EV Grieve

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Saturday's parting shot

Photo on 10th Street via EVG regular Lola Sáenz...

A celebration of women tomorrow with Leah Tinari at an.mé on 9th Street

East Village resident and artist Leah Tinari has a new illustrated book out titled "Limitless: 24 Remarkable American Women of Vision, Grit, and Guts."

Here's more about it via publisher Simon & Schuster:

In the spirit of She Persisted, Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, and Rad American A-Z, acclaimed artist Leah Tinari offers a spectacular collection of portraits, celebrating iconic, inspirational, and groundbreaking American women.

Fine artist Leah Tinari’s stunning, spellbinding portraits honor the groundbreaking achievements and indelible impact of twenty-four extraordinary American women. These women’s dreams were without boundaries; their accomplishments limitless in their reach and lasting power.

Tinari’s list is comprised of trailblazers, whose vision, grit, and guts paved the way not only for the generations to come, but for Tinari’s own artistic journey. These women include Louisa May Alcott, Rachel Carson, Julia Child, Shirley Chisholm, Ellen Degeneres, Ray Eames, Eve Ensler, Carrie Fisher, Dian Fossey, Aretha Franklin, Betsey Johnson, Carol Kaye, Yuri Kochiyama, Liz Lambert, Lozen, Shirley Muldowney, Tracey Norman, Annie Oakley, Georgia O’Keefe, Dolly Parton, Kimberly Pierce, Gilda Radner, Sojourner Truth, and Abby Wambach.

Tomorrow, Tinari is signing copies at an.mé, the boutique for kids and families at 328 E. Ninth St. (between First Avenue and Second Avenue) from noon to 5 p.m.

Undercover of the sidewalk bridge

Spotted the other day on Second Street... teasing an imminent announcement of a Rolling Stones U.S. tour, reportedly including a June 2019 stop at MetLife Stadium...

[Updated] The First & First Finest Deli is no longer called that

I don't know when this signage switcheroo happened... in any event, the MTA-stop-friendly First & First Finest Deli at 18 First Ave. between First Street and Second Street is now a very noticeable...

...Food U Desiere 3. (Not sure if this is supposed to be Food U Desire 3. There are other Food U Desire locations in NYC, as the 3 would suggest.)

Anyway, if anyone has any Food U Desiere 3 inside information, please leave a detailed comment. (Same phone number, same employees.)

The space was Roger's Garden, which was rehabbed back in 2011...

Updated 11/19

The sign now reads Food U Desire 3... got rid of that extra e

Friday, November 16, 2018

Consumer affairs

#FlashbackFriday with X-Ray Spex doing "Art-I-Ficial" from 1978... the band's debut album, Germfree Adolescents, was released this week in 1978.

Grant Shaffer's NY See

[Click on image for more detail]

Here's this week's NY See, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's comic series — an observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood.

A morning look at the tree damage; 'the East Fifth St. Tree Committee is devastated'

[Photo from 6th and B via @artisanmatters]

Here's a Snowvember-morning-after look at some of the downed limbs and trees that remain on East Village streets... yesterday's wet, heavy snow proved too much for the trees that still had leaves intact...

12th Street west of Second Avenue (thanks Laura)...

St. Mark's Place near Third Avenue (thanks Lola Sáenz) ...

Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue suffered considered limb losses... the East Fifth St. Tree Committee took stock of the damage...

In total on the block, four trees lost limbs. "The East Fifth St. Tree Committee is devastated," a committee member said via email.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updating] Snowvember pain: Multiple reports of trees down

A visit to Bali Kitchen on 4th Street

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

When I meet up with David Prettyman and Jazz P. Souisay, the co-owners of Bali Kitchen, it’s late on a weekday night, an hour or two from closing time.

The two have just arrived back at the restaurant — 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue — from church, and we take advantage of a brief quiet moment to sit and talk about Indonesian food and culture.

[Prettyman and Souisay]

The couple, who have been together for more than 26 years, enjoy offering a primer on Indonesian food. When they first opened in September 2017, their initial customers were mostly people who’d been to Bali or were Dutch (there’s a lot of Indonesian food in the Netherlands), but now it’s repeat customers, those looking for a taste of home, and diners who are curious about Indonesian cuisine.

The most popular dishes here are nasi goreng (a fried rice with egg, tofu or chicken dish made with cabbage, shallots and candlenuts, and served with a mango/pineapple pickle relish) and rendang jamur (beef or mushroom dish with coconut milk and lemongrass over jasmine rice). The house special is nasi campur bali (their version of rijstaffel with sate lilit, betutu chicken/tofu, lawar, sambal matah, tempeh, boiled egg, peanuts, jasmine rice and tempeh crackers and served with sambal, a Balinese hot sauce).

[Nasi Goring]

[Nasi Campur Bali]

Almost everything on the menu can be made vegan or vegetarian, something Souisay says he discovered he’d need to do the month the restaurant opened following customer requests. One popular Balinese dish, suckling pig, is not on the menu. There isn't any pork at Bali Kitchen and all the meat they use is Halal.

There are plans for seasonal changes in the menu. Some heartier meals will replace the salads and a new soup is in the works for the colder months.

Prettyman and Souisay are also committed to environmental causes, using eco-friendly packaging materials that are compostable. Their space doesn't have a microwave and they both spoke about healthy food and alternatives to deep-frying: steaming, broiling and baking items.

They also want to promote Indonesian culture, hospitality and food. They provide a family meal each day during a break, when the space is closed, for the staff to sit together and eat.

Bali Kitchen, 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, is open every day from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can follow them on Instagram here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Eat’s Khao Man Gai on 6th Street

A visit to Yoli Restaurant on 3rd Street

Preparing for Saturday's dinner at Il Posto Accanto on 2nd Street

A visit to the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on 7th Street

A trip to the recently expanded Lancelotti Housewares on Avenue A

The 30th annual New York Cares coat drive is underway

The 30th annual New York Cares Coat Drive got underway yesterday.

At some point this winter, organizers say they will be delivering their 2 millionth coat in the drive's history.

In the East Village, you can drop off coats through the end of the year at the 9th Precinct on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue and Police Service Area 4 at 130 Avenue C and Eighth Street. Find a full list of distribution centers here.

So long to the 13th Step signage

[Photos by Steven]

Workers yesterday removed the neon 13th Step signage from outside the no-longer-named-13th-Step bar on Second Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street. (To be clear, the bar remains open.)

In early October, the sports bar/SantaCon hotspot dropped the 13th to become simply The Step.

The temp Step sign then returned last evening...

The bar is still listed as the 13th Step on social media and its website. Perhaps they'll eventually address what may have prompted the dropping of the 13th.

Several readers/residents found the name to be in poor taste upon the bar's arrival eight-plus years ago. The term 13th Step is used as a euphemism for inappropriate sexual advances by a member to a newcomer in AA. It means other things too.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The 13th Step loses the 13th on 2nd Avenue

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Thursday's parting shot

EVG reader Annabelle spotted this in Tompkins Square Park tonight ... will need to brush up on my owls of New York to ID...

[Updating] Snowvember pain: Multiple reports of trees down

There are reader reports of branches/trees down this evening on Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B (thanks Riian Kant-McCormick) ...

11th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C (thanks Brian P. Katz) ...

Another view (thanks Brucie!)...

Tompkins Square Park at the Avenue A/St. Mark's Place entrance (thanks Derek Berg) ...

Updated 6:08 p.m.

There's also a downed limb on Second Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street (thanks Alice Owen) ...

...and several branches down on St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...

Actually all of st marks is downed trees. pic.twitter.com/0jLBCxU1r5
— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) November 15, 2018

Updated 6:22 p.m.

Via Twitter, EVG readers have reported limbs down on Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C ... 10th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... and Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

Here's a report on the downed trees, still full of leaves, via NBC 4. ... The combination of the leaves with the wet, heavy snow was too much for some of trees.

Updated 6:49 p.m.

A report from 10th and C...

Snow brought down a massive branch of a tree across East 10 St. and Avenue C. Neighbors came out of their apartments and stores to help clear the street.@evgrieve @edenbrower #FirstSnow #snowday #nycsnow pic.twitter.com/84dfLcay8i
— Evan Kapitansky (@evan_kapitansky) November 15, 2018

Updated 6:51 p.m.

Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue (thank you Steven)...

Updated 6:53

EVG reader Helixx C. Armageddon shared this from Suffolk and Stanton ... the police officer on the scene said that three people were injured, though the severity of their injuries isn't known...