Jiang Diner opening a second East Village outpost

Jiang Diner, which has become a hit since opening last spring at 309 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, is opening a second outpost that debuts tomorrow (Jan. 7).

The Diner, which offers Northwestern Chinese cuisine, including the popular Xinjiang big plate chicken, is moving around the corner to 104 Second Ave. The current location will become a quick-serve establishment. A note for patrons on Fifth Street offers an explanation...

In order to serve a more extensive variety of Northwestern Chinese food to our valued customers, Jiang Diner is moving to a new location in the East Village at 104 2nd Ave. with a better equipped kitchen on Jan. 7, 2020.

We will serve new fast-service Chinese inspired dishes such as wonton, noodles, and congees at this location. We kindly welcome you to stop by both of our locations to explore the electric taste of Chinese cuisine!

So, 104 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street was Hot Kitchen. As we've noted, the Sichuan specialists went from serving terrific food to a more pedestrian hotpot.

At the beginning of December, the restaurant started 0ffering Japanese cuisine under the name Sushi & Sake ... and by this past weekend, the place was closed...


[Photo Saturday by Steven]

According to the Times back in August, Tao An, the owner of Jiang Diner, was also behind Hot Kitchen:

He also owns the nearby Hot Kitchen, a Sichuan restaurant, but the proliferation of Sichuan spots in downtown Manhattan has meant tougher competition and difficulty retaining chefs, Mr. An said. Jiang Diner began as a way for him to serve the Xinjiang-style food he loved as a young man growing up in Beijing, and to offer the neighborhood a different option.

It's not known at the moment who was running the Japanese restaurant in the Hot Kitchen space these past few weeks.

In any event, as of yesterday, Jiang Diner signage is now outside No. 104 ...


[Photo by Steven]

... as is a variation of the sign from Fifth Street...



H/T to Eden and Steven!

L-train construction fence finally comes down on 14th Street — 3 weeks after the Associated closed

[Obscured view of the former Associated from Dec. 14]

The Associated Supermarket on 14th Street in Stuy Town closed in mid-December.

Joseph Falzon, the store’s owner, previously told Crain's that a confluence of factors had cut business nearly in half. For starters, construction on 14th Street for the L-train upgrades obscured the single-level storefront with a 12-foot fence these past two-plus years.

Now, roughly three weeks after the store closed, workers removed that fence from the north side of 14th Street ... offering unobstructed views of the now-shuttered supermarket...







The corner of 14th Street and Avenue A has served as the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction dating back to July 2017.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Trees coming down for L train expansion on 14th Street

Pizza pocket purveyors I Love Panzerotti coming to St. Mark's Place

I Love Panzerotti is opening an outpost at 130 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. The signage arrived back on Friday. (Thanks to Nick Solares for the photo!)

I Love Panzerotti is a growing chainlet — the first one opened in April 2019 down on Varick — that specializes in panzerotti, a fried dough pocket popular in Italy that's filled with mozzarella and tomato sauce or any other combo of ingredients.

Eater critic Robert Sietsema likes them. He had this to say about the Varick spot:

At $7 to $9 each, one is probably enough ... I was intrigued by the mortadella and mozzarella filling, and a companion enjoyed the artichoke hearts, which also came with spinach inside. Indeed, the number of vegetarian options is one of the pluses of this place, and among those, the classico (mozzarella and tomato, with a marinara dipping sauce) is one of the best.

The St. Mark's location has also applied for a beer-wine license.

Tramonti Pizza closed at this address in late November ahead of a move to a larger location on Fifth Avenue and 28th Street.

The pre-Tramonti tenants were also pizzerias — (Via Della Pace Pizza and Falanghina Pizza Bar). Whole Earth Bakery held forth for 20-plus years at this address until December 2012.

Space 194 has closed on 1st Avenue

[Photo by Steven]

Space 194 is now officially closed. There wasn't any public notice — via a sign or an Instagram post — from ownership about the closing.

On Dec. 27, we mentioned the for rent sign that arrived on the door here at 194 First Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street. The hybrid tea-coffee shop-gallery opened in December 2018.

Meanwhile, as we also noted on Dec. 27, Koko Wings, which specializes in Korean fried chicken, is now open right next door. This is Koko's second NYC outpost.

The address was previously the Neptune, the Polish-American diner shut down in December 2016 after 15 years in business. According to one source, the rent doubled.

After Neptune's departure, the landlord divided up the restaurant into two retail storefronts. Chelsea Thai gave it a try for five months in the space that Koko now occupies. Upon closing last January, Chelsea Thai founder-chef Saruj Nimkarn said that there wasn't enough business here for him to make the rent. He had been in the Chelsea Market for 21 years.

What time does the new East Village Trader Joe's open today?

[Photo from Saturday]

At 8 a.m., per the signage here at 436 E. 14th St. just west of Avenue A (or via our post from Friday) ...


[Photo by Mr. Baggs]

This location is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

We'll likely have quickie reader reactions to the new space... we also plan to do something about the art in the store, which was created by East Village-based illustrator Peter Arkle.

This TJ's location is in the retail space of the newish 8-story luxury rental called EVE. This development is on the site of the onetime Peter Stuyvesant Post Office (1951-2014).

Several readers said that the Peter Stuyvesant PO was elsewhere on this block between Avenue A and First Avenue. You can check out our extensive archives on the demolition of the post office to make way for this development at the links below.

The USPS has been leasing the former Duane Reade at 333 E. 14th St. for retail services these past six years.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Today in rants: the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office

• Meanwhile, at everyone's favorite local post office branch...

• UPDATED: Did you hear the rumor about the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch closing?

• Former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office slated to be demolished

• The former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office will yield to an 8-story residential building

• New residential building at former 14th Street PO will feature a quiet lounge, private dining room

• Developer withdraws zoning variance request for former 14th Street post office site

• The Peter Stuyvesant-PO-replacing residential building tops out on 14th Street

• All about EVE, the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office-replacing rentals on 14th Street

• EVErything about the new luxury rentals at the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office


[Photo by Gian G. via Yelp]

Week in Grieview

[2nd Avenue F stop. Art by @CityKitty]

Posts from this past holiday week included...

• Remembering a few of our friends and neighbors who died in 2019 (Tuesday)

• Leslie Feinberg on why Prohibition Bakery closed after 8 years on the Lower East Side (Thursday)

• Eleven Consignment Boutique closes, leaving customers without their resale items (Monday)

• An afternoon with Cáit O’Riordan (Tuesday)

• The most-read EVG posts from the past decade (Tuesday)

• Tree Bistro has closed (Monday)

• Have you seen the former Coffee Shop space on Union Square? (Monday)

• Mi Tea currently closed for renovations on St. Mark's Place (Thursday)

• The new East Village Trader Joe's opens on Monday (Friday)

• gathering days by peter radley (Wednesday)

• Where are they now? Hells Angels edition (Thursday)

• 2020 development watch: 75 1st Ave. (Friday)

• Watch the NYPD drive against traffic and in the bike lane on Avenue A (Friday)

• A 2020 look at 24 2nd Ave., now with a high-end Mathieu Lehanneur showroom (Thursday)

• A for rent sign at the Smoke & Beer shop on Avenue A (Monday)

• DOH temporarily closes Mighty Quinn's on 2nd Avenue (Monday)

... and a new mural on Second Street at First Avenue via ... @Winniemmay ...



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The legal battle behind the closing of Eleven Consignment Boutique

As previously reported, Eleven Consignment Boutique closed on First Avenue and 11th Street some time in late November or early December, angering customers who had items for sale inside.

The Park Slope outpost of the high-end used clothing and accessories store also shuttered without any warning, per Bklyner.

As the Post reports today, a lawsuit among partners is to blame for the sudden closure.

Elizabeth Murphy, who ran the business with her husband Ben Malik Marambiri, said they were forced to turn it over to former partners, Kisito Mone and Romeo Hien, after years of litigation, which included allegations of breach of contract and misappropriation of money, finally ended in June.

Murphy says Mone didn’t want to put in the work to run the businesses.

And Mone's reaction?

Mone denied the business was turned over to him, although he said he returned the keys to Murphy and Karambiri’s new lawyer, Rania Sedhom.

Sedhom said she gave the keys to a representative of the court-appointed receiver who was named to oversee the stores’ assets.

The receiver, Steven Mitnick told The Post that those seeking their goods could call his associate Marc Miceli at 908-572-7275. He refused to provide any further information.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Eleven Consignment Boutique closes, leaving customers without their resale items

Saturday's parting shot

Following the #NoWarInIran rally in Times Square today... photo on Second Avenue via Derek Berg...

Chip shots: Day 1 highlights of the MulchFest

The first holiday day of obligation of 2020 — #MulchFest.

These photos from Tompkins Square Park are via EVG correspondent Steven...







... and you can take as mulch as you want for flower beds, tree wells, paleo pancakes, etc. ...



Back at it next Saturday (Jan. 11!) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Day 1 of MulchFest promises to be a tree for all

[Reader photo from Wednesday]

Let the puns chipping commence! Today marks the first of two Chipping Saturdays this month in Tompkins Square Park.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today and then again next Saturday (Jan. 11!), park workers will be mulching up the Christmas trees that residents have dropped off in the Park. You can even take a little mulch with you.

Per the Parks Dept. website: "We'll chip your tree and give you your very own bag of mulch to use in your backyard or to make a winter bed for a street tree."

Meanwhile, we need a tow truck to get this one over to be mulched... spotted this morning on 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

Into the 'Void'

There Is No Year, the new record from the Atlanta-based Algiers, is out on Jan. 17. The video here is for the track "Void."

The new East Village Trader Joe's opens on Monday

The Trader Joe's opens Monday morning at 8 here at 436 E. 14th St. just west of Avenue A... EVG regular Greg Masters snapped these shots yesterday (thanks also to Gojira for a heads up) ...



An EVG tipster told us in early November that Jan. 6 was to be the opening day.

EVG reader Mr. Baggs also shared photos... new employees are on the scene...



Industry pub Grocery Dive had a few more details about this TJ's:

It features local artwork and is headed by a "store captain" with 14 years of experience with the company. This will be Trader Joe's ninth location in New York City and its second in the East Village neighborhood.

This TJ's boasts 8,531 square feet of ground-floor space with 14,170 square feet on a lower level.

This is the final step in the long evolution (first reported in May 2017!) of the new EV TJ's, just a few blocks from the Union Square outpost that opened in 2006.

The location is in the retail space of the newish 8-story luxury rental called EVE. This development is on the site of the onetime Peter Stuyvesant Post Office (1951-2014).

P.S.

According to Grocery Dive, Trader Joe's has not indicated any plans to reinstate the home-delivery service that it discontinued last March.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Trader Joe's finally confirms that a Trader Joe's is opening on 14th Street at Avenue A

• All about EVE, the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office-replacing rentals on 14th Street

• Claim: A Trader Joe's won't be coming to new development at 14th and A after all

• Trader Joe's: No current plans for grocery at 432-438 E. 14th St.

• Looks like there's a Trader Joe's coming to 432-438 E. 14th St. after all