Suzanne Rozdeba

Litro, the Italian restaurant that opened in May, is changing things up.

Riccardo Paletti, a native of Rome who owns the tiny spot with his brother Alessandro, said it will now be a lounge by named 308, after its location at 308 East Sixth Street, near Second Avenue.

Just how much of a lounge? Well, there will be a weekly “college party” and a weekly “model party,” he said. Tonight’s bartender is Veronika Kovarikova, who has modeled for La Perla.

“In the East Village, especially here on Sixth Street and with so many young people and students, we wanted to make it more affordable for everyone,” said Riccardo. “And here, people like more of a bar.”

The new menu features appetizers ($7 to $12) and panini ($8 to $15).

Alexa Mae Asperin

If a 7-Eleven is indeed coming to Avenue A, it isn’t the only poorly kept secret in Alphabet City: Earlier this month, The Local pointed to city records indicating that mobile sweets vendor Wafels & Dinges may be opening its first brick-and-mortar location at 15 Avenue B.

When we Tweeted about it, the Belgian-wafflemaker, which had declined to comment, coyly responded: “The mystery is killing us!”

The company still hasn’t made it official, but last week it posted a photo to its Facebook page showing construction in a dimly lit mystery space, with the caption: “Right now, it’s a mess. But it’s going to be awesome. We hope.”

The scene inside of 15 Avenue B today sure looked similar to the “mess” in the photo. We’ll let you know when it’s official.

Angelina Cafe will reopen this evening across from its former location on Avenue A.

Starting at 5 p.m., you’ll be able to indulge in favorites like the grilled tuna steak or try new dishes such as a Tunisian burger with goat cheese, roasted pepper and harissa mayonnaise. In the next weeks, daily specials will be introduced to the menu of $20-and-under items, which you can see below.

Imen Bouzgarrou, who opened Angelina alongside husband Rafik in 2002, said she was excited to have a “newer, bigger, open space to attract more customers.” As previously reported, the Tunisian natives’ landlord wanted to raise their rent at 36B Avenue A to $7,500 per month – on par with what they’re paying for the larger venue across the street, Mrs. Bouzgarrou confirmed.

In addition to handmade pastas and a more expansive wine selection, the new Angelina boasts a private party area where larger groups can relax behind an orange curtain.

Dinner will be served this week from 5 p.m. to close and brunch is served on the weekends. Lunch will begin next week and breakfast will eventually be incorporated into regular business hours.
See the menu…

Nicole Guzzardi

Taureau isn’t the only recently closed restaurant making a comeback: I Coppi, which closed in September, will reopen in the former home of Vampire Freaks, under a new name, I Cipressi.

“I just wanted to make a change, to start new and fresh,” Lorella Innocenti, the restaurant’s owner, said of the new monicker.

While the name may have changed, the menu will remain largely the same, with the possible addition of a few new Tuscan dishes. “I am going to keep the dishes that I know people want, and once in a while put in new dishes and specials,” said Ms. Innocenti. Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba Croissanteria

A couple of French spots are opening this week.

Croissanteria, the café and bakery whose owner David Simon we spoke to last month, will open tomorrow at 7 a.m. Mr. Simon’s partner in the venture is Selmo Ribeiro, 31, who also owns a burger joint in Lagos, Portugal.

As you can see from the menus below, the café will offer a variety of croissants, mini croissants, and croissant sandwiches – plus a loyalty program in which every tenth coffee is free, with funds from the tenth coffee going to a neighborhood charity. The tiled space is decorated with a large wall clock from an antique shop on East Ninth Street and benches with red cushions from a synagogue.

Read more…

Photos: Noah Fecks

Last night the folks behind Maharlika opened Jeepney, just a handful of blocks up from its sister establishment.

Unlike Maharlika, which serves up relatively standard fare, Jeepney is a Filipino “gastropub,” meaning “a place to hang out with friends, get great comfort food, and have a couple of brews,” said co-owner Nicole Ponseca. So what’s comfort food here? Think meatloaf and kamote (a sweet potato common in the Philippines); a Chori burger with the Pinoy sausage, longanisa; and a unique version of the renowned noodle dish, pansit, that includes oysters, shrimp, calamari, pork, and fried pork rinds.

The large, “family-style” dishes, which are meant to be shared, showcase the Filipino flavors of sweet, sour, and especially salty: the Jeprox salad consists of seasonal greens that are tossed in fermented shrimp paste and topped with crispy fish bones. “This dish is salt on salt, but I think people don’t understand that in the Philippines salt is more than a condiment – it’s the star attraction,” Ms. Ponseca said.

You’ll even find saltiness in the drinks: one cocktail infuses beer with the flavor of bitter melon. Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba

Suzanne Rozdeba Elsewhere Espresso

A couple of family-run joints are new to the neighborhood. First, Elsewhere Espresso, the coffee shop owned by three siblings, opened this morning, as you can see from the balloons at right. It’ll be open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., seven days a week.

Just a block north, Tink’s Restaurant, which we first told you about in January, will finally open next Thursday. It, too, is a family affair, as Isabella Aqel will run the spot with the help of four sisters, a brother, and her parents.

“If I didn’t have them, there’s no way I’d be able to do this,” Ms. Aqel, 25, told The Local today at the restaurant on East Seventh Street, where her twin, Sophia, her brother Alex, 23, and her 52-year-old mom, Jenny, who runs a family sheet-metal business in East Harlem with her husband, were helping put some finishing touches on the place. She hopes her restaurant will be “a sit-down place you can bring your boyfriend or girlfriend, a romantic, date spot.” Read more…

In the month since Pouring Ribbons opened, owners Joaquin Simo, Jason Cott, Troy Sidle, and Toby Maloney have been stirring up more than cocktails: they’ve been waging a friendly(?) Twitter war with “the boys” over at the neighborhood’s other recently opened cocktail spot, Evelyn Drinkery. It all seems to have started when Evelyn Drinkery asked whether Pouring Ribbons was a sewing club, and quickly devolved into accusations involving armpit hair, man purses, phosphate drinks and Taylor Swift. Oh, those crazy cocktalians!

Anyway, after all the back and forth (which you can read for yourself below), we just had to stop into Pouring Ribbons and see what the place was all about (sorry, Evelyn Drinkery, but Mr. Simo, formerly of Death & Co., is the American Bartender of the Year). Despite all the tomfoolery on Twitter, they take their cocktails pretty seriously, as you can see in our video above. Read more…

Photos: Nicole Guzzardi

After selling macarons wholesale for three years, Christina Ha and her husband Simon Tung opened the first brick-and-mortar location of Macaron Parlour earlier this afternoon.

The shop offers classic varieties of the French confectionery, like pistachio and lemon, plus unconventional flavors (e.g. honey and cognac), some of which were inspired by junk food. “We really want to stick to things that her and I grew up with, ” Mr. Tung said, citing a s’mores macaron as well as a bacon one with maple cream cheese filling. The store also offers cookies, croissants, and other goodies.

The shop’s story is as sweet as its baked goods. The owners, who got married in April, met at a Halloween party in 2009: she was dressed as Lady Gaga and he, along with his friends, went as a nerd.  “She picked me out of all the nerds,” Mr. Tung said proudly.

Ms. Ha attended pastry school at the Institute of Culinary Education and Mr. Tung also worked in the food industry, so they decided to go into business together. Read more…

Daniel Maurer Half of the neighborhood’s Subways.

Back when we took stock of all the East Village’s chain stores, we discovered that Subway was the most ubiquitous chain in the neighborhood, with eight locations.

Make that seven – at least, for now.

The sliver of a location at 227 First Avenue, between 13th and 14th Streets, was closed today, with UPS delivery notices from last week affixed to the shutter.

We placed a call to the store’s next-door neighbor, Gabay’s, and a man who identified himself as the sub-landlord of the Subway space, who did not want to give his name, said the franchisee closed the store for “personal reasons.” He added, “All I know is that they’re looking for another franchisee.”

Of course, there’s another Subway just six blocks down First Avenue. We also like Russo’s for sandwiches.

Daniel Maurer

Allow us to sprinkle a few nuggets (nibs?) of information on you, fro-yo fiends: the Red Mango that came to Stuyvesant Town last month (the first in the area since the St. Marks store closed a couple of years ago) will celebrate its grand opening next Thursday by doling out free small frozen yogurts. They’ll also give away merch such as t-shirts to the first 100 customers, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Elsewhere in self-serve land, EV Grieve notices that Only U, a colorful fro-yo joint that opened in July, has already closed. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

Just in time for the 50-degree weather(!), Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria has scored a dozen outdoor seats. You can now enjoy the hefty porchetta sandwich right on Great Jones Street. The sidewalk café will remain open for lunch and dinner as weather permits.

By the way, Il Buco A & V also has a loft space you probably didn’t know about, and this week it’ll be put to use as Renato Brancaleoni presents a series of dinners showcasing his handcrafted cheeses.

Alexa Mae Asperin

Looks like we might have solved the mystery of the dessert shop bound for 15 Avenue B: city records indicate that mobile vendor Wafels & Dinges has secured the space.

When Manny Haimovich, owner of the building on the corner of Second Street, spoke to The Local last month, he revealed only that a sweets spot would serve ice cream there. Maybe he was referring to the popular speculoos ice cream that’s served at the seven carts and trucks that Wafels & Dinges has launched since 2007: the health department’s Web site indicates that the popular Belgian waffle brand is awaiting its first inspection at the address.

Asked whether he will indeed open his first brick-and-mortar store on Avenue B, owner Thomas DeGeest declined to comment. Maybe we should’ve asked in mime language?

Suzanne RozdebaFrom left: Yurij, Gregory and Larissa at Elsewhere Espresso.

Earlier today, Gregory Bohdanowycz, 33, his sister, Larissa, 30, and their younger brother Yurij, 27, put the finishing touches on Elsewhere Espresso, the coffee shop they’ll open on East Sixth Street later this week.

Mr. Bohdanowycz described the project as a “work in progress,” explaining with a laugh, “There’s probably a lot of baggage from just being brothers and sisters for so long.” On the other hand, the siblings don’t pay rent, because their family owns the building. “Once we get going, we’ll be paying rent by the year’s end. But I don’t think we’ll get kicked out,” he quipped.

Ms. Bohdanowycz said she wanted locals to think of Elsewhere as “a neighborhood place,” so the shop will offer free WiFi with coffee purchases as well as tables and chairs made from the refurbished space’s original floor beams. Read more…

Joann Pan

Locals craving East Village Thai’s finger rolls, peanut sauce-drenched chicken satae sticks and the pad thai dish that The Daily News recently declared one of the “best of New York” will have to go elsewhere for now.

The gates of the hole-in-the-wall takeout joint between Second and Third Avenues were down during lunchtime today: a note indicated that a gas shut-off had forced it to close until “the problem is resolved.”

We’ve reached out to Jakobson Properties, the landlord of 32 East Seventh Street, for more information.

Spanky & Darla’s reopened Sunday after being forced to close by the health department, according to an employee of the bar. The health department notice, which cited the bar for operating without a permit, was posted Oct. 3. The Local has left a message for the owner; we’ll let you know if we hear more about the circumstances of the closure.

Photos: Nicole Guzzardi

Han Joo, the Korean barbecue joint that’s been going into the Sox in the City space on St. Marks Place, will open Tuesday.

According to manager Kitae Um, the Manhattan offshoot will serve the same menu as the Queens original, with one addition: soju cocktails.

Oh, and there’s one other big difference. “This space is a lot more trendy,” said Mr. Um, “and even has a bar.” A sleek marble bar, at that, with hot red stools.

Each of the 22 tabletops is equipped with a grill where chefs will prepare food as visitors dine. Check out the no-joke ventilators via The Local’s slideshow.

Han Joo, 12 St. Marks Place, near Third Avenue

Nicole Guzzardi

San Matteo Panuozzo couldn’t cut it on St. Marks Place. Literally. The pizza-dough-sandwich shop has closed (and, contrary to a sign in the window, won’t be reopening) because it wasn’t allowed to serve proper pies.

Vincenzo Scardino, an owner of San Matteo Pizza and Espresso Bar on the Upper East Side, said that he and is two partners decided to close its downtown spin-off at 121 St. Marks because the landlord wouldn’t allow them to sell pizza, fearing it would interfere with the business of his other tenant, Nino’s, a couple of doors down.

“They thought it would take business from the guy on the corner, even though our product is completely different,” said Mr. Scardino. The restaurateur added that San Matteo had always planned to start serving pizza, just like its uptown location does, once it obtained its liquor license. But when the owners went back and asked their landlord about it, he put the kibosh on the plan. Read more…

A tipster spotted this sign affixed to Spanky & Darla’s. The health department notice, dated Oct. 3, indicates the bar was closed for operating without a permit.

It’s not the first time the dive at 140 First Avenue has been forcibly shut down. In 2010, the bar’s predecessor, Cheap Shots, was closed after underage drinking busts and fighting caused it to be declared a “public nuisance,” a police department attorney told NYC the Blog.

During its time as Cheap Shots, the bar had to pay a total of $11,000 for offenses that included sales to minors, unlicensed security guards, and unlimited drinks specials, according to State Liquor Authority records.

The Liquor Authority’s Website indicates that a liquor license for the establishment was recently renewed, and activated on Oct. 1, 2012. The premises name and trade name are listed as Cheapshots rather than Spanky & Darla’s.

In May, Big Apple Reviews called the bar “a great place to go for a low-key night to just get some drinks, or get plastered before painting the town red.”