'Merica dream fades as Zerza returns to 6th Street

After less than three weeks in business, 'Merica, described as "the most American bar and restaurant in the world," has apparently closed here on Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (Thanks to EVG regular Creature for the tip.)

The red, white and blue awning now advertises Moroccan Mediterranean food... and the menu for the previous tenant, Zerza, has returned... (now La Zerza)...



It was a whirlwind month or so here. The well-liked Zerza closed in late September. Then came the Facebook page for 'Merica, co-founded by Radoune Eljaouhari, who ran Zerza, and Zach Neil, an owner of the Tim Burton-themed Beetle House a few doors away on Sixth Street as well as Stay Classy, the bar for Will Ferrell fans on Rivington Street.

As Patch reported:

Neil said he, a Christian, and Eljaouhari, a Muslim, bonded over making fun of "all things America." Especially during this election season, they find Americana to be exceptionally funny, Neil said.

"I mean it's just crazy that Donald Trump is running for president," he said.

Crazy, sure, but not really funny.


[Photo from last Friday]

The décor included rifles, NASCAR memorabilia ... as well as TVs showing episodes of the Chuck Norris vehicle "Walker, Texas Ranger." It was supposed to be a humorous, tongue-in-cheek homage to the "real America" ... there were advertised debate nights, where diners could discuss a variety of topics, humorous or otherwise, during this divisive election season. (There was a "House of Cards" trivia and dinner scheduled on Election Night.)

The menu, full of comfort foods with names like the Walmart, the Hog Beast and the Boo Boo Burger, included topical items such as the The T-Rump Mexican Burger and the Hillary Burger, "a 100-calorie lie" — a triple bacon cheeseburger topped with mac and cheese.

Despite some opening publicity (including a segment on "Good Day New York"), the dining room sat empty. (One direct neighbor claims that he never spotted one person inside, other than employees.)

Around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, an EVG reader says that she saw a worker taking the "Taste the Liberty" words off of the awning "using some kind hair drying or torch." Sounds pretty American.

Previously

Noted

An EVG reader shared a photo of this sign spotted on Avenue A and Second Street. It reads:

Beware!!!

There is a couple in the LES with and grey and white pit bull they're sicking on random victims.

The woman is about 5 feet tall with brown hair and the man is about 6'2" with a cloudy eye. These people are predators!!!

Be careful and call the police!!

A change in food vendors on 1st Avenue and 6th Street

Just noting the arrival this past weekend of a gyro-falafel cart on First Avenue at Sixth Street... this prompted several readers to ask what happened to the fruit-vegetable vendor who's usually here. I last saw him on Saturday afternoon...


[Photo not from Saturday afternoon]

Jimmy McMillan's ad for a German car-rental brand is suitably strange

Last time that we heard from East Village resident Jimmy McMillan, he was announcing his retirement from politics, specifically the Rent Is Too Damn High Party, under which he ran for mayor, governor and, for a moment, president.

Now, as Adweek reports, McMillan has sold his trademark to Sixt, a German car-rental giant for its first ad campaign in the United States.

Per Adweek: "It seems the two have the same budget-conscious message, and at least one of them is in on the joke."

Here's the ad, which includes roles for journalist Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks and Josh "The Fat Jew" Ostrovsky.



And I'm not sure about what came of the ongoing eviction battle over his rent-stabilized apartment of nearly 40 years on St. Mark's Place. I haven't seen him on that block since the summer. Perhaps he has been busy filming commercials.

Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group planning Martina for 55 3rd Ave.

Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, whose well-regarded establishments include Gramercy Tavern, the Modern and Union Square Cafe, have plans for a new restaurant on Third Avenue and 11th Street.

The group is applying for a new beer-wine license for 55 Third Ave., and are on this month's CB3 SLA committee docket.

According to the questionnaire (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website, the new venture is called Martina. There isn't any mention of the style of food that will be served.

The application shows that the space will hold 13 tables with a proposed sidewalk cafe with four tables. (The overall capacity is listed at 75 or below with nine employees.) The proposed hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday; until 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Here's a look at the layout via the questionnaire...



So what space is this restaurant taking? 55 Third Ave., aka Eleventh and Third, is the 12-floor building that recently went through a top-to-bottom luxury renovation. No 55, which is between 10th Street and 11th Street, is currently home to two retail tenants: M2M, the Asian grocery chain, and The Smith. M2M is apparently moving away to make room for Wagamama. The Smith isn't going anywhere.

So where does this leave Martina? There is the building's former lobby on the 11th Street side (across the street from NYU's Third Avenue North dorm).







This month's SLA committee meeting is Monday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. CB3 will hold the meeting in the Thelma Burdick Community Room, 10 Stanton St. at the Bowery.

Water Witch Mercantile opening in the Box Kite space on St. Mark's Place

An EVG reader shared the above photo from last night around 11:15 ... showing employees making final preparations to open Water Witch Mercantile at 115 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. (We hear that they are opening today.)

Here's more about Water Witch via their Facebook page: "We are your neighborhood provisions shop with specialty sandwiches, leavened breads, cured meats, artisanal cheeses, and craft beers." (The Water Witch Instagram account mentions growlers of beer for sale and a late-night menu. That menu is not online just yet.)

Coffee is a centerpiece here too (Updated: no espresso, just drip) ... just like its predecessor, Box Kite Coffee, which abruptly closed in early August. After a rather pointed goodbye note ("Taste is the most important aspect of coffee and we were the only game in town") on the chalkboard sign inside the front door, ownership announced a reopening several days later.

In any event, Box Kite has been reimagined as Water Witch with the market/expanded food offering. (A recent Craigslist ad for staff called this a "new specialty food store in partnership with Box Kite Coffee.")

N'eat now serving Nordic fare on 2nd Avenue

You may have noticed this plot come together in recent days outside 58 Second Ave. between Third Street and Fourth Street... the new restaurant is n'eat.

Here's more about them via their website:

Our philosophy is rooted in showcasing New Nordic fare, with a strong focus on seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. The menu is influenced by both old-world and progressive Nordic cooking techniques, while also remaining clean, fresh and simple.

Guests can expect a casual dining experience, whether dining at the bar for a glass of wine and a few snacks, or sitting down to enjoy dishes from the a la carte menu—we hope to offer a welcoming respite and relaxed atmosphere.

Menu items (the items below are all $16) include:
• Poached egg yolk - Brussel sprouts - "Gammel knas"
• Pickled onion - Silver onion - Pear - Smoked crème
• Baked haddock - Sea buck thorn – Apple - Turnips
• Cured scallops – Mussels – Radishes - Butter milk
• Potatoes puree – Duck heart – Bacon – Onion
• Chicken confit – Carrots – Burned garlic sauce

Find the full menu here.

The hours are 6-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; until midnight on Friday-Saturday.

With this opening, we officially say goodbye to Cellar 58. The low-key Italian restaurant closed for renovations in May ... and, as far as I know, never reopened.

Updated 1 p.m.

Gothamist has a preview today on n'eat here.

Per the post:

"We use whatever makes sense from the New York area," Allan Jensen, n'eat's general manager said. "New Nordic cuisine is all about using local ingredients and being true to that. Everything is local, fresh, strictly in-season. There's a lot of fermenting and pickling—the region is cold, so in the winter it's hard to grow anything. So we use ingredients from the best of both worlds—it would be crazy to import everything."

Photo via Instagram

A 'Stop the Demolitions' rally tomorrow on 7th Street

[EVG photo from September]

Last week, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) announced that they will not consider a row of pastel-colored residences on Seventh Street between Avenue C and Avenue D for landmarking.

Preservationists hoped to have the buildings, which date to the 1840s, landmarked ... in part to spare the demolition of 264 E. Seventh St. for some unspecified new development. (In early September, a permit was filed with the DOB to demolish the 3-level house.)

Tomorrow at noon, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is organizing a rally outside the buildings on Seventh Street. Via the EVG inbox...

In September, GVSHP and allied groups reached out to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to urge them to landmark 264 East 7th Street, and the adjacent houses at 258, 260, 262, and 266 East 7th Street. Once part of what was known as “Political Row”, these five ca. 1842 houses, located between Avenues C and D, have rare and beautiful intact Greek Revival ornament, and are linked to the history of the early development of New York’s waterfront and to critical political figures of the 19th and early 20th century in New York.

In spite of this fact the Landmarks Preservation Commission recently responded saying they did not consider the buildings worthy of landmark designation.

Sound familiar? Earlier this year the City also refused to landmark five 19th-century Beaux Arts tenements at 112-120 East 11th Street, between 3rd and 4th Avenues.

One small positive note: due to the 2008 East Village rezoning which GVSHP and other groups fought for, the height of any new development on this block of East 7th Street is limited to 75 feet in height after setbacks. Previously there were NO height limits for new development on this block.

Visit here to send a letter to the Mayor online.

The rally starts at noon tomorrow (Friday)...



Previously on EV Grieve:
City says no to landmarking row of 7th Street homes, clearing way for demolition of No. 264

A few more details about the sale of 123 2nd Ave.

Back in late September, news arrived that the lot that housed 123 Second Ave., one of three buildings destroyed following the deadly gas explosion in March 2015, sold for $6 million.

The buyer was reported as Ezra Wibowo under the LLC 123 Second Ave. Corp. While there haven't been any details divulged about what might be coming to the property, Crain's this week provided a few more details about the deal.

The $6 million sale price for what’s now a vacant lot at 123 Second Ave. is likely higher than what the building that stood there would have commanded. The sellers, who originally asked $9.7 million, had taken a $499,000 mortgage on the building in 1999, and it generated gross revenue of $283,580 in 2014, per real estate research website Reonomy.

Moreover, the September sale price for the lot is comparable to what larger nearby apartment buildings have traded for in recent years. The new owner of 123 Second Ave., an investor from the West Village, could not be reached regarding any development plans — and none have been filed with the city — but it’s unlikely such a choice spot will remain undeveloped for long.

No. 123 housed Pommes Frites and Sam's Deli and several residential spaces. Maria Hrynenko, the owner of 119 and 121 Second Ave. faces various charges (along with four others), including involuntary manslaughter.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: City claims immunity in tenant lawsuit over deadly 2nd Avenue gas explosion

A Drybar opens on Ludlow Street tomorrow

EVG reader Alta Tseng shared this photo from... 179 Ludlow St., the building next to Katz's...

As the Commercial Observer first reported in August, the California-based salon chain Drybar signed a 10-year deal ($150 per square foot) in the retail space of the condoplex

And Drybar, the 13th in the city and the first in this neighborhood, opens tomorrow (Friday!) per the signage.

The condoplex earned the nickname "The Rat Castle" from the Voice back in 2008. (The then-abandoned project attracted rats galore at the time.)

As BoweryBoogie noted in August: "An ironic name for this Hell Square newcomer, though; in an area pillaged with liquor licenses, a Drybar moves in."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Notorious 'Rat Castle' being pitched as 'Swank' on Ludlow Street

Duane Reade's efforts to offer flu shots still don't seem all that appealing

At the Duane Reade on Third Avenue at both Street...

Oct. 20!


[Photo by @edenbrower]

This week!

Attorney General files lawsuit against local landlord Marolda Properties; accused of intimidating rent-stabilized tenants

Via the EVG inbox this morning...

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today filed a lawsuit against Marolda Properties, Inc., a Manhattan property management company that manages rent-regulated apartment buildings in the New York City metropolitan area including in Chinatown and the Lower East Side, and affiliated landlords that own the buildings.

The lawsuit is the result of a joint investigation between the Attorney General’s Office and Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Tenant Protection Unit.

The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court, alleges that Marolda Properties and the other defendants improperly sought to evict rent-regulated tenants by serving notices and bringing proceedings in housing court falsely alleging that the tenants no longer occupied the premises as their primary residence. The lawsuit also alleges that defendants refused to renew tenants’ legally-required leases, overcharged and failed to account for rent paid by tenants, did not conduct necessary and proper repairs and renovations, and engaged in other harassing, deceptive and retaliatory behavior.

The affiliated landlords named in the lawsuit include Green Leaf Associates, LLC, Forsyth Green, LLC, Forsyth Blue, LLC, 83-85 Baxter Street, LLC, 7 Rivington Street, LLC, 90 Elizabeth St., LLC, Ludlow 65 Realty LLC, 13-15 Essex Street, LLC, 145 Ave. C., LLC, and 100 Forsyth Associates, LLC.

Read the full release from the AG's office here.

145 Avenue C (649 E. Ninth St.) sold in 2011 for $9.7 million. An entity named Ninth and C LLC is listed as the building's owner, according to public records. At the time of the sale, a resident told us that Marolda Properties would manage the building. Ninth and C LLC has an address in Houston.