Commodities is under new ownership on 1st Avenue

Tipsters galore have shared the news that Commodities Natural Market at 165 First Ave. has a new owner, as the sign posted on the front door notes...



EVG correspondent Steven met the new owner, Ashok Patel ...



Patel said that the store's current healthy focus will remain, though its name will change to Commodities Health Foods in the near future.

Michael Hughes opened Commodities here between 10th Street and 11th Street in 1993. Hughes and his wife Audra opened an outpost in Vermont in 2015 (there are now two there). Leading up to that Vermont debut, Michael's brother Ed took over the East Village shop.

In any event, the arrival of new ownership will likely put to rest those persistent rumors that circulated last fall about the store closing, based in part on the under-stocked shelves... apparently patrons asked this question of the staff enough to lead to these signs at checkout ...


[Photo from last fall via Steven]

Meanwhile, no word on what the new owner has in mind for those wily sparrows that flew in a few months ago when the front doors were open for a delivery...



Employees have tried to shoo them out, but it hasn't worked.

H/T Linn, Bill, Daniel and dwg!

Wara looks to open in early February on 1st Avenue

As noted earlier last month, Wara, a Japanese izakaya restaurant and dinner theater, is coming soon to 67 First Ave. at Fourth Street.

The storefront now boasts some subtle Wara signage...



Wayne Yip, who owns Jebon Sushi at 15 St. Mark's Place and Clay Pot at 58 St. Mark's Place, is behind this venture.

Wara will include a Batsu theater, in which a comedy troupe takes part in slapstick challenges "to avoid electric shocks, paintballs, a giant egg-smashing chicken, and many more hilarious and jaw-dropping punishments!"

Jebon currently hosts the shows. According to the Batsu website, tickets purchased for dates after Feb. 8 will be at Wara.



The Korean cafe Space Mabi closed here without any notice to patrons in November after a year in business.

A Midwinter closing on 2nd Avenue

A quick closure to note outside the usual coverage area. An EVG tipster shares the news that Midwinter Kitchen closed after service on Sunday at 327 Second Ave. at 19th Street. The owners left this message for patrons on the restaurant's website:

We have had three formidable years here at Midwinter Kitchen. It has been such a privilege to bring our farm to table project to life in this community. Even more inspiring for us has been the experience of sharing the fruits of our labor with all of you. Your participation, appreciation and loyal patronage has been a true blessing to us.

Sadly the reality of a profoundly labor intensive farming and restaurant operation are at odds with the current economic climate and it is with a very heavy heart that we have decided that Midwinter Kitchen and Midwinter Farm will close their doors as of January 27, 2019.

The restaurant took its farm-to-table mission seriously, serving food from its very own Midwinter Farms in Ancram, N.Y.

Midwinter took over for Mezcla, a short-lived Latin bistro.

Before this, Capucine's Restaurant managed to stick around the address for 33 years before they were rent hiked in 2013.

Noted

Checking in on those sidewalk repairs on First Avenue near 10th Street ... just outside Gizmo...

Perfect!



Hopefully there was room left for you to leave your initials or foot prints...



Thanks to Steven for the photos!

La Plaza's temporary closure for new fencing postponed; farewell to the Winter Flowers

La Plaza Cultural, the community garden/green space on the southwest corner of Ninth Street and Avenue C, was expected to close to the public after this past Thursday.

However, word circulated yesterday that work on the installation of the new fence got pushed back by about a month due to a contract issue. For now, La Plaza will remain open to about Feb. 24.



As noted back in the fall, to accommodate the new fence, garden volunteers removed the Winter Flowers, the handmade sculptures that Rolando Politi created from recycled materials starting in 2000.

The sculptures, which numbered nearly 350, adorned the top of the fence along Ninth Street and Avenue C, and was one of the more unique public art installations in the neighborhood.

This photo is from the fall...



And back to the current state of La Plaza...





Politi published a book of his work titled "Winter Flowers" ... this flyer has more details...



You may email Politi here to order a copy.

Local residents and activists founded La Plaza in 1976. It was renamed in honor of Armando Perez, a community activist who was murdered in 1999, in 2003.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A fall day to remove the Winter Flowers from La Plaza Cultural

Ravi DeRossi plans vegan diner in former Bar Virage space

Ravi DeRossi is looking to expand his vegan empire with a new concept — the Dollface Diner.

The East Village-based restaurateur is on the February CB3-SLA committee docket (the meeting is Feb. 11) for a new liquor license for the former Bar Virage space on the northeast corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street.

To date, just the preliminary application is on file at the CB3 website, so there aren't many details yet on what to expect.

We reached out to DeRossi for more details on the concept, which was first mentioned during a #EatForThePlanet with Nil Zacharias podcast in the fall of 2017.

At that time, DeRossi described Dollface as a 24/7 vegan diner, a "family-friendly space" with pastries, ice cream, milk shakes and egg creams. (In the same podcast, he discussed plans to take this concept, along with Avant Garden Sandwich Co., a plant-based sub-sandwich shop, national.)

If the Dollface application gets approval, then this will make DeRossi's fourth establishment along Seventh Street, joining Ladybird, Fire & Water and Avant Garden.

Meanwhile, he's currently changing concepts at Cienfuegos, which is undergoing a revamp to a plant-based Texas BBQ joint called called Honeybee's at 95 Avenue A and Sixth Street.

Bar Virage closed in late December after 20-plus years in business. No reason was cited for the closure.

Photo by Steven

Construction fencing set for incoming condoplex at 14 2nd Ave.

Workers have set up construction camp at 14 Second Ave. between First Street and First Street Green Art Park ... the first signs of the condoplexing ahead for Treetops, the name of the 10-story residential building that will rise here...



New owner Daniel Vislocky (of development firm Station Companies) told Curbed last month that he "expects prices to be in the $2.8 million to $3.5 million range" for the building's units, where residents will have access to ground-floor storage and a gym.

Vislocky also said that he'd be working with a consultant to take the appropriate steps to remedy the Stop Work Orders dating to 2000 and 2009, which was long before he owned the property.

This site has been vacant for years, last housing Irreplaceable Artifacts. There's a lot of back story, which the links below cover...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Workers remove artifacts from the vacant 14 2nd Ave., fueling speculation of new development

Development watch: 14 2nd Ave.

Vacant lot at 14 2nd Ave. sells for $7 million; will yield to 10-floor condoplex

More about Treetops, the name of the condoplex coming to 14 2nd Ave.

Headed south: Mr. White has apparently closed on St. Mark's Place

Word is circulating that Mr. White, the upscale, New Orleans-themed restaurant at 123 St. Mark's Place, has closed ... a chain lock was on the front door when Mr. White was scheduled to be open on Saturday evening...



The restaurant's phone is out of service and its website is offline... Yelp reports that Mr. White has closed.

Mr. White opened last February here between Avenue A and First Avenue. The space was gutted and fitted to evoke a Southern mansion, complete with fireplace and velvet curtains. Menu items included chargrilled oysters, collard green spring rolls, smoked duck, shrimp and grits, and brûlée bananas.

The address was previously home to the Belgian Room, which the state seized for nonpayment of taxes in April 2015. The reconfigured Mr. White space also includes the former Ton-Up Cafe.

Spicy Moon brings vegetarian szechuan to 6th Street

Spicy Moon has been in soft-open mode since Jan. 17 here at 328 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue in the former Zen 6 space. (The owners of Zen 6, a ramen spot, are also behind Spicy Moon.)

Per the restaurant's Instagram: "Spicy Moon is 100% Vegan and 100% devoted to serving our guests the best #plantbased flavors in NYC."



You can check out their menu via Seamless here.

And Vegan NYC likes it so far...

Mi Casa Latina debuts on 14th Street

Mi Casa Latina is now open at 250 E. 14th St., just west of the Colonel on the corner of Second Avenue.

The sidewalk chalkboard signage touts quick-serve a.m. items like coffee and muffins for the commuting crowd... the menu includes a variety of fresh juices and bowls of açaí ... there are also steam tables with daily lunch specials such as the pork and rice for $10...



No. 250 previously housed PokéVillage, which closed in March 2018 after 16 months in business.

Previously.

Former Kingsley space now for rent

Kingsley went dark back in early September without any notice to patrons — at the restaurant or online — here at 190 Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street.

Someone emptied out the restaurant in late December, and the for rent signs arrived this past week, officially closing the book on Kingsley, which served "seasonal, local ingredients with a contemporary French-American menu," per its website.

Chef-owner chef Roxanne Spruance opened the space in December 2015, and received some attention given her past work in well-regarded kitchens such as Blue Hill and WD-50.

The restaurant took over the space from Back 40, which closed in December 2014 after seven years in business. Chef-owner Peter Hoffman told Eater that "a difficult landscape and lease uncertainty" led to the closure. Not sure if we ever moved past the "difficult landscape."

That was Life

In honor of the hoopla around Fox's live production of "Rent" tonight... here's a look in the EVG archives... Michael Sean Edwards took these photos outside Life Cafe, where Jonathan Larson spent time when he was writing the musical, in the weeks leading up to its closure in September 2011 after 30 years in service on 10th Street and Avenue B...








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