Daniel Maurer

Good morning, East Village.

A manager at Boukiés, the Greek restaurant that will replace Heartbreak on the corner of Second Street and Second Avenue, tells The Local it will open next Monday. As you can see above, the new restaurant from the owner of Pylos hosted its first private event last night.

Speaking of restaurants, The Times bestows three stars on seasonal Japanese hideaway Kyo Ya, putting it in the company of less than a few dozen others around town. Other East Village establishments to boast the honor are Il Buco, Momofuku Ssam, and Momofuku Ko. Critic Pete Wells writes, “If you have heard of Kyo Ya, chances are you have been told that the kaiseki menu is the thing to get. It is a rare treat, no question, but so are many of the dishes that can be ordered à la carte with a smaller investment of time and money.”

Ryan Devereux, a journalist at The Guardian, tweeted about another demonstration for Trayvon Martin. This one went from Union Square to the Riis Houses and back last night. By his estimate, the crowd was “a few hundred” strong.

Bowery Boogie spotted Billy Leroy promoting his new show, “Baggage Battles,” on Fox News.

Gerard Butler is the latest celeb to roam the Bowery. According to a Daily News source, the actor was “was ‘mobbed’ by eager fans of all shapes and sizes at Think Coffee on Bleecker and Bowery around 4 p.m. on Tuesday while trying to enjoy a cup of joe.”

Further south on the Bowery, Exhibition A posts a photo of poet John Giorno in his studio.

The Post reports that Daniel Boulud is suing a Buffalo-based tavern, Duke’s Bohemian Grove Bar, for using the initials DBGB. Funny considering DBGB once got a cease-and-desist letter from CBGB.

Paste magazine talks to Michael Knowles, the director of “The Trouble With Bliss.” He says the film “happened to take place in New York City—which was really cool because I love New York City. I really enjoyed living in the East Village, which is where I lived most of the time I was in New York. So it was kind of an extra bonus.”

Mr. Knowles met the movie’s co-writer, Douglas Light, at Velvet Cigars. Local chowhound Josh Ozersky doesn’t seem to be a fan of the smoking lounge: on a video tour of the East Village, he says it represents the “douchebag-slash-trustafarian aspect” of the neighborhood and then goes on to recall the glory days of Leshko’s. But he admits the neighborhood is still “the preeminent sort of gastronomic destination in New York City and certainly in Manhattan.”

Further to that, Eater talks to Alex Stupak, the chef-owner of Empellon Cocina. Though he says he served 25,000 fish tacos at his West Village taqueria last year, he doesn’t sell them in the East Village. But he’s willing to bend to customers: “I was hearing from the customers that Cocina didn’t have enough vegetables,” he says, “and now we’re introducing a new section to the menu because that was a valid criticism that I was paying attention to.”