In case you were craving mac-n-cheese late nights or early mornings on the weekend

Staring tonight, S'MAC (aka Sarita's Mac & Cheese) is expanding its hours over at First Avenue and 12th Street.

Moving forward, they'll be open until 5 a.m. on weekends. Dine-in, takeout and delivery will all be available.

S'MAC moved to this corner space in the summer of 2017 after 11 years at 345 E. 12th St.

'Sweet' talk

Porridge Radio's new record, Every Bad, is out in March. The video here, released last week, is for "Sweet." The buzzy Brighton, U.K.-based quartet will be out at Elsewhere in Brooklyn on March 23.

EVG Etc.: Frank Prisinzano in the kitchen; Hal Hartley at the Metrograph

[Avenue A street scene]

• Enjoy this feature on chef Frank Prisinzano, whose EV restaurants include Frank, Lil’ Frankies, and Supper (Grub Street)

• A few more previews pieces on the new International Center of Photography that opens tomorrow down in Essex Crossing (The Art Newspaper ... The Wall Street Journal)

• MTA head Andy Byford resigns — for real this time (Politico) Reaction: (Gothamist ... amNY)

• About the mabo tofu ramen at the just-opened Sanpoutei on Second Avenue (Grub Street ... previously on EVG)

• A federal appeals court this week overturned part of Sheldon Silver’s conviction on public corruption charges (The Lo-Down)

• Rallying to save this lower Fifth Avenue building from demolition (Town & Village)

• Jonas Mekas’s debut film, "Guns of the Trees," has been restored and is getting a week-long theatrical premiere a year after his death (Anthology Film Archives)

• Metrograph giving the retrospective treatment to Hal Hartley (an EVG favorite from the early 1990s) with screenings of "The Unbelievable Truth," "Trust" and "Simple Men," among many others (Official site)

• Coverage of the five-alarm fire in Chinatown on Mulberry and Bayard last night (CBS New York ... NBC New York ... BoweryBoogie)

• Fairway going Chapter 11 after all (Bloomberg)

... and this Big Belly on Seventh and A has a future as a lending library...


[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]

City Council bill will make sure that your cash is good at all businesses

This has been a popular topic in the EVG comments: establishments that do not accept cash for payment, a discussion seen most recently when the credit/debit-card only Three Seat Espresso announced its closure on Avenue A.

This likely won't be an issue moving forward. City Council yesterday voted — 43-3 in favor of the bill — to require stores and restaurants in the five boroughs to accept cash for payment.

As Council members noted, businesses that accept only credit and debit cards are discriminating against residents who lack bank accounts and credit cards.

Enforcement details via the Associated Press:

Businesses that refuse cash will be fined $1,000 for the first violation and $1,500 after that. The measure, which is expected to go into effect by the end of the year, also prohibits stores from charging higher prices for paying in cash.

An excerpt from Gothamist:

"We in the Council have real concerns that an increasingly cashless marketplace could have a real-world discriminatory effect on the most vulnerable New Yorkers," said the bill's sponsor, Councilmember Ritchie Torres, in a phone interview. "There are some people, especially senior citizens...who prefer cash as a habitual method of payment. There are some who prefer cash because it's more predictable. Or they're concerned about privacy."

As Eater pointed out, this means that restaurant chains like Dos Toros and By Chloe and several establishments in the Union Square Hospitality Group (Daily Provisions at Union Square, for example) will have to start accepting cash.

The bill will go into effect nine months after Mayor de Blasio signs it into law. A spokesperson for the mayor told Gothamist that he supports the bill.

The artists will run Performance Space New York in 2020

[EVG file photo]

Leadership at Performance Space New York has announced a new, artist-run model for 2020 at the nonprofit arts organization on First Avenue and Ninth Street.

Here's part of the letter we received from choreographer Sarah Michelson and Executive Artistic Director Jenny Schlenzka that explains the yearlong project called 02020.

For the year of 2020 a group of NYC-based artists and collectives have been given the mandate to run the organization together with our staff, board and leadership. The artists have received keys to the spaces, have moved into our business offices, and will move into our theaters next month.

They have full transparency into the organization’s inner workings and full artistic control of our programming, including oversight of the website. Our total annual production budget is at the artists’ full disposal to pay themselves a wage and develop their programmatic platforms. The only requirement of their tenure is that the spaces must be utilized.

Shifting our model is shifting our future: toward new institutional structures, new coalitions, new partnerships, new priorities. We know artistic practice is changing, that the world is changing, and that we need to be ready to adjust. We are betting on an artist-recalibrated institutional mission as a catalyst for futurist art practice

The cohort of artists will announce their initial plans via the Performance Space New York website in the middle of February.

Last week, Performance Space New York (formerly P.S. 122), now entering its 40th year, unveiled a new partnership with the Keith Haring Foundation. Moving forward, their main space will be known as the Keith Haring Theatre.

[Updated] Picture this: Details on how you can be part of an East Village photo club

Updated 1/31

The Tompkins Square Library will be closed on Feb. 1 for repairs. So the meeting is taking place at the Ottendorfer branch, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. Same meeting time: 11 a.m.

--

Susan Schiffman is looking to start a photo club for interested East Village residents.

Schiffman, who has been photographing the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant, shared this overview:

I want to invite people who love to take photos to come together to meet, to share and to talk about photos they have taken or seen or projects they are thinking about starting. Maybe we can put a show together.

We have a space to meet once a month at the Tompkins Square Library. It would be great if you could stop by and join the conversation about photography.

Please let me know if you are interested or have any questions. You may email me here.

We will meet the first Saturday of the month from 11 a.m. to noon. The first meeting is Saturday, Feb. 1. If you would like to share your photos, then please bring prints or photos on a usb drive.

You may catch up on Susan's posts for EVG here. She was also featured in The New Yorker this past summer.

A new East Village home for Social Tees

Social Tees Animal Rescue has secured a new space in the East Village — on Ninth Street just west of Avenue A.

Management of the 501c3 nonprofit animal rescue received the keys to their new home base last week.

Here's part of their message to us:

"We are so excited to make this a fun gathering spot for the community! It’s just an office so no animals will be onsite — all are in foster homes. We hope to do weekly and monthly events open to the public, and we’d love neighbors to stop in to say hi when we’re open."

No word on those office hours just yet.

Social Tees is also under new leadership: currently directors Samantha Brody and Marisa Adler with manager Julie Ainsbury.

They had been on the lookout for new space since moving out of their storefront on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue this past September.

Social Tees has had several storefronts in the East Village, including on Fourth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue and Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. They moved into the former Gimme Gimme Records space in early 2013.

Their new office is in one of Icon Realty's storefronts along 441-445 E. Ninth St. (aka 145 Avenue A), whose newish retail tenants mostly vacated last year.

Despite the retail turnover in Icon properties, Social Tees management said that they are "are in a much safer lease now," thanks to their team of pro-bono lawyers. Social Tees was previously in a challenging situation in a space taken over by Steve Croman.

Former Crooked Tree transforming into Isabella on St. Mark's Place

The new restaurant venture for the former Crooked Tree space on St. Mark's Place is called Isabella... we had a recent lettering reveal on the front door here between Avenue A and First Avenue ...



Isabella — Dine In • Take Out • Delivery.

There's also a placeholder website for Isabella, whose url includes the words Italian NYC. There isn't any other info on the site — aside from "coming soon."

After 20 years of serving up crêpes and other cafe fare at 110 St. Mark's Place, Crooked Tree closed last February.

The owners of David's Cafe right next door were on the February 2019 CB3-SLA agenda for a new liquor license for this space. (Crooked Tree owner Daniel Rivera is also a partner in David's Cafe.) The questionnaire on file at the CB3 website (PDF here) didn't contain too many revealing details about what was taking over the space. Hopefully we'll know more soon enough.

H/T Steven for the photos!

Sanpoutei Gyoza & Ramen debuts this evening on 2nd Avenue

Sanpoutei Gyoza & Ramen is having its grand opening today at 92 Second Ave. between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

As we've pointed out, this launch has been a long time in the making. In the fall of 2018, CB3 OK'd a beer-wine license (they were originally seeking full liquor) for the Sanpou Group, which operates 30 restaurants worldwide, including Sanpoutei Ramen, which started in Niigata, Japan, in 1967.

Reviews of the restaurant note that "Sanpoutei is defined by its authentic Niigata-style ramen, a shoyu-ramen in a clear fish stock-based broth."

A preview at The Daily Meal notes that "its signature ramen is made with a niboshi dashi (dried baby sardines). Other dishes will include handmade gyoza, edamame with Sichuan peppercorn, dake drunken chicken and mapo ramen."

The doors open today at 5 p.m. Their hours are 5-10:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; until midnight Friday and Saturday. A lunch service starts on Tuesday. You can find their menu at this link.

Sanpoutei joins a competitive ramen market in the East Village. Other recent-ish arrivals include Tatsu Ramen on First Avenue ... and TabeTomo on Avenue A.

Kabin Bar & Lounge closed in March 2015 at this address. While there were a few potential suitors, the storefront remained empty until the build-out for Sanpoutei Gyoza & Ramen began last year.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• The first sign of Japanese ramen shop Sanpoutei arrives at former Kabin space on 2nd Avenue

Evening Dew Spa rides off into the sunset on 9th Street

[Photo by Steven]

A for rent sign arrived on Tuesday outside the Evening Dew Spa (aka Skyline Spa) on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... presumably bringing an end to this 24-hour spa that provided a variety of spa services, and not just in the evening, per its website...



H/T SM!

Wednesday's parting shot

Happy early Valentine's Day from Union Square ... photo by Derek Berg.

Construction watch: 799 Broadway

[Photo from Saturday]

Workers are starting on the fourth floor of the incoming 12-story zig-zagging office complex on the southwest corner of Broadway at 11th Street.

The address was the former home of the recently demolished St. Denis building. Normandy Real Estate Partners bought the property for somewhere in the $100 million ballpark back in 2016.

According to a news release about the address: "799 Broadway will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, private terraces, and 15 foot high ceilings. This combination of highly desirable location and state-of-the-art design will appeal to New York’s most progressive and creative companies."

And (previously revealed) renderings of the new building via architects Perkins and Will ...





The official site for 799 Broadway is at this link.

This is the type of new development of concern to preservationists, who say this out-of-scale construction is a threat to the area south of Union Square, where other new development includes 809 Broadway.

This morning, the City Planning Commission holds a public hearing on the proposed hotel special permit requirement for Greenwich Village and the East Village south of Union Square.

Per the Village Preservation:

The Mayor’s campaign donors and supporters are real beneficiaries are of this plan, which does nothing to fulfill promises to protect these neighborhoods in the wake of increased development pressure from the City Council’s approval of the upzoning for the Mayor’s 14th Street Tech Hub [in August 2018].

As for the southwest corner of Broadway and 11th Street: The former St. Denis building, which was 165 years old, was noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers. (For more history, Jeremiah Moss, who once had an office in the St. Denis, wrote this feature titled "The Death and Life of a Great American Building" for The New York Review of Books in March 2018.)

However, the building was not landmarked... and it is not in a Historic District.


[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Report: Former St. Denis Hotel selling for $100 million

Report: Half of the units in Raphael Toledano's former East Village portfolio remain vacant

Nearly three years have passed since Silverstone Properties, a subsidiary of Madison Realty Capital (MRC), took control of disgraced landlord Raphael Toledano's 15-building portfolio in the East Village.

As The Real Deal reported yesterday, due to drawn-out court proceedings, a bankruptcy plan has yet to be executed for the buildings. According to Met Council, a tenants’ rights group, half of the 279 units have been “warehoused” since 2016. Per TRD: "The portfolio includes 226 rent-stabilized apartments, according to tax filings."

This past December, Tenants Taking Control — the group formerly known as the Toledano Tenants Coalition — reported that there were 136 vacant apartments across the 15-building portfolio. At the time, the group called on MRC to sell the 15 buildings to a nonprofit preservation buyer.

In comments to TRD, an MRC spokesperson blamed Toledano for the delay, saying, “The owner of the properties demolished the vacant units a few years ago and therefore the vacant units are not habitable at this time.” She said that Madison still does not own the properties despite the foreclosure in 2017.

In June 2019, Attorney General Letitia James announced a settlement with Toledano to put an end to his harassment of tenants and to prevent him from engaging in speculative real-estate deals designed to profit by violating New York’s rent-stabilization laws.

The AG's investigation established that Toledano engaged in a pattern of fraudulent and illegal conduct throughout his work as a landlord and real-estate developer. He harassed tenants through coercive buyouts, illegal construction practices and failed to provide his rent-regulated tenants with utilities, repairs and other necessary services, according to the AG's office.

Toledano had received $124 million in cash and lines of credit from MRC to finance his $97 million purchase of the buildings.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Tenants call out Madison Realty Capital: Stop warehousing rent-regulated apartments

• Report: Raphael Toledano files for Chapter 11; $145 million deal for EV portfolio is off the table

Police looking for 5 suspects in robbery inside building near 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

The NYPD is looking for five individuals wanted in a late-night robbery inside a building near Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

Police officials shared this info yesterday as well as the above images of three of the suspects...

The New York City Police Department is asking for the public's assistance in identifying the individuals depicted in the above photos wanted for questioning in connection to a robbery that occurred within the confines of the 9th Precinct. Details are as follows:

It was reported to police that on Thursday, Jan. 9, at approximately 12:30 a.m., at a residential building in the vicinity of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, five individuals followed the 23-year-old male victim to the second floor of the building and demanded his property.

One of the individuals lifted his shirt to reveal a handgun in his waistband. The victim complied and the individuals fled the building in an unknown direction with a wallet containing multiple bank/credit cards. There were no injuries reported as a result of this incident.

The NYPD report did not include any descriptions of the suspects.

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. All calls are strictly confidential.