Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Team behind The Wayland eyeing Simone Martini Bar space


[Image via Google]

It looks as if a change of ownership is coming to the northeast corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place — current home of Simone Martini Bar.

According to paperwork (PDF) on file at the CB3 website ahead of this month's SLA licensing meeting, Jason Mendenhall and Robert Ceraso, the proprietors of the Wayland, are the applicants for the space.

The application shows that the pair are planning for a "tavern/seafood-style menu" available during all open hours, which are listed as 2 p.m. to 4 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. They also plan on a sidewalk cafe, which Simone had.

The Wayland, which specializes in cocktails and craft beers, opened on East Ninth Street and Avenue C in January 2012. (They expanded the space with new food options early last year.)

The change here will also officially bring an end to Yaffa Cafe, Simone's sister restaurant that closed nearby at 97 St. Mark's Place earlier in the fall. After the closure, some items from Yaffa were added to Simone's menu.

The Marshal seizes Lumé, another restaurant that couldn't make East 8th Street and Avenue C work



The Marshal paid a visit yesterday to Lumé, the "Epicurean drinkery" on Avenue C at East Eighth Street. EVG regular Dave on 7th happened by when workers were changing the locks on the doors.



The restaurant had just been advertising for bartenders and waitstaff.

Lumé seemingly came out of nowhere this past spring, taking over for the short-lived Life - Kitchen and Bar, which had taken over Verso, perhaps best known for a topless diner encounter.

Anyway, it has been tough going on this corner when you factor in the previous restaurants — Caffe Pepe Rosso and later Caffe Cotto — in the past five or so years.

And once upon a time it was a bakery … which apparently Iggy Pop frequented for cake and strong coffee



Another bakery would be nice.

Broken steam pipe wipes out East 12th Street toy shop



CUBO New York, the cool, 1-year-old toy shop with 3D printing capabilities, had to close last month at 521 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Proprietors Victor De Los Angeles and Julie Kim explain in a Facebook page:

This is the photo of our temporary demise.



We want to take a moment to thank everyone that has supported our endeavor here at 12th Street. The people in this neighborhood have been so great and our neighbors the best. The artists in our industry have been so supportive and we are grateful for that and of course we want to thank our friends at 3DS.

The photo above is of a steam pipe that burst overnight and flooded our space with steam drenching all of our products and equipment in water rendering our entire operation useless. With that said, we have poured our hearts into CUBO and now we must close because of a single pipe. We're down but we're not out. We will update everyone on the revival of CUBO. Thank you all again for being amazing.

'To whoever reported my bike and had it towed costing me $500'



Spotted on East First Street. Someone wrote in a highlighter below the note,"to whoever you are I love you."

Police say this guy has burglarized 10 East Village apartments



The NYPD is looking for this man they say has broken into 10 apartments around here since July.

According to DNAinfo, the suspect has been stealing high-end electronics. A surveillance video picked up the suspect's image last month as he climbed a fire escape on East Seventh Street.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.

This mural in Barney Rosset's East Village loft is free to a good (and large) home



Catching up to this piece in The Wall Street Journal yesterday.

A mural — 12 feet high and 22 feet long — is free to whoever can extract it from the Forth Avenue loft where the late Barney Rosset created it.

Rosset, owner of the publishing house Grove Press, died in February 2012 at age 89. His widow, Astrid Myers Rosset, 83, is moving to her East Hampton home, and there isn't room for the mural out east.

Some excerpts from the article:

A few years before his death, Mr. Rosset took a paintbrush to their living-room wall and, with characteristic zeal, poured himself into chronicling his picaresque life in a swath of primary colors dotted with dioramas the size of jewel boxes.

Mr. Rosset worked feverishly on the mural, using a stepladder to paint sections near the ceiling. When he no longer felt safe climbing the ladder, he reached high-up spots by wielding a paintbrush taped to a pool cue or cane.

“He would stand in front of that wall for hours,” Ms. Rosset said. “And it was always changing.”

As we first noted back in March, the building where Ms. Rosset lives with the mural at 61 Fourth Ave. is for sale. The asking price for the 6-floor building between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street is $15.5 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Condo conversion one possibility for 61 4th Avenue, now on the market for $15.5 million

Monday, November 3, 2014

Noted



Greg Matherly at Reciprocal Skateboards passes along these photos of a new mural that has arrived on East 11th Street (alongside Eleven Consignment Boutique) at First Avenue ...

Not quite sure what it is from the photos... but apparently the guys in the Halal truck on the corner like it...





The 14th Street Pizza Bagel Cafe abruptly closed today



Sometime during the day, the Pizza Bagel Cafe on the southeast corner of First Avenue and 14th Street closed down (they were open this morning, several readers told us) ... and there are signs saying they are closed until further notice...



The space hit the market back in February. At the time, a tipster told us that the Cafe was downsizing... with a new tenant taking the space facing First Avenue...

Studebaker of the day



EVG correspondent Derek Berg spotted this 1950 Studebaker Champion on St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue today...



Reminders tonight: Free stuff at Veselka



As we mentioned back on Thursday, Veselka is celebrating 60 years on East Ninth Street and Second Avenue tonight with free food from 6-11.

David McWater looks to be the new owner of d.b.a.



A familiar name is set to become the new owner of d.b.a.

David McWater, a local bar owner and former longtime member of Community Board 3, has apparently emerged from a number of potential suitors for the popular 20-year-old d.b.a. at 41 First Ave.

According to paperwork on file at the CB3 website ahead of this month's SLA licensing meeting, McWater is behind "41 1st Avenue Rest Corp." that is applying for a new liquor license.



McWater, an often controversial local official, resigned from CB3 last September citing an array of reasons. According to The Villager, McWater has an ownership stake in Doc Holliday's, the Library and Milano's. He also owned Nice Guy Eddie's, which closed in June 2012 on Avenue A and East Houston.

As The Lo-Down pointed out in September 2013, McWater came "under fire for strongly advocating for the rights of bar owners, as a member of the community board’s State Liquor Authority Committee. McWater served as chairman of CB3 for four years until June of 2008. He has played critical roles in two major CB3 initiatives — the 2008 rezoning of 111 blocks of the LES and the East Village and the Seward Park development plan."

One d.b.a. source tell us that McWater isn't planning on any major changes at the bar, which specializes in craft beer.

Ray Deter and Dennis Zentek opened d.b.a. in 1994. Deter died in July 2011 from the injuries he suffered in a bicycling accident. Zentek died on March 23 from head injuries he sustained in a fall down a flight of stairs.

The application for 41 First Ave. will be heard at the Nov. 17 licensing committee meeting.

Korzo Haus has closed on East 7th Street



That's it for deep-fried burger specialists Korzo Haus, the small Slovakian-based joint on East Seventh Street just west of Avenue B.

EVG regular Dave on 7th spotted this sign on the restaurant's front door this past weekend...



Per the note on the door: "Thank You for years of your dedicated patronage. Our lease is up and this location is now closed. We are working on a new downtown Manhattan location. In the mean time we really hope you visit us at the original Korzo or Brooklyn Beet Company in Brooklyn."

Korzo Haus opened here in August 2010. The Voice named them the best burger in NYC in 2011.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Korzo Haus now open on Seventh Street

Soup and broth to go starting today at Brodo on 1st Avenue



Hearth chef Marco Canora has added a new to-go window (door?) on the First Avenue side of the restaurant.

And starting today, you can get broth and soup at Brodo (Italian for broth) ...



Here's the menu (you can click on the image for the details) …



Canora talked with New York magazine/Grub Street, who first reported on Brodo, about how all this came about:

“Twenty years of eating bread, drinking booze, smoking cigarettes, and working in kitchens really fucked me up in a big way.”

Until quite recently, you see, Canora was not the epitome of good health. He’d been diagnosed as pre-diabetic, he was suffering from gout, his cholesterol was through the roof, and he was thirty pounds overweight. Now, at 45, having made some major changes in his diet, he says he’s in the best shape of his life. And he attributes not a small part of this reversal of fortune to daily doses of the broth he’s always made as a base for Hearth’s soups and stocks.

Hearth is located at 403 E. 12th St.

348 Bowery on the market again



For rent signs are up again at 348 Bowery at Great Jones.

The Deth Killers of Bushwick opened a pop-up shop here in February, and have ended their tenure selling their brand of jeans and motorcycle stuff.

Kinda wish they would have left the old auto inspection sign alone…


[EVG file photo]


[EVG file photo]

Downtown Auto & Tire packed up and left the corner in April 2012.

And a recap of the action here: The space hit the market in May 2010 ... In July 2010, a few people were hoping to open the first New York branch of Segafredo Zanetti Espresso Café, the Italian-style coffee bar, on this spot. They went before CB2, who rejected the proposal, which included a patio with a retractable roof with soundproofing ... and sound-resistant sliding doors.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Please meet the next corner of the Bowery primed for something luxurious

The last days of the Downtown Auto and Tire?

The Bowery to get a South Beach diet

Making Faces at the Downtown Tire & Auto Center

Downtown Auto & Tire has left the Bowery