Contrada offers a sneak preview in the former Calliope

As we first pointed out last week, Calliope, the nearly two-year-old French bistro at 84 E. Fourth St. and Second Avenue, has closed … with the ownership promising a quick reboot of the space with a new restaurant called Contrada. (The owners apparently won't need to change the C on the marquee.)

Sure enough, as these reader-submitted photos show, Contrada was open for a sneak preview of sorts this past weekend… apparently they don't have a new liquor license yet. The chalkboard below in the photo is cut off … it reads "They won't let us serve booze yet … but the food is INTOXICATING."



Here is a look at the menu … Contrada is serving food and wine "inspired by the Mediterranean."


[Click on image to enlarge]

Here's the Contrada website with menus and hours. The Contrada Facebook page has some photos of the various dishes and interior.

As for Calliope, Grub Street reported back in January that chefs Ginevra Iverson and Eric Korsh split with the restaurant's financial partner, Eric Anderson.

Hummus and Pita together again … on Broadway

Oh, not really the most exciting news to pass along… unless you like hummus. And pita! Together! Just noting the recent arrival of the new signage for The Hummus & Pita Co. at 815 Broadway near East 12th Street (the former home of the David Z shoe store) … this will be the third Hummus & Pita Co. in the City.

Going Ape on Avenue C

Last night at Specials on C, artist Brandon Sines unveiled a new exhibit titled "Dealing With Things Is Tricky" … an immersion into the world of his character Frank Ape…

Photographer Walter Wlodarczyk was on hand and shared these photos…











Previously on EV Grieve:
Planet of the Frank Ape: Q-and-A with artist Brandon Sines

Everyone loves a parade

[Photo by peter radley]

The scene from outside St. Brigid-St. Emeric on Avenue B and East Eighth Street today … a parade/march in honor of St. Martin de Porres (we think — this isn't really our strong suit)…


[pr]


[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Week in Grieview

[The 6th & B Garden yesterday by Bobby Williams]

20 years of Flower Power in the East Village (Tuesday)

Car slams into Saifee Hardware (Monday)

Q-and-A with Frank Ape creator Brandon Sines (Friday)

More about Kim's closing (Monday)

Writer Greg Masters revisits the 1980s art scene (Tuesday)

Smoking battle in this Avenue A apartment building (Tuesday, 33 comments)

Work resumes at 27 Avenue D, where the Educational Alliance is adding an extension (Monday)

Calliope has closed (Wednesday)

No more "Serendipity" in Tompkins Square Park (Monday)

A 15-story retail-residential complex coming to East 14th Street and Avenue C (Wednesday)

The ongoing development concerns at 243-245 E. Second St. (Wednesday)

Signage revealed for Miss Lily's 7A Cafe (Thursday)

Out and About with Karen Fleisch (Wednesday)

Here are the protected bike lanes for Fourth Avenue/Lafayette (Monday)

Chubby Mary's has closed (Thursday)

Recreating the Tompkins Square Park riot of 1988 for "Ten Thousands Saints" (Friday)


[Photo by Grant Shaffer]

The new luxurious corners of Lafayette (Monday)

The Launderette of Second Avenue is closing (Wednesday)

Full reveal at 227 E. Seventh St. (Monday)

More about a possible Mars Bar comeback (Thursday)

Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield bringing cafe-bar concept to 151 Avenue A (Friday)

Get your free roses at Phebe's right now

Following yesterday's Kentucky Derby-themed party, EVG contributor Derek Berg notes that Phebe's is unloading all of its roses and other floral arrangements used for decorating the place on the Bowery and East Fourth Street…

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[East Houston near Avenue D]

Cab driver convicted in 2011 rape of East Village resident (New York Post)

Rallying to support attorney Stanley Cohen (East Villager)

City settles false arrest claim at Blue Door Video on First Avenue (Gay City News)

Thoughts on the new Russ & Daughters Cafe (BusinessWeek)

Watch monks breakdance in Union Square for MCA Day (Gothamist)

New exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York features Coney Island in the early 1960s (The New York Times)

An interesting history of noise (The Atlantic)

… and El Diablito Taqueria at 60 E. Third St. is celebrating its one-year anniversary today …



… and the documentary "More Than the Rainbow," which chronicles street photographer and former taxi driver Matt Weber, opened at the Quad Cinema on Friday …



We saw it and liked it… the film is more than a look at Weber's work … it involves a discussion of New York City as a medium for photography and the relationship between artist and subject … all set to the music of Thelonious Monk.

An Open Day at a closed cemetery

As you can see on the sign, it's another Open Day today at the historic New York City Marble Cemetery on East Second Street… From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.



Read more about the cemetery here.

Worlds collide when Treeman meets Rickshaw Spidey in Tompkins Square Park

Dang.





More filming for the documentree (heh) about Treeman…

Photos today by Bobby Williams

Previously

East 10th Street (mini) sinkhole no longer sinking, probably

[Yesterday, start of the journey to the center of the Earth]

Late yesterday afternoon, a local website breathlessly reported on a "sinkhole" opening up on East 10th Street right by the Tompkins Square Library branch…

While we weren't able to swing by for a factual update today (to be honest, it wasn't happy hour) … an EVG reader passed along these photos showing what has happened here between Avenue A and Avenue B …

Later yesterday!







Today!



So all is well… though you may not want to walk on the plate on the street with flip-flops or anything else that easily melts…

Reminders today: East Village tenant parade

See our post here for more details.

This weekend at the 6th & B Community Garden: Plants! Baked goods!

Learn more about the garden on the southwest corner of East Sixth Street and Avenue B here.