery loft in 1976.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP Mike Bakaty

Out and About in the East Village, Feb. 2013

H/T East Village Radio

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Tompkins Square Park the other day via Andrew Adam Newman on Ave C]

The Small-Business-Saving Squad of the East Village (Off the Grid)

Concerns of a fire hazard at Sweet Chick, opening in the former Max Fish space (BoweryBoogie)

Katz's suing 'Katz & Dogz' food truck (New York Post)

Remembering The Sin Club on 2nd and C (Flaming Pablum)

No 'Beastie Boys Square' for the LES (The Lo-Down)

Iggy and New Order do Joy Division (Dangerous Minds)

'7 Beautiful Things About New York City That Are Threatened by Gentrification' (PolicyMic)

History of the Mayfair billboard in Times Square (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Iconic Grand Central Oyster Bar reopens today after renovations (Gothamist)

The Stranglers on 40 years of fights, drugs, UFOs and 'doing all the wrong things' (The Guardian UK)

And while on the topic of The Stranglers... from 1982...

While you're waiting for the light to change...

East 12th Street and Avenue A this morning via M on Avenue B.

Maybe the wind blew it up there?

Sidewalk bridge arrives for start of demolition on East 14th Street; last chance for Blarney Cove sign

Workers began erecting the sidewalk shed along the doomed section of East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B yesterday. Demolition of these one-level empty storefronts should commence soon enough.

As previously reported, eight parcels consisting of 222 Avenue A and 504 - 530 E. 14th St. (excluding No. 520) were leased for a retail-resident complex that might look like this ...


[500 E. 14th St.]

... and this...


[524 E. 14th St.]

Workers still need to finished putting up the sidewalk bridge to the east...



To date, we haven't spotted any plans on file with the city for the new buildings.

Meanwhile, it's really last call for that Blarney Cove sign...





[H/T @cgashcraft]

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 14th Street exodus continues

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street

[Updated with correction] 8-lot parcel of East 14th Street primed for new development

East 14th Street corridor now nearly business-free ahead of new development

Here is the future of East 14th Street and Avenue A: 7 stories of residential and retail

City OKs permits to demolish the empty storefronts along this section of East 14th Street

Here is the next new section of East 14th Street

More about the impending closure of Rainbow Music on First Avenue

As we first reported on Monday, Rainbow Music at 130 First Ave. will be closing later this year. The shop's eccentric owner, known only as the Birdman, is currently on a month-to-month lease … with plans to be out by the end of the year.

Filmmaker Jessie Auritt, who interviewed the Birdman for an engaging documentary short, stopped by the store yesterday. The Birdman said that he is on good terms with the landlord and is planning to stay open until at least September for now.

Which is almost enough time to sift through every stack in Rainbow Music.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Birdman of the East Village

Watch the Birdman of the East Village

Reader report: The fabulous Rainbow Music is closing this year in the East Village

'All uses considered' for current home of Jennifer Convertibles on Third Avenue

Apparently the days are number for Jennifer Convertibles at 111 Third Ave. near East 14th St. There's currently a retail listing for the retail space at the Ripco website.

According to the listing, possession of the furniture/sofa store is in July while the rent is upon request.

Other notes from the listing:

• Proximate location to Union Square – the city’s third largest transportation hub
• 361,000 employees and 151,500 households within one mile of Union Square
• Seven day a week market
• Surrounded by NYU and new luxury residential developments
• All uses considered

Local psychic sets local record for storefront renovation

[Photo via EVG reader Ruth]

In our worldwide exclusive from Tuesday, we noted that the longtime psychic at 199 Avenue A was closed for renovations.

But, by golly, the new sign and awning went up yesterday… and the place looks nearly ready to start telling your fortunes very, very soon.



Kinda digging the blue.

Con Ed talks stray voltage with concerned residents

[Stray voltage possibility on East 9th Street from Monday via Bobby Williams]

After a winter of numerous stray voltage reports in the neighborhood, Con Ed officials attended last night's CB3 Public Safety/Transportation meeting to hear concerns/answer questions, etc.

BoweryBoogie was there for the presentation. Read their account of it here.

As readers here have pointed out, Con Ed's new warning signs are just a little too small. And low.


[EVG file photo]

Per BB:

For one thing, the little flyers are affixed too low to the ground and with illegible print. Not to mention, the message is not stern enough. Chair David Crane posited alternative wording to the effect of, “Warning: possible electrical shock hazard.” Other suggestions included making the signage at eye level, introducing red lights, or getting pet owner warnings in the advanced weather advisories before storms.

One EVG reader who attended the meeting said Con Ed had plenty of graphs and charts, but too few concrete answers about the stray voltage problems.

Per BB: "Con Edison will take the feedback and allegedly make some improvements. When that will happen is anyone’s guess."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Con Ed unveils new signage to warn pedestrians and their pets of stray voltage

Resident shocked about ConEd's nonchalance over stray voltage

Looks like a May opening for the Halal Guys restaurant on East 14th Street

Food-cart favorites The Halal Guys expanded to the East Village last Sept. 19 with an outpost on the northwest corner of East 14th Street and Second Avenue...

Soon after, signage for a Halal Guys restaurant appeared at 307 E. 14th St. (immediately adjacent to the new cart).

Now that restaurant space has seemingly been dormant for months. What's up with that?

Blame the building's gas line, manager Khalid Ahmed told Serena Solomon at DNAinfo.

While building the store it became apparent the old gas lines at 307 E. 14th St. could not support both the Halal Guys' kitchen and the apartments in the building, Ahmed said.

Halal Guys has spent the last few months replacing the lines at their own expense and are now waiting on Con-Edison to connect the pipes to the main grid.

If all goes well, then the restaurant should be open in May.

Meanwhile, there is the cart right out the door.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Halal Guys are now open on East 14th Street and 2nd Avenue

The Halal Guys are apparently opening their first restaurant in the East Village

Out and About in the East Village, Part 2

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: Eric Danville
Occupation: Managing Editor, Penthouse Forum Magazine. Author of "The Complete Linda Lovelace"
Location: Sophie’s on 5th between A and B
Time: 6:45 on Thursday, February 27

Last week, Eric was discussing working for Al Goldstein at Screw magazine … where we pick up today.

Al had his good times and his bad times, but by the end of it, you couldn’t tell the guy no. He was his own worst enemy, which everyone knows. You couldn’t tell him, ‘No, you should not do that, because maybe buying a plasma TV for every one of your houses isn’t a good idea.’ Anytime he bought something he had to buy four of them because he had four houses and wanted each of his places to have one. There was somebody on staff whose job was looking through catalogues and buying shit for him and setting up VCRs that he didn’t know how to set up. That was this person’s job. It was crazy. He started Screw with $500 and a dream and that’s basically what he left it with, $500 and a dream.

For the last two years that I was working there I was Goldstein’s ghostwriter. Surprise, surprise, he didn’t write his own stuff. His editorials and any article that showed up in other places were written by someone else. One day Goldstein was in a foul mood and we were having an editorial meeting. I was in control of the editorial staff back then and he goes, ‘I’m tired of doing all this shit by myself.’ I knew it was a matter of time before I was going to be fired. Everyone before me had been fired and I was now at the top of the chopping block.

I wasn’t going to let that happen, so I gave him six weeks and I went back to work. I had an article due for Penthouse forum, so I called them and told them I just quit and they told me we’re looking for someone. I did the interview and got the job, where I’ve been for the past 15 years. I get to craft what the typical forum reader gets to experience, which is a bunch of dirty letters, some sex advice, some funny stuff. It’s helping people enjoy their bodies and their sexuality, which is quite endearing. I enjoy it and I also don’t have to worry about going to dungeons and strip bars — I mean there were times when I’d be going out to those places like five or six times a week to cover stuff for Screw, which was fun, but it takes a toll. It’s not easy doing that every day.

Some porn stars are exceedingly normal and some are just scary crazy. If you put 50 of them in a room, there are 50 different types of people, but they’re generally pretty fun to hang out with. They know how to drink. There was a fetish video place out in Brooklyn called Bizarre Video, and they had this big warehouse and they’d shoot maybe one week out of the month and bring porn talent in from LA.

When they’d have something going on, they’d invite us over and I’d do an on-set piece about it and we’d hang out afterwards. One time we were hanging out with this girl named Anna Mal, her husband Hank, Jeanna Fine, the owner of Bizarre, and a couple other people. We went uptown to American Trash in this limo and Hank is here and Anna’s here and all of a sudden Anna starts rubbing my leg. I’m like, ‘Ah fuck, that’s going on?’ She’s like, ‘Oh don’t sit so far away sweetheart,’ and then she goes, ‘You can do whatever you want with me, Hank doesn’t care.’ I was like, ‘ahh,’ cause I’m really very shy, actually. I just laughed and turned red and said, ‘ah shit.’ Anna scared me. She was just so open and into fucking anyone. That really scared me. But some porn actresses are real normal and they’ll talk about movies and TV when they’re not working. They’re normal people in the sense that they’re just like everyone else. There’s a whole range of them.

I just reissued "The Complete Linda Lovelace" [the former porn star of "Deep Throat"]. I had heard in 1996 that Ron Howard and Brian Grazer were trying to buy the rights to "Ordeal," which was her autobiography. I got Linda Lovelace’s phone number from a friend and I gave her a call. I figured I’d interview her for a straight magazine. I’ll do it for Vanity Fair. They’ll want it. I can be incredibly naïve sometimes. I’m endearingly naïve sometimes. So I called her up and she pretends to be her own secretary, because from the beginning I said, ‘I’m calling from New York; I work at Screw; I work in porn and I want to interview you.’ She was very polite, she listened to me for about 10 minutes, and then she said, ‘OK, well I’ll pass your message on to Linda… and do me a favor, don’t ever call this number again.’

Despite that, I figured out a way to do a book about her. I got about 300 newspaper and magazine articles about her and I put them all in chronological order. I picked up the ones that told her story best and I critiqued those figured out where people had things right and where they had them wrong. I thought I was inventing a new style of journalism but it’s actually called a bio-bibliography. I traced her career from the first review of "Deep Throat" until when, as luck would have it, I actually got her to pose for Leg Show Magazine and brought her back into the industry after such a long time. She was the biggest porn star in the world, then totally anti-porn, and then she came back for one last photo shoot. That ended the first chapter of my book. I managed to hash all that together and along the way I found all these books that mentioned her and all of her 8mm porn loops. The book covers her career, then the anti-porn and the pro-porn side, and the pop culture side.

Three years later I called her up and I said, ‘Look, I called you up three years ago and I asked you for an interview. You said no. I did a book about you and this book’s coming out anyway, so if you want to talk to me I’ll put this interview in as the last chapter. You can say whatever the fuck you want, you can trash porn, I don’t give a shit what you’re going to say, but if you want to talk to me, I’ll listen.’

So she says, ‘It sounds like you have a million dollar proposition there. Why don’t you fly out to Colorado and we’ll talk face to face? If I trust you and I get a good feeling from you, then I’ll talk to you.’

I went out there and met her and we really hit it off, really, really well. That afternoon, she goes,‘Okay, I’ll talk to you about it.’ I was also showing her ways to make money doing movie conventions and signing autographs and stuff, which she did for the next year. I had to convince her to sign things as Linda Lovelace again cause she would only sign things as Linda. I took her out to Chiller and she made like ten grand in one weekend. I’m counting the money up and I give it to her and she counts off 10 percent and gives it to me. I was like, ‘what’s this?’ She goes, well this is your management fee. I go, ‘Look, I’m not your manager; I’m your friend. I’m showing you how to do this.’

So instead she gave me a hat that she wore at the Ascot races in 1974, when she got thrown out for wearing a see through dress. That meant more to me than any amount of money. And a couple months later I got a package from her that was a bunch of articles that she had been collecting about herself in the 1970s, four of her baby pictures, and an envelope that had a lock of her hair from her first haircut. She must have really trusted me and liked me if she was giving me something this personal to her.

Then, almost a year to the day when the book came out, she died at 53. It was sad because we became good friends. I liked her a lot. She was unassuming and very down to earth. She was very malleable though. I could have gotten her to do basically anything that I could have convinced her would have been in her best interests, but because I’m a nice guy I didn’t do that. It was the first time that she had been treated nicely by somebody that she was working with.

When she started she was in a very physically abusive relationship with her husband, who is the guy who sort of turned her into prostitution and doing porn. The movie ["Lovelace," 2013] was supposed to be based on my book but Hollywood changes things sometimes. I wound up being a consultant for it, so I gave them advice and they didn’t take it.

I mean the fact that I worked in a business that Linda hated as much as she did. A couple times she’d say, ‘You’re such a nice guy, why do you work in that business?’ And I said, well, it’s not the same business that it was when she was in it. It’s a lot different and it’s better for the women and performers because of her.’ When people ask, what do you do, the first thing I say is, ‘I’m a pornographer. I make porn magazines.’

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

Previously on EV Grieve:
Out and About in the East Village, Part 1

Another chance to own the East 14th Street duplex that likes to show off its insides

[File photo]

Hey, our favorite floor-through condominium triplex with a fully retractable second floor façade/wall that flips open like a garage door overlooking East 14th Street returns to the market! (Or maybe it never left the market!)



This listing for The Brownstone East Village at 224 E. 14th St. arrived on Streeteasy this week.

Here's a snippet from the Douglas Elliman listing:

The first floor is sheathed in perforated metal that provides great privacy, while filtering natural light into the generous entry foyer/home office area. An exposed brick hallway leads to an all-white eat-in Kitchen. Here, a glass garage door retracts, opening the entire wall to an enormous private, south-facing Garden and outdoor Cabana, ideal for intimate gatherings or large-scale entertaining. The Kitchen is equipped with a Viking dishwasher, downdraft-vented cooktop and oven, 36" Subzero refrigerator, and is finished with custom lacquered cabinetry and seamless enamel coated countertops.

This appears to be the unit that Bill Peterson, the architect behind the building, owns. Back in 2012 the asking price was a reported $2.499 million. This time around the asking price is $2.1 million. Public records show that he paid $1.8 for the home in 2008.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Finally, your chance to own the 3-level penthouse at the Brownstone East Village

More photos of the apartment with the garage door for a living-room wall on East 14th Street

Addiction Ink space for rent on St. Mark's Place

Several readers have pointed out that the 7-year-old Addiction Ink is no longer in business at 120 St. Mark's Place… not sure exactly when they left, but there is a for rent sign up in the window. There isn't a mention of rent on the Ripco website.

And as you may recall, 120 St. Mark's Place was once the artists collective known as The Cave. (Among other people, it was the home of the Mosaic Man.) Developer Ben Shaoul took over the property in 2006, where he earned his "sledgehammer" nickname from Curbed. Read more history of this address here.

[Thanks to EVG reader Andy for the photo]

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Along Second Avenue via Derek Berg]

Does Katz's have the best pastrami in NYC? (Eater)

The East Village is a crowded necropolis (Ephemeral New York)

Finding the lost Stuyvesant Alley off of East 11th Street (Off the Grid)

CB3/SLA committee denies expansion for Bikinis on Avenue C (BoweryBoogie)

A sign of spring in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

When beatniks riot (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Apartment horror stories (Runnin' Scared)

Catching up with Richie Ramone (LA Weekly)

Former Andy Warhol-owned townhouse used to swindle apartment hunters in the East Village

[321 E. Sixth St.]

Police are looking for a man who they say conned 10 women out of more than $20,000 with fake Craigslist ads for East Village apartments, including one in a building once owned by Andy Warhol.

The suspect, who is known to use the aliases David Horowitz and Michael Bryant, reportedly "advertised an apartment at 321 E. 6th St., between First and Second avenues, without permission or authority from the actual owners, police said. He took cash deposits of $2,200 as a downpayment from nine different women who answered and wanted to rent the apartment, police said."


[NYPD photo of the suspect, aka David Horowitz and Michael Bryant]

CBS New York said that the man also took $2,100 from another woman who answered an ad for 434 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

We looked up 321 E. Sixth St. on Streeteasy. It's not even a rental. The building hit the market for $2.4 million in 2010. The listing at the time noted that Warhol owned the building in the 1960s. Paul Morrissey apparently lived here until the 1980s. Cynthia Nixon was also rumored to have bought the building several years ago. Not sure what the status of the building is now.

According to the Post, "Police said he may be a former resident of the building who once rented and later sublet the bait apartment."

Anyone with information was asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Own half of a used Warhol on East Sixth Street

Report: Children’s Magical Garden suing developers to regain LES land

[Photo from May via MoRUS]

The battle for the Children's Magical Garden continues.

Yesterday, Garden members filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court asking to be declared owners of the lot at 157 Norfolk St. at Stanton Street, according to Serena Solomon at DNAinfo.

Local residents established the garden back in 1983.

Per DNAinfo:

Garden members claim in the lawsuit that the New York State law of "adverse possession" makes them the rightful owners of the lot. Under the law, someone has the right to ownership if they have occupied a property for at least a 10-year period.

"We love the whole garden," said the garden's director Kate Temple-West. "We have been actively supporting the earth here for more than 30 years, for a very, very long time."

This story got particularly ugly back in May. Citing security and safety concerns, workers erected a fence on part of the property that developer Serge Hoyda owned, much to the dismay of residents, community activists and local poltiticians, who wanted to maintain the entire space as a community garden.

In late June, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development transferred ownership of the remaining section of the garden to the Parks Department to protect the parcel as park space. (Read more about this at DNAinfo.)

Earlier this year, Hoyda sold his parcel to a real-estate group, who want to build a six-story, six-unit residential building. According to the proposed work plans, the new building will measure 7,242 square feet and include a gym and a penthouse. The city disapproved the first round of plans last Wednesday.

Garden members are suing both Hoyda and the new owners, the Yonkers-based Horizon Group. Read a PDF of the complaint here.

Garden members are holding a press conference at the site this morning at 7:15.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Updated: Children’s Magical Garden under siege on the Lower East Side

Meanwhile, in 1988…

This quote from the April 4, 1988, issue of New York magazine has been making the rounds lately on Facebook… it was filed under "the more things change, the more they remain the same" department at the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative Facebook page.

The quote was part of the magazine's 20th anniversary edition with a headline "From the 'Me' Decade to the Greed Decade."

What decade are we in now?

Who knew what and when? Psychic closed for remodeling on Avenue A

Yesterday afternoon, EVG reader Ruth noted that workers removed the awning from the psychic's storefront at 199 Avenue A near East 12th Street…



Likely a pretty pricy chunk of real estate for $5 tarot card readings… However! The psychics figured that people would question if this space would become home to another specialty food shop or something… so there is a sign… "Psychic is remodeling."

This bites: Flame Job leaves East Second Street storefront

Flame Job, longtime designers of custom-made fangs and gothic goods at 170 E. Second St., closed up shop for good at the end of February. There was talk of a new shop on the Lower East Side, but that hasn't materialized just yet…



They are still around, though, for custom fangs and leather, if the need beckons…check out their Facebook page for contact info.

As for this address between Avenue A and Avenue B, Jared Kushner of the Kushner Companies paid $17.5 million for 170-174 E. Second St. back in December.

As of now, we don't know why Flame Job closed, so we need to hold off on our "Bloodsucking landlord boots custom fang makers" headline.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside a classic East Village tenement before the whole building is renovated

Jared Kushner not done buying every walk-up in the East Village

Revival lives again on East 15th Street

Back in early January, Revival, the neighborhood bar at 129 E. 15th St., closed for renovations.

Andres, Revival's general manager, let us know that the bar between Irving Place and Third Avenue reopened last Thursday evening.

He noted the following changes that took place during the past two months: "working bathrooms (finally), new bar, new bar shelves, custom wood seats with cushions in the upstairs lounge with new furniture to accompany the entire business. Our outdoor patio is still a bit under construction especially after this harsh winter we had (or still in the middle of) and will reopen by April 1."

[EVG file photo]

Reader report: The fabulous Rainbow Music is closing this year in the East Village

[Photo by Jessie Auritt]

Word is spreading that one of the neighborhood's more intriguing shopkeepers, a man known as the Birdman who works amid the stacks of used CDs, videos and cassettes at Rainbow Music, will be closing his store at 130 First Ave. in the coming months.

According to the Birdman, his landlord sold the building here near St. Mark's Place a few weeks before the end of 2013, and the new owner decided not to renew the store's lease. Rainbow Music has been on a month-to-month lease ever since, and he plans to sell his inventory via Amazon.com when the storefront is finally closed, per EVG reader Chris F.

In addition to all the items in the visible part of the store, the Birdman estimates that he has an additional 50,000 items in the back that he also needs to catalog.

Here's how the store was looking yesterday...


[Photo by EVG reader Chris F.]

A few years back Jessie Auritt made a 10-minute short about the Birdman... which you can watch right here...

You can read our Q-and-A with Auritt here.

[Thanks to EVG reader Chris F. for the tip]

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Birdman of the East Village

Honest Chops opening on East 9th St., 'first all-natural halal meat store in Manhattan'

There's a new business opening as early as today in the subterranean retail space at 319 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (The space was previously home to Little King Jewelry.)



Here's the word via the business's placeholder website:

Honest Chops is the first all-natural halal meat store in Manhattan with delivery service to all five boroughs. We pride ourselves in being completely transparent in our services — from our farms to your dinner table.

We signed up to learn when Honest Chops will open… and received this message in reply:

Salams!

Thanks for joining us in this adventure.

We'll start by being more honest than we should: we are new to this.

We have never opened a meat shop before nor do we claim to be experts. But we were frustrated by the lack of affordable and accessible halal meat options in the city. We felt it was time that someone worked towards a better alternative.

Welcome to HONEST CHOPS. When you buy our meat, you have our honest-to-God guarantee that it is hand-slaughtered, all-natural, free-roaming, vegetarian or grass-fed.

We will be opening doors to our store and website very soon.

Your friends,
Khalid, Anas, and Bassam

[H/T EVG readers MP, Steven Sonnenblick and Jose Garcia]

Report: More support for protected bike lane on Lafayette Street/Fourth Avenue

A quick note from the coverage that Streetsblog provided from last Thursday night's Community Board 2 meeting:

In a unanimous 9-0 vote last night, Manhattan Community Board 2′s transportation committee endorsed a DOT plan to upgrade a buffered bike lane on Lafayette Street and Fourth Avenue to a parking-protected lane, complete with new pedestrian islands, car lanes of an appropriate width for the city, and improved signal timing for pedestrians. The plan now moves to CB 2′s full board meeting on March 20.

The protected lane would run from Prince Street up to East 12th Street. The proposal would not remove any car lanes, but instead narrows them on the avenues, per Streetsblog.

Find a PDF of the proposal here. Read the whole Streetsblog post here.

How are we feeling about protected bike lanes these days? Anyone? Comments?

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Looking at the First Avenue's new bike lane and 'floating lane' (64 comments)

Protest planned for reconfigured Avenues (153 comments)

Painting over the SMELLS on Avenue A

Back in January, the NYPD arrested five people for tagging the roof of 201 Avenue A … A police spokesperson told Gothamist: "Officers observed the word 'Smells' painted in letters six to seven feet tall, and around 10 feet wide."



Anyway, EVG reader dwg points out that workers just painted over the SMELLS tag… as well as the one that had already been up there…



The Post reported that the NYPD charged all five with "making graffiti, criminal trespassing and resisting arrest."

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Reader report: Taggers nabbed on Avenue A (36 comments)

Au Za'atar officially opens today

We noted last Tuesday that Tarik Fallous, the owner of Table 12, had changed concepts, converting the cafe-bistro on Avenue A and East 12th Street into Au Za'atar.

Here's the restaurant's description via Facebook:

Au Za'atar is a Middle Eastern restaurant with a French twist. Our menu offers everything from Lebanon's national dish (Kibbe Kras) to classical Parisian fare with influences spreading from the Arabian Peninsula to the Mediterranean Sea.

At the time of our post, the restaurant was still in soft-opening mode … and the menu we posted from the Au Za'atar website hadn't been finalized. (You can find the menus now at the website.)

According to a restaurant representative, there was an official soft opening at Au Za'atar this past weekend… and today is the official opening day… they also supplied us with photos of the interior, which was designed by local resident Frank Linkoff, who's an artist and filmmaker/producer.







Fork in the Road had a preview Friday:

"I always looked for a place where we could have these kinds of dishes the same way we had them back home," Fallous says. He craved lamb shank and lamb chops sprinkled with za'atar and roasted, tabbouleh at every meal, hummus and fresh babaghanoush, and escargot cooked with herbs and white wine (there is a lot of French influence in the culinary traditions of these countries, Fallous explains).

Au Za'atar offers all of those dishes, divided into small mezze plates and larger platters, as well as a number of daily specials, spicy stuffed fish, different kinds of kebabs, and kebbe kras, a blend of bulgur wheat and beef that is Lebanon's national dish. "We're trying to make it a place where people will come to have a meal once or twice a week," he says.

-----

Meanwhile, aside from the concept change at Table 12, Kool Bloo, the fast-food takeout specialist that shared the back of the space, has also disappeared in recent weeks with the renovation…

Ghost signage uncovered on Third Avenue and East 12th Street

AAA (New) Amici Pizza was rent hiked out of business here last July. Workers have been renovating the space for the new tenant… uncovering some ghost signage in the process… per these photos courtesy of EVG reader Dave from 14th Street…



Trying to remember this place… Lawrence & Paul's Pizza & Restaurant. The space was Due Amici before New Amici in the early 1990s … Anyone recall Lawrence & Paul's?

As for the new tenant [sadly chuckling] … soon to be home to Funkiberry Premium Frozen Yogurt. Yes, it's true.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Stuff that you can't make up: More FroYo for the East Village

[UPDATED] Black Hound New York closes East Village retail location today

As we pointed out on Wednesday, the 26-year-old dessert-cake shop is closing its retail location at 170 Second Ave. near East 11th Street today.

The sign on their window says Black Hound will be open until 10 tonight. (EVG reader Andy, who took this photo, says there wasn't much left for sale. So maybe you call ahead before making a special trip…)

Per the sign:

"The East Village has been out retail home since 1988, and we've seen out neighborhood evolve from eclectic to trendy."

Also, local customers can "still enjoy Black Hound treats" via a delivery service from their Greenpoint bakery. You can also pick up orders by appointment there.

From their Facebook page Wednesday:

We’ll continue connecting with you through Facebook, emails, friends@blackhoundny.com, 800.344.4417, and www.blackhoundny.com. Thanks to our loyal customers and friends for your support!

And back to the sign, which states, "Looking ahead, we want to resume our retail presence in NYC and will seek investors to help us on this journey."

UPDATED 5:54 p.m.
Per our Facebook friends, Black Hound sold out of everything and closed around 5.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Black Hound New York closing Sunday after 26 years in the East Village (26 comments)

Week in Grieview

[East 7th Street the other day via Derek Berg]

Cab crash on Second Avenue (Sunday)

A Gathering of Tribes looking for a donor to buy its East 3rd Street home (Tuesday)

A tour of Kossar’s Bialys (Friday)

No 7-Eleven for the retail space at Arabella 101 (Monday)

A new art and performance space on East 4th Street (Thursday)

New residential building for East 7th Street (Wednesday)

Out and About with Eric Danville (Wednesday)

Black Hound New York is Closing (Wednesday)

A knockout attack on the Bowery? (Thursday)

Irish guy steals Sabrina's bear coat (Sunday)

Behold the sofritas from Chipotle (Monday, 18 comments)

SVA dorm for sale on Third Avenue (Friday)

Views from the World Trade Center in 1978 (Friday)

FREE PANCAKES (Tuesday)

A tiny roof deck with a lawn and phone booth? (Thursday)

Ashes to go on Astor Place for Ash Wednesday (Wednesday)

Some people can't figure out where the new USPS retail store is on East 14th Street (Wednesday)

HiFi launches monthly Reading Series (Tuesday)

Laundro-cafe opens on East 1st Street (Thursday)

Lindsay Lohan gives us the middle finger at the Houston/Bowery mural wall (Sunday)

Former 7A looks to keep sidewalk cafe (Thursday)

Noted

East Village PSA: The gunshots you hear on E 3rd St are actually some dude walking down the street cracking a whip /cc @evgrieve

— Anoop Ranganath (@anoopr) March 9, 2014

Spring for a day

Tompkins Square Park this afternoon… photo by Bobby Williams…

Reminders (Or, A Reminder)

My neighbors will have 1 less hour to yell Wooooooooooooo! tonight. pic.twitter.com/p9MpaeG64p

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) March 8, 2014

Clocks forward at 2 a.m.!

[H/T Stack of New York Times at Associated]

Up in smoke

Second Avenue and East 13th Street … photo by Grant Shaffer. (Steam courtesy of Con Ed.)