Checking in on Blanche’s Lucy’s Tavern

Blanche’s Lucy’s Tavern — aka Lucy’s — reopened back on May 30 for take-home drinks here at 135 Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. However, she went on a short hiatus this past week, and returns today at 4.

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

“What’s behind this door?” I ask Ludwika “Lucy” Mickevicius and her bartender Gary Johnson. “The basement,” I am told, “it used to be part of an ice cream shop. Do you want to take a look?”

Do I ever! It’s Friday night, and I’m inside Blanche’s Lucy’s Tavern — colloquially known as Lucy’s — to take a few photos of Lucy and her bartender/helpers as well as the space, most of which is dark and empty due to the COVID-19-related closures.

Lucy’s is selling drinks to go from a flower- and American-flag-decorated table in the doorway, and a sign detailing the beer varieties available, including Polish brew Żywiec.



We climb down the steps to explore the basement, with Gary pointing out the taps and wiring as well as specialty bottles and supplies. I’m fascinated with the space and we both remark on the lack of any broken glass. We squeeze our way upstairs through the stockroom (no easy feat as it’s piled high with beer!) and out into the bar pausing to look at the covered-up pool tables and darkened jukebox.













I’m not a drinker, so it’s with a bit of shame-faced embarrassment I ask for some water, but Lucy hospitably mentions she doesn’t drink either and we enjoy some coconut water, sitting so far apart from one another it’s hard to communicate or hear one another from under our masks.

We chat for a bit about the future of bars in NYC, and what socially distant pool games might look like. Lucy’s concerned about paying the rent, and about safely attracting clientele during the pandemic. She rings up my icy coconut water order on an old-fashioned cash register, and I step outside to see if anyone has purchased any beer from Walter Zoeller, a retired firefighter, and today, Lucy’s assistant.

It had the feel of a summer’s day when I stepped into Lucy’s, humid and hot, swampy behind my mask, but while I was inside a brief rainstorm had occurred and when I left the sun was shining but the temperature had dropped and so had the humidity. The four of us looked to the skies in search of a rainbow, which I am sure is some sort of metaphor.

Lucy’s is open from 4 to 10 p.m.

About Book Swap Saturday on 10th Street

While the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street may be temporarily closed, you still have a chance to fetch some books from the sidewalk outside.

Some East Village residents started a free book swap last Saturday outside the branch between Avenue A and Avenue B. They plan on doing it again tomorrow (Saturday!) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (To be clear, the library isn't involved in this swap.)

Via the EVG inbox:

Let's share our used books to help us get through this pandemic together. Leave some and take others.

Thanks for making the last one such a wonderful success. There were so many donations that East Villagers were still browsing books into the next day — late Sunday afternoon!

Nomad, the great restaurant on 2nd Avenue that has everything but the interest of food writers

[Photo Tuesday by Stacie Joy]

Back on Monday, we noted that owner Mehenni Zebentout is now offering menu items from the now-closed Cucina di Pesce at Nomad, his restaurant at 78 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.

On Tuesday, journalist Richard Morgan filed a long read on Nomad for Heated titled "This Algerian Restaurant Has Everything Diners Want."

Nomad is a highly visible yet under-appreciated gem along Second Avenue. Per Morgan:

Nomad is indeed a joyful dining paradox, offering the platonic ideal of a great night out to a city that refuses to acknowledge its existence in one of Manhattan’s most-trafficked neighborhoods. It is not just everything diners say they want — affordable, authentic, delicious, unique, romantic, and generally a resonant moment of redemptive gastrodiplomacy — but also everything food writers and editors say they know like the backs of their hands.

As Morgan points out, the restaurant has barely even registered among the city's food writers and restaurant blogs.

Even in the shadows of the glutterati’s attention, Nomad radiates a defiant truth: It is the coolest, tastiest, truest restaurant that New York’s galloping gourmands have no interest in letting anyone know about (if they themselves even know about it at all).

So what gives?

“I tell clients that what I can do is get people to have one meal at your place,” said a longtime restaurant publicist who requested anonymity in exchange for candor. “Even if Pete Wells writes about it — that Albanian place in the Bronx, that Sichuan place in Flushing — how busy are those places today? More than ever, restaurants have maybe six months from opening — operating on all cylinders, all the bells and whistles — to establish themselves in the conversation. Other than that — or even if they do accomplish that — they slip into the void of the forgotten. Nobody wants to eat in Siberia and that’s what these great restaurants end up serving: Siberian cuisine.”

You can read the full piece right here.

For those who survived remote learning

After three-plus months of remote learning, an East Village family decided to celebrate — and to raise money for local PTAs.

East Village parent Viktoria Krane, who has a 6 and 8 year old, launched Project PTA, offering "I Survived Remote Learning Class of 2020" T-shirts and mugs.

Per the Project PTA site:

This is our side project with an ambitious objective to learn about entrepreneurship, community engagement and applied math. And of course, have fun!

For every purchase, $10 of the sales goes to the buyer's PTA of choice.

You can find Project PTA at this link.

Thursday's parting shot

First Avenue and Seventh Street today via Derek Berg...

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around — and above! — the neighborhood.

A second look at Phase II dining in the East Village

[Casa Adela, Avenue C]

Phase 2 is in full swing, with bars and restaurants with the proper permits OK'd to serve food and drinks on newly created sidewalk and street spaces. (Dining inside is still off limits.)

We looked at a few of the outdoor dining options Tuesday... EVG contributor Stacie Joy checked out more of the newly deputized open spaces around the neighborhood, from cafes adding a table or two out front to artificial turf on the street ...


[Lavagna, 5th Street]


[Nowon, 6th Street]


[B&H Dairy, 2nd Avenue]


[Kafana, Avenue C]


[Takahachi, Avenue A]


[Lower East Side Coffee Shop, 14th Street]


[Khiladi, Avenue B at 11th Street]


[Il Posto Accanto, 2nd Street]


[Cortadito, 3rd Street]


[Supper, 2nd Street]


[KC Gourmet Empanadas, Avenue B]


[Hibachi Express Dumplings, 14th Street]


[Au Za’atar, Avenue A at 12th Street]


[San Loco, Avenue C]


[Buenos Aires, 6th Street]


[Gnocco, above and below, 10th Street]




[C&B Cafe, 7th Street]


[Westville East, Avenue A at 11th Street]


[Desi Galli, Avenue B]


[Lil' Frankie's, 1st Avenue]


[Veselka, 2nd Avenue at 9th Street]

A moment in the sunrise

Two views of this morning's sun show... top photo looking toward the Con Ed building on 14th Street is from Jeanne Krier... and the below shot is toward the Christodora House on Avenue B...



And some have claimed to see a face in the clouds...

Activity at the former Eleven Consignment Boutique

There was activity yesterday inside Eleven Consignment Boutique on First Avenue and 11th Street... site of a long legal battle between former business partners and owners.

The high-end used clothing and accessories store shuttered without any warning some time in late November or early December, angering customers who had items for sale inside. (Ditto for the Park Slope location.)

Someone said to be a court-appointed receiver was inside the still-stocked EV shop yesterday, continuing the claims procedure process. (This after apparently kicking in the front glass?)


[Photo yesterday by Lola Saénz]



As the Post reported in early January, a lawsuit among partners was 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 [2019].

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.

By the looks of it, that court-appointed receiver is on the job.

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

Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen is open this summer

[File photo by Stacie Joy]

With all the attention on the Phase 2 outdoor dining at the moment... a quick note about Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen.

The no-frills (in a good way!) basement cafe, which generates income for the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church on Seventh Street, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for takeout.

Check out Streecha's Instagram account for ordering details...

View this post on Instagram

Streecha is back!🥳 Now we are open for takeout. Tuesday - Saturday Ukrainian favorites as well as our lunch specials. Request lunch special menu and order by texting 914 413 9774 or message us here.

A post shared by Streecha🇺🇦Ukrainian kitchen NY (@streecha) on Jun 22, 2020 at 5:27pm PDT

Streecha is at 33 E. Seventh St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on 7th Street

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo in Tompkins Square Park today by Derek Berg...

EVG Etc.: Primary results; fireworks crackdown

[On the Bowery]

• Preliminary results from the 2020 NY Primary (Gothamist)

• State's takeout cocktail law expires this weekend, causing more worry for bars-restaurants (Eater)

• Mayor turns alternate-side parking into a once-a-week affair (Streetsblog)

• City cracking down on illegal fireworks (ABC 7)

• Speaking of ...: Details on this year's Macy's July 4 Fireworks Show (NBC 4)

• NYC's rent-stabilized apartments receive one-year rent freeze (Curbed)

... and earlier this month, the Post reported that Avraham Adler, who had been accused of hosting sex parties in a townhouse rental on Seventh Street, had been charged with assaulting his girlfriend and taken into custody. (Previously on EVG.)

Over the weekend, neighbors here between Avenue B and Avenue C saw people removing furniture from the house, packed up in both a rental truck and dumpster (h/t Dave on 7th!)...

Checking in on Anwar Grocery

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

Anwar Hossein has owned and operated the Anwar Grocery, 106 Avenue B, since 2005.



He and his family live upstairs here between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. Hossein previously owned two other stores in the neighborhood — A&H Grocery at 204 Avenue A and Ahn Newsstand and Candy store at 500 E. 12th St., both long shuttered.

Hossein says that things are difficult for the shop right now, that the lease expired this past December and that they’ve been in court with the landlord, all of which is on hold due to COVID-19-related closures. He and his family hope that they are able to hold onto the store.

We recently took a look at the grocery after it was burglarized in early June during a rash of overnight break-ins. He has also reported at least one daytime robbery since then. He stresses that things are getting bad again, he says, like they used to be.

He shows me the paperwork from when he was shot twice at his other grocery. (Surgeons had to amputate his pinky toe after a bullet shattered it during a robbery.)



The old-school-style shop has some unusual selections for your shopping needs, such as DVD copies of a Nickelback concert, blank TDK cassette tapes and VHS videotapes.

If you dig, you can also find religious amulets, sombreros, school supplies plus the usual selections of refreshments. The times I visited, Bollywood was on repeat on the TV up front. Anwar's is definitely the last of its kind in this neighborhood, and well worth a visit...