New awning alert at Via Della Pace's new 4th Street home

Photo by Derek Berg

ICYMI: Via Della Pace is reopening in a new space at 87 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. And now the awning is in place.

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 an opening date.

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

Beard Papa's still bringing the cream puffs to St. Mark's Place

Coming-soon signage for Beard Papa's is now up in the window on the second floor of 11 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

Last fall, public records showed that Beard Papa's — a 2000s-era chain that sells cream puffs — would be the new tenant across the street at 16 St. Mark's Place, the former St. Marks Babrshop that moved around the corner (and changed names). No. 16 is now the Home Town Village Convenience Store, which moved here from next door. (All this will be on the midterm.) 

Anyway!

Beard Papa's got its start in Japan in 1999, and now has 400 locations in 15 countries... and there are already several outposts in NYC. Look for a fall 2021 opening here.

Coming soon: City Clouds, Kumon, GlossLab

A few new coming-soon businesses to note... 

• City Clouds, 120 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

A convenience store/smoke shop is in the works for this long-vacant space. Turntable Lab, who moved away from here in November 2016, was the last tenant.

• Kumon, 99 Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street 

This will be the latest NYC location for the educational center that offers afterschool math and reading programs. East Side Ink moved from this space one storefront to the south in early 2017.

• GlossLab, 68 Bleecker St. between Broadway and Crosby

The fast-growing membership-based nail studio is opening in the former Café Angelique space.

The Brant Foundation debuts its next show, Julian Schnabel's 'Self-Portraits of Others'

Starting tomorrow, the Brant Foundation debuts its next show, "Self-Portraits of Others," a solo exhibition of new works by Julian Schnabel. 

Per the Brant website:

Created between 2018 – 2020, this series explores the evolution of Schnabel's artistic practice while making "At Eternity's Gate," a film about the life of Vincent van Gogh. The exhibition features 25 plate paintings that examine the theme of portraiture throughout art history.

Some details... the exhibit is open to visitors, free of charge. Advance tickets will not be required and walk-ins are welcome during open hours:

Wednesday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Thursday: 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Friday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Saturday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Proof of a COVID-19 vaccination is required to enter.

"Self-Portraits of Others," up through December, is the third exhibition to be held at the Brant Foundation 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

In its first, from March to May 2019, the Brant Foundation featured an exhibit by Jean-Michel Basquiat, some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion. Brant later extended the show by a few weeks.

The Brant Foundation features 7,000 square feet of exhibition space over four floors. Brant bought the building — a former Con Edison substation and Walter de Maria studio — for $27 million in August 2014.

Brant had said the space would host two exhibitions open to the public each year. 

[Updated] Jackhammers in tow, city workers investigate the Mystery Puddle of Avenue A

Uh-oh! There just might be something to that Mystery Puddle in the southbound lane of Avenue A at Sixth Street. 

Goggla reports that jackhammer-toting city crews are currently on the scene digging a hole under the East Spillage. (H/T Ade!) 

Hopefully, whatever the workers find won't lead to months of excavation and metal street plates like we've seen on Seventh Street and First Avenue. 

For now, though (brace), we may have seen the last of the Sixth Street Seaport. (H/T Molly!)

Updated 6 p.m. 

Work appears to be done for the day...

Should only have about another 4-5 months of work left here!

The 9th annual MoRUS Film Festival arrives in community gardens tomorrow evening

The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) on Avenue C is once again hosting its end-of-summer tradition — its annual film fest, a four-evening event titled "Steal This City: NYC Urban Occupations on Film" that starts tomorrow evening in local community gardens.

For its ninth iteration, MoRUS teamed up with the Loisaida Center, with additional support from ABC No Rio, to present the curated collection of films and guest speakers that will examine "how in a city where real estate dominates spatial reality, activist-driven occupations show how another world is possible."

Here are highlights for tomorrow night:

Thursday, Sept. 9, 7 p.m.

"Steal These Walls: Graffiti and the Fight for Free Expression"

Green Oasis/Gilbert’s Community Garden, 370 E. Eighth St. b/t Avenue C and Avenue D

This night explores the cultural complexities of graffiti and the use or occupation of public walls, spaces and structures to create a space for alternative communities and foster the rise of new art forms, from graffiti to murals to hip-hop.  

• "Graffiti/Post-Graffiti" (1985, 30 minutes). Directors: Marc Miller and Paul Tschinkel 

This documentary captures a key moment in the evolution of graffiti from illegal street art to rarified commodity exhibited in high-profile galleries.  

• "Girl Power" (2016, 92 minutes). Directors: Sany and Jan Zajíček

Following female graffiti writers from 15 cities — from New York to Prague to Cape Town and all the way back to New York, the documentary illuminates their paths as they navigate this predominantly male world where men often share the view that graffiti is not for girls. 

Just added! "We have the honor to host the esteemed "first lady of graffiti," Lady Pink, and SoHo Renaissance Factory co-founder Konstance Patton in a panel for our opening night." (Thursday's rain date: MoRUS, 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street.)

You can find more details on the festival right here. Advance tix are available at Eventbrite. You can also buy tickets on the evenings of the screenings in the garden venues. (They offer sliding-scale pricing.)

Inaugural show for O’Flaherty’s debuts tonight at 55 Avenue C

O'Flaherty's makes its debut tonight at 55 Avenue C.

No, it's not a bar, but rather a new art gallery via artist-curator Jamian Juliano-Villani here at Fourth Street. (The gallery is said to be an homage to Irish pubs and Juliano-Villani's own drinking habits.) 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy took these photos the other week as Juliano-Villani prepped the space for the first show.

First, about the show, titled "Dingle does O'Flaherty's" ...

Dingle is a 70-year-old freak living in LA. The work in this show spans 50 years, the photos are from 1974, the sculptures are from 1994. These figures are 27 years old; however…Don't call them dolls, she'll be pissed. These are "psycho-tods," a fucked up form of anti-everything nihilism or something along those lines. These are babies with intention, hating the world and ready to destroy shit. 

Now about the gallery... this via Artnet News...

[I]n an effort to rebrand herself "beyond my stupid, cheeseball paintings," as she put it, she's opening her own gallery ...

"I've been wanting to do this for a while," Juliano-Villani told Artnet News. "My work is a combination of references anyway, but there's only so much I can do with painting, and I enjoy ideas way more."

While the space will function as a commercial gallery, she also sees it as something of a performance in disguise. "I'm going to start wearing black, really cool fake Prada suits," she said.

The gallery is open tonight from 7-9. (Checking on hours after tonight.)

And the flyswatter in the above pic will be available in the gallery's gift shop.  

Hidden 7th Street treasure Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen reopens for the fall

Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on Seventh Street reopens today after its customary summer break. 

The no-frills basement cafe, which generates income for the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church on Seventh Street, offers inexpensive lunch specials and various Ukrainian potato dumplings (varenyky!). Or you can just get a $1 cup of coffee and pull up a folding chair and take it all in.

Streecha is at 33 E. Seventh St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square. They are open 9-5 Wednesday through Sunday. Check out the Streecha Instagram account for info on specials.

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

Photos from 2018 by Stacie Joy!

Ladybird No. 2 debuts on 7th Street; Cadence expansion continues

The second outpost of Ladybird, the vegan tapas and wine bar, is now open at 111 E. Seventh St. 

As we reported early last month, Ravi DeRossi's plant-based Overthrow Hospitality decided to open another Ladybird in the open space in the building instead of launching a new concept. Ladybird II takes over for DeRossi's Saramsam, a Filipino restaurant that debuted last September and quietly closed in May. 

Across the street, DeRossi is also opening another space for Cadence, his hit vegan soul food restaurant that debuted this spring, next door to the current sliver of a location No. 122.

The new Cadence outpost will be open a little later this fall.

Cadence chef Shenarri Freeman has been praised for her creative cooking. In early August, Pete Wells at the Times gave the place high marks, noting: "In the increasingly crowded world of vegan and vegetarian restaurants, Cadence occupies a niche of its own."

"Both [Ladybird and Cadence] are at capacity almost every night of the week. It just made sense to expand them, either that or relocate them to larger venues," DeRossi told us last month. 

Chichen Itzá for 277 E. 10th St.

Signage is up now for Chichen Itzá, a Mexican restaurant, coming soon to 277 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

Earlier in the summer, the @TradedNY account reported that Chic-hen, which specializes in fried chicken over in Clinton Hill, was the new tenant. 

Looks like there may have been a Chichen/Chic-hen mix-up. For starters, Chic-hen offers a variety of salads, fries, wings, sandwiches, burgers and rice dishes. (We reached out to them to see if they're launching a new concept.) 

There was a Chichen Itzá Mexican Grill in Sunset Park that's now closed. They have a similar logo to what's on the window here. (Efforts to reach someone affiliated with that establishment haven't been successful.)

We'll see if we can get this sorted out.

This address was home for 11 years to the Brindle Room, whose closure was made official back in June. Owner Jeremy Spector told us that he is looking for a new location for his restaurant that served "eclectic comfort food."