The morning sun

You may have noticed the red-ish/orange sun rising in the sky this morning ... (thanks to dwg for the photo below) ...

Lee Goldberg at ABC 7 explains:

A big ridge in the jet stream is transporting western wildfire smoke our way next couple of days. Most of the smoke is in the upper atmosphere and won't dramatically impact air quality, but the sky may look a little milky and the sunrise and sunset may be enhanced.

But why the red/orange? 

As we cut-n-paste from another TV station: "The smoke filters out shorter wavelengths of light, leaving mostly red and orange wavelengths to shine through and be seen by the naked human eye."

RIP Joe the tailor

Several readers have shared the sad news that Joe Ariyav, the longtime proprietor of Joe's Custom Tailors on 14th Street, has passed away. We hope to get some more details soon. 

The sign about Ariyav's death arrived last week on the storefront here between First Avenue and Second Avenue (H/T @brohattan). The notice instructs customers to call a number to retrieve any items that may be inside. 

We knew that Joe's had been around for years, but was surprised to read via Manhattan Sideways that the shop dates to 1965.

More details on 2 new fast-casual Indian restaurants from the owners of the Masalawala

Back on June 23, we reported that restaurateurs Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya of the Masalawala fame were opening a quick-serve establishment at 149 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. 

The restaurateurs, who also operate Adda and Dhamaka, apparently have big designs on fast-casual Indian food.

As the Times reports, Mazumdar and Pandya are opening two spots in the East Village.

The first of the team's fast-casual restaurants, the fried chicken-centric Rowdy Rooster, opens in August on First Avenue and Ninth Street. Mr. Pandya is studying the numerous Indian iterations of fried chicken, from pakoras to Chicken 65, a spicy snack that supposedly originated in a hotel in Chennai. 

A month later comes Kebabwala, on Second Avenue and Fifth Street, which will focus on classic kebab preparations like chicken tikka and seekh kebabs.

Kebabwala will be going into 82 Second Ave., which has seen several restaurants come and go through the years, including 7 Spices and Reyna Exotic Turkish Cuisine. The owners are expecting a fall opening.

As for 149 First Avenue, which will house Rowdy Rooster, the storefront has been vacant since Afandi Grill closed after 13 months in October 2019. And several years earlier, This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef roamed the space until March 2014.

In April, Mazumdar and Pandya decided not to renew the lease for the Masalawala, bringing an end to its 10-year run just below Houston at 179 Essex St., as Eater first reported. 

Photos by Steven

The Anthology Film Archives returns with in-person screenings on Aug. 5

Quick update to our last post... The Anthology Film Archives will start hosting in-person screenings again on Aug. 5.

The 51-year-old NYC institution on Second Avenue and Second Street is returning with a very Anthology-like screening... 

Anthology Film Archives marks its long-awaited post-pandemic reopening with a program that could only take place "in real life," projected theatrically and on film: our brand-new restoration of Paul Sharits's rarely screened early masterpiece, Razor Blades (1965-68). 

The latest in our ongoing series of restorations of Sharits's films, Razor Blades is a typically mind-bending, consciousness-expanding experiment in perception and a classic among "expanded cinema" works. 

By means of color combinations, the strobe-like flickering of the dueling projectors, a high-volume stereo soundscape, and single-frame imagery, it demonstrates the cinema's capacity for exploring the mysterious interaction between light, color, rhythm, eye, and mind. The double projection piece never exhibits precisely the same way, rendering every screening a unique experience.

Find more details about the reopening here. 

As previously noted, the Anthology has been showcasing its independent, experimental and avant-garde fare online since the start of the pandemic. 

Former Banco Popular space for rent on Houston and B

From the not breaking news department... the retail space at 310 E. Houston St. at Avenue B is for rent. 

The for-lease signs have been up since the spring, but the corresponding listing only just arrived online. 

This was the Banco Popular branch, which, per trends, shuttered in late January. 

According to the RIPCO listing, there are two available here — totaling nearly 4,000 square feet. 

Comments per the listing: 

• Space will be delivered in white-box condition 

• No food uses considered 

• Divisions considered 

And pricing is available upon request. 

What would you like to see here? Record store? Zine shop? Or we could bring back the Gaseteria, which closed here in 2005 when the lot was going condo...

Gaseteria pic via

Former bubble tea shop space for rent on 3rd Avenue

A for-rent sign arrived last week in the window at 110 Third Ave. between 13th Street and 14th Street, marking the official end of One Zo. 

The bubble tea brand from Taiwan debuted here last fall... and had been open as recently as late June.

While One Zo decided to close, several other bubble tea brands continue to try the neighborhood, including the April arrival of Gong Cha on St. Mark's Place... with Xing Fu Tang coming soon to the northwest corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

Monday's parting shot

New signage (as of yesterday) on the northwest corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place for New York City Gun Club (as seen around various rolldown gates in recent months).

Workers are actually fitting this storefront for a bubble tea shop. 

Photo today by Steven

Coming soon: Cutlets Sandwich Co. opening an outpost on 3rd Avenue

An outpost of Cutlets Sandwich Co. is coming soon to 99 Third Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street. 

The signage arrived here last week for the quick-serve sandwich maker specializing in chicken and eggplant cutlets ... this will be the third outpost for the growing company launched by Richard Zaro of Zaro's Family Bakery. (H/T Eater.) 

Cutlets started as a delivery-only service, with the first shop arriving on Broadway near 20th Street this past December. However, they closed that spot to open in a larger space on West 35th Street ... there's also a Cutlets by McCarren Park. 

Here's what Greenpointers had to say about Cutlets:

So what makes Cutlets stand out? The deli is committed to serving a better-for-you sandwich, meaning they exclusively serve unprocessed proteins, free from antibiotics, hormones and added sugars. Sandwiches are topped with seasonal vegetables and built between meticulously sourced breads and spreads. For full transparency, a full sourcing list of local producers and farms is listed on Cutlets' website.

You can find their menu here. 

This EV address was previously home to Thaimee Table.

Italian favorite Via Della Pace announces itself in new 4th Street home

The new home of Via Della Pace looks to be shaping up at 87 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. (You can see the VDP-branded awning here, for starters.)

As we noted in January, the owners were on the CB3-SLA docket for a new liquor license for this space.

The 17-year-old Italian restaurant lost its home during the devastating fire on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street in December 2020.

Via Della Pace had been closed since the previous fire on Feb. 10, 2020. At the time, the owners were unsure if they would ever reopen on Seventh Street. The fire last Dec. 5 took care of that, as workers had to demolish the five-floor building. (Giovanni Bartocci, the restaurant's co-owner and chef, was able to salvage the Via Della Pace sign, per an Instagram post.)

No word on a possible opening date.

This part of the storefront at 87 E. Fourth St. has been vacant since Cucina di Pesce closed in September 2018.  

The Lazy Llama Coffee Bar opens cafe in the First Park kiosk

The Lazy Llama Coffee Bar debuted an outpost in the First Park kiosk late last week. 

Llama@thePark is open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. ... (and directly across the street from its coffee shop at 72 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue). 

Aside from coffee drinks, the kiosk here outside the F stop is serving a variety of sandwiches, wraps, burgers, fried chicken, salads and more...

Mud Coffee had been in this space since the fall of 2013. However, Mud closed up here early last fall.

Who's NOT on tonight's CB3-SLA docket: Roberta's Pizza, Spiegel

CB's SLA committee meets tonight... as of now, five applicants will be appearing before the group. 

Meanwhile, several applicants are no longer on tonight's docket... including two of particular interest. One is Spiegel ... multiple tipsters told us at the start of the summer that the cafe is returning to its former home at 26 First Ave. at Second Street ...

Expect to see them another month as they apply for a new liquor license for the corner space. (They previously had a full liquor license until they closed at some point during the pandemic.) 

Also no longer on tonight's agenda — Roberta's Pizza.

As previously reported, 15 Avenue A between Houston and Second Street is undergoing a vertical expansion.

The new retail tenant was expected to be a wine bar from Bushwick-based pizzeria Roberta's.

Chef-owner Carlo Mirarchi told Grub Street in September 2019 that they were going to open what he called Roberta's Wine Bar.

However, nothing more was ever mentioned about the project, and it was unknown if those plans were moving forward. Obviously so with the application for a new liquor license. (The retail space at 15 Avenue A was previously the Family Dental Center, which moved down to Essex Street in 2017.)

Roberta's got its start in Bushwick in 2008. As Eater noted, Roberta's had been on an expansion kick, with openings in several food halls, and adding two locations in Los Angeles and one in Williamsburg ... not to mention its frozen pizza business ... and burger joint.

Aces Fine Food and Spirits in the works for 197 2nd Ave.

Tonight's CB3-SLA committee meeting includes an applicant vying for 197 Second Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street. 

According to the public documents on the CB3 website, applicant Michael Dollaway is proposing an establishment called Aces Fine Food and Spirits. The configuration for the cocktail lounge-restaurant features 12 tables for 36 guests as well as a 22-seat bar. 

Dollaway's bio posted with the questionnaire shows a background in management/ownership at several now-closed upscale spots, including Provocateur in the Meatpacking District and Lily Pond in East Hampton. 

No. 197 was most recently Black Emperor, which closed last August. Shoolbred's closed here in June 2017 after nearly 10 years in business. This address was Jade Mountain, home of the great Chow Mein sign, until 2007.

CB3's SLA committee meets tonight at the Public Hotel, 17th Floor, Sophia Room, 215 Chrystie St. between Houston and Stanton. The festivities start at 6:30.

Snack Bowery sets up shop on the Bowery

Updated 7/20: The shop is now open

Snack Bowery, giving off some "Rocky Horror" vibes with the lips logo, is coming soon to 324 Bowery just north of Bleecker. 

A look inside shows shelves with, well, snacks — a variety of candy, sodas, chips, popcorn, etc.  

You can found their website here. When they do debut, their posted hours are 1 p.m. to midnight daily.

The last tenant for this storefront was By Name, the cafe-gallery that closed during the pandemic.

Week in Grieview

Posts from this past week include (with a random photo outside Cafe Mogador on St. Mark's Place the other morning) ... 

• Police investigating the death of man on 1st Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Reports from CB3's public review of the Open Restaurants program (Thursday) 

• Kmart on Astor Place shutters after 25 years (Monday) Kmart tweetstorm (Thursday) A grocery store is on the way (Friday) 

• NYPD seeking duo who have burglarized 9 East Village businesses (Friday) 

• PJ O’Rourke regroups with a pop-up space on Broadway (Wednesday) 

• ❤️❤️ for Hash Halper (Sunday) 

• At WitchsFest USA — A Pagan Faire on Astor Place (Monday) 

• Report: David Bowie's former apartment sells on Lafayette (Tuesday)

• Christeene at the Parkside Lounge (Tuesday) 

• Local blog contributor tries the Kraft Mac-n-Cheese ice cream at Van Leeuwen (Thursday) 

• Green Land Gourmet Deli ready to debut on 10th Street and Avenue C (Thursday) 

• Pinc Louds release La Atómica, prepare for tour (Saturday) 

• El Rinconcito is on the move (Wednesday) 

• New office building bulks up on Houston (Monday) 

• Ideal Glass sign disappears on 2nd Street (Tuesday) 

• Prepping for "And Just Like That" on Avenue A (Friday) 

• Starbucks reduces its hours on Avenue A (Monday)

... and tonight and next Sunday, you can find a neon art installation by Patrick Nash Studio in the courtyard of 150 First Ave. at Ninth Street (PS122) ...

The poster for the event on St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue has an extra attraction listed for July 25... hijinks?

Vomitorium!

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