Lauren Carol Smith

JapaDog, the Japanese hot dog joint that opened on St. Marks Place in January, is giving ’em away in Union Square.

Nodding to its humble origins as a Vancouver food stand, the brand set up a cart outside of Best Buy this morning and gave away beef and veggie dogs, topped with cherry mayo. They’re now going for $3.

Same deal tomorrow: free dogs from 10 a.m. till noon, then $3 dogs till 6 or 7 p.m.

Joshua Heeki, a chef and manager at the St. Marks location, said JapaDog hopes to eventually launch a more permanent cart somewhere in the city, but this one is mostly a publicity ploy. “We want the public to know about us a bit more,” he said.

In other wiener news, Bowery Boogie hears that Links is set to open tomorrow at 188 Allen Street, with another hot dog spot, Los Perros Locos, opening soon across the street.

When we last checked on the status of Andrew Carmellini’s hotly anticipated mezzanine lounge at the Public Theater, the chef was hoping to open in time for the theater’s re-dedication ceremony this Thursday. The opening date has now been set for next Tuesday, Oct. 9, as designer David Rockwell finishes the job.

To tide you over til then, we’ve scored the lounge’s menu. Created by Mr. Carmellini with the help of Michael Oliver (who has worked under him at Cafe Boulud and Locanda Verde), mixologist Tiffany Short, and beverage director Josh Nadel (also of Locanda as well as Mr. Carmellini’s other restaurant, The Dutch), it will be available at both The Library and Joe’s Pub from 5:30 p.m. to midnight, after which a late-night menu will be served until 2 a.m.

Mr. Carmellini and the team at Joe’s Pub will also be operating a full-service lobby bar where snacks, cheese plates, cookies, cupcakes, Stumptown coffee, wine on tap, and seasonal punches will be served.

The Library at the Public is now accepting reservations at 212-539-8777. The menu…

“I believe our food is the best in this neighborhood because I know that quality best,” said Aidin Zekirovski of the Italian-French dishes he’ll serve at Entrez Bar & Grill when it opens in the former Pomodoro Pizzeria space tomorrow.

It’s a bold claim, but the restaurateur – who recently moved here from Copenhagen, Denmark, where he owns an Italian restaurant, Sdessanos – said he and his business partners conducted three months of market research before deciding to settle in the East Village.

Mr. Zekirovski’s online questionnaires and on-the-street interviews with neighborhood residents revealed that East Villagers were looking for “healthy and affordable” dishes in a casual setting. “We found out people who live in the neighborhood, most of which are students, they require and want something like this,” he said. “Somewhere they can hang out and socialize.” Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba

First Sidewalk Cafe, and now another neighborhood joint has ditched 24/7 service.

Yesterday, The Local spotted a “SORRY!” sign on the door of B.A.D. Burger indicating it will no longer be open around-the-clock Monday through Thursday. The new weekday hours: 11 a.m. to 5 a.m.

“The neighborhood doesn’t rock the way it used to,” explained Perry “Pee Wee” Masco, who opened the burger joint with her brother, Keith, last November. “Business in the summer was difficult. We would go four or five hours without an order. Between staff and electricity, it was hard.”

For now, they’ll stay open 24-hours only on weekends, with the hope of going back to 24/7 service if business picks up.  

Meanwhile, on the other side of Houston Street, Bowery Diner hasn’t found around-the-clock service to be a challenge, according to owner Mathieu Palombino. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

A Southern-grub joint on East Fourth Street will finally begin pouring whiskey on Monday – an accomplishment its owner said was “no small feat.”

The Cardinal has been serving beer and wine since it opened last August – something owner Curtis Brown perceives as a handicap. When customers find out the restaurant doesn’t serve hard stuff, they often go elsewhere. “For brunch people just say, ‘Oh, you don’t have booze? Oh sorry, we really wanted a Bloody Mary,’” he said.

Now the restaurant will begin serving “a nice Bloody Mary,” in addition to specialty cocktails that will likely contain infused and small-batch liquors as well as ingredients made in-house (the onions will be hand-pickled and the Marsciano cherries will also be made on-site).

The road to a liquor license was a rocky one, due to the community board’s resolution against supporting license applications on side streets, said Mr. Brown. Read more…

Noah Fecks

The first New York Oyster Week, celebrating our city’s special history with the salty bivalve while examining preservation efforts, is upon us. Until Sat. 29, there’ll be “oyster-centric” events in and around the city. But these East Village oyster specials can be had year-round.

Mermaid Inn
96 Second Avenue, near Fifth Street; (212) 674-5870
At this neighborhood fixture, you can pledge allegiance to the East Coast or West Coast: Barcat oysters, from the east, are offered for $1 each while Chefs Creek oysters, from the west, are $1.75 each during the “Happy Hour and a Half”: Monday through Thursday from 5.30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Desnuda – Winebar & Cevicheria
122 East Seventh Street, near Avenue A; (212) 254-3515
It’s happy days at the Bourgeois Pig’s dark and sexy sister bar, which serves Beau Soleil oysters on the half shell with ginger shallot, relish and chipotle mignonette, Sunday from 2 p.m. to midnight and Monday 6 p.m. to midnight. Order a glass of wine from their selection of South American varieties and you can get a dozen oysters for $1 each. Read more…

Interior shots: Alexa Mae Asperin. Food shots: Zandy Mangold.

“I’m sick of everyone doing pork belly,” says Leah Cohen, the former Centro Vinoteca chef best known as a contestant on “Top Chef.”

That’s why, at her new Clinton Street restaurant, she’s staying away from it. “We eventually want to do pork brains, ears and just everything,” she said.

Pig and Khao, her project with the Fatty Crew Hospitality Partners (Fatty Crab, Fatty ‘Cue) opened for dinner tonight, with a Thai-Filipino menu (below) inspired by the year Ms. Cohen, whose mother is Filipino, spent in Asia.

“Most of the cuisine that I had when I was traveling in Asia, like in Thailand or in the Philippines, the main staples were pork and rice,” said Ms. Cohen. At Pig and Khao (“khao” means “rice” in Thai), she’ll be braising, air drying and frying pork cuts such as head, face, butt and leg – with Thai accents of cilantro, lemongrass, basil and mint. Read more…

Nicole Guzzardi

The High Holy Days are keeping Moishe Perl, the owner of Moishe’s Kosher Bake Shop, well occupied – but he’ll soon be even busier. After four decades on Second Avenue, the bakery is due for some changes.

Mr. Perl told The Local he would soon divide the bakeshop into three sections: a café, a bakery serving the usual tegalach and babka, and an area for hot foods like knishes, blintzes and pierogies. Read more…

Dana Varinsky David Simon at Croissanteria.

Hot on the heels of Bikinis, the neighborhood is getting another European-style cafe. Croissanteria, which doubles as a bakery, will debut on Avenue A in two or three weeks.

You can guess what’s on the menu: a variety of croissants with flavors like cinnamon raisin and chocolate, assorted mini croissants, and croissant sandwiches like ham with melted Gruyere. Owner and chef David Simon also plans to offer homemade baguettes and a custom coffee blend created by Brooklyn Roasting Company.

Mr. Simon, 30, grew up in a food-making family. His parents, originally from Belgium, started Catskill Artisan Smokehouse in Wallkill, New York. Until early summer he worked for them as a distributor, selling their products to high-end stores and restaurants like Russ and Daughters, Dean and DeLuca, and Veselka. Read more…

Dana Varinsky Atef Boulaabi.

A specialty food shop that counted local chefs David Chang of Momofuku and Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune as fans will reopen next month.

Before closing a little over a year ago, S.O.S. Chefs sold high-end imported spices and gourmet products like truffles and rare mushrooms to “some of the most renowned restaurants and chefs in the world,” as none other than Martha Stewart put it. In the Momofuku cookbook, David Chang said he improvised his roasted mushroom salad after going there to pick up some truffles and instead buying Turkish pistachios, hon shimiji and king oyster mushrooms, fleur de sel, and pistachio oil.  He’s gotten bay leaves there, too.

Atef Boulaabi, the owner, said S.O.S. Chefs 2020, as its new incarnation will be called, will have more of a retail focus. “Before we were chef, chef, chef,” she said, noting that 80 percent of her business was wholesale. Read more…

Shira Levine has filed many a Making It column using the free WiFi at EarthMatters. On its last day, she penned a eulogy from the cafe and health food store.

Shira Levine Here’s what is left of the herbs and tinctures. Come tonight if you want to load up on Scientology’s favorite purifying vitamin, niacin before it hits the mean streets of Ludlow.

New York, I love you, but you’re bringing me down. Yet another beloved institution is closing its doors. Today is the last day EarthMatters will feed and entertain us and Friday it will auction off its remaining furniture, fixtures and kitchenware.

Opened in 2001, EarthMatters was a place that mattered to locals and to tourists who bothered going farther down Ludlow Street than Katz’s Deli. It was our Cheers. Sure, most of us thought it was overpriced, but we continued to order bowls of delicious tahini kale, chickpea pesto and beet salads. We shopped for homeopathic tinctures and ayurvedic herbs. We lounged in those shabby couches and chairs. Read more…

Photos: Nicole Guzzardi

Angelina Café will open across the street from its former location as soon as it gets a visit from the gas man.

Rafik Bouzgarrou, the owner of the Mediterranean bistro, said he moved out of his modest digs at 36B Avenue A last month because his landlord wanted to raise his rent of $7,500 per month. He’s now paying a similar amount for a space that’s three times the size.

At 37 Avenue A, Mr. Bouzgarrou has installed a proper wine bar, where Mediterranean and Basque wines are displayed on a rack. One wall is decorated by a map of the Mediterranean, painted by Angelina customer John Bean. The build-out was also the work of friends and customers, said Mr. Bouzgarrou. “They all knew I didn’t really have money to move here,” he said. Read more…

Dana Varinsky

Blue Owl, which got a good deal of hype back in 2006 but has since been overshadowed by countless other haute cocktail-bar openings (the latest: Pouring Ribbons), is up for sale.

A listing indicates the bar’s liquor license and “classic speakeasy decor” is available for $195,000, with the “below market” rent costing an additional $10,700 per month. The venue is described as “perfect for jazz, piano lounge, hooka bar.”

Helen Demetrious, a broker at New York Commercial Real Estate Services, confirmed the business is for sale, but said she expects a seamless ownership transition and doesn’t anticipate that the 1,400-square-foot basement space at 196 Second Avenue will be empty at any point.

When the owner of Opaline opened Blue Owl in February 2006, the nouveau speakeasy got no small measure of attention, with its obligatory lack of signage (that changed soon enough) and its “secret” back room. Every two weeks the bar hosted Brazilian and Latin music and dance, but according to Blue Owl’s Twitter feed its last “Tropical Tuesday” was Sept. 4.

Nicole Guzzardi 101 Avenue D

If you read this week’s Voice and thought Yongman Kim’s scheme to relocate the entire Kim’s rental collection to Sicily was pie-in-the-sky, get this: the Kim’s Video mogul tells The Local that he plans to open an “alternative and interactive pizza store” on Avenue D.

Kim’s Video Makes a Pizza, as the venue will be called, will be located at 101 Avenue D, in a new building facing the Jacob Riis Houses that is home to the Arabella 101 rental apartments (it’s also the future home of the Lower Eastside Girls Club).

Mr. Kim said the pizza parlor and wine bar would “intermix the new business and the old using the Kim’s Video mentality and personality.”

If that sounds similar to Two Boots, Mr. Kim thinks otherwise. “My restaurant would be a full-sitting restaurant where young and night owls gather and talk about music, films, art and other cultures,” he told The Local.

The switch to pizza follows what Mr. Kim said was a decline in the video business that started in 2001 and worsened in 2005. “Digital has hurt my business and so has the Internet. It is what caused me to close most of the Kim’s locations,” he said, adding that he had tried, unsuccessfully, to go digital in 1994 (well before Netflix, he pointed out). “I was preparing the Internet venture side of my business. I organized my team and it didn’t work,” he said. “It failed over and over again.” Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba

It’s been a week of highs and lows for Nublu. Tonight, the club celebrates its 10th anniversary at Le Poisson Rouge. But earlier this week, owner Ilhan Ersahin was forced to defend himself against accusations that his live music venue was to blame for noise on Avenue C.

Mr. Ersahin appeared before Community Board 3’s SLA licensing committee on Monday after neighbors lodged numerous complaints about noise they said came from Nublu. Some present at the meeting wanted his beer and wine license revoked. Meanwhile, committee member Ariel Palitz defended Nublu, calling it an East Village institution and one of its few remaining live music venues.

Today, Mr. Ersahin denied the block was all that noisy. “I think the complainers have this thing in their head and they keep on going because they have nothing else to do,” he told The Local. “I live right above Nublu; it’s not like I don’t know what’s going on.” Read more…

Photos: Alexa Mae Asperin

After riding out a wave of opposition in March, Bikinis Eatery will open its doors this Saturday.

The tapas bar on Avenue C isn’t selling two-piece swimsuits; it specializes in the Spanish sandwiches of the same name. According to co-owner Karina Correa, good ones are hard to find in the city, so she’s aiming to “marry both Spanish and American flavors” via menu items like the classic jamon y queso (ham and cheese), a “Gordito” (pastrami, turkey, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mayo) and vegetarian options like a smoky portobello blend and a tomato baguette with sea salt and Spanish olive oil.

Ms. Correa, a former manager at Cafe Gitane in Nolita who spent four years in Spain, said she and her business partner, Petrit Pula, who has lived in Madrid, favored the simple tapas found at Spanish corner cafes over Manhattan restaurants that were “too sophisticated both in concept and price.” They envisioned a relaxed, casual place where one can eat three times a day, as is common in Spain. Read more…

Photos: Annie Fairman

While one seafood shack prepares to open on the southern border of the East Village, another opened yesterday up on 14th Street.

In the former Meatball Factory space, lobster traps now hang from the ceiling, the bar is embellished with rope, and a captain’s wheel is mounted on the white-tiled west wall. Div Patel, 38, said he and his partners wanted to “open something that this neighborhood didn’t have: seafood.” (Better not tell him about Mermaid Inn).

Executive chef Joe Bachman, 28, was born in Florida, where his family works in commercial crabbing and fishing, and lived in South Carolina before moving to New York eight years ago. There are a couple of nods to those southern roots on the menu (jumbo shrimp and grits with kale, smoked gouda hush puppies), but the fish comes from the Bronx Terminal Market and the raw bar and fried Ipswich clam bellies are pure New England, with most produce coming from the nearby Union Square Greenmarket. Read more…

The Williamsburg pizzeria that expanded to the East Village in 2009 only to close its Brooklyn location last year is coming back to Williamsburg. According to The Times, Motorino will open at 139 Broadway, near Bedford Avenue, in January.

It’s not the first case of borough bouncing we’ve seen in recent days: last week DNAinfo reported that East Village taqueria Dos Toros plans to open in Williamsburg, and today an owner of Lobster Joint, a Greenpoint seafood shack, tells The Local that it will open its outpost at 201 East Houston Street in November or December.

Bobby Levitt said that on Monday, Community Board 3’s liquor licensing committee voted to support a liquor license at the location near Ludlow Street. The satellite will replicate the menu and look of the original, and Mr. Levitt expects it to attract a similar demographic: “We get hipsters and families with kids – all ages,” he said.

So why are restaurants that open in the East Village-Lower East Side increasingly eager to expand into the Williamsburg-Greenpoint-Bushwick area, and vice versa? Mathieu Palombino, the owner of Motorino, told The Local, “Williamsburg is to Brooklyn what the East Village is to Manhattan. What works there will work here. It’s a natural expansion from one direction or the other.” (Of course, it doesn’t always work out, hence yesterday’s story about Mama’s.)

In case you’ve lost track, here’s The Local’s rundown of restaurants with locations on either side of the bridge. Read more…

Melvin Felix

So what does the former owner of Mama’s Food Shop think about a new Mama coming to 200 East Third Street? Jeremiah Clancy, who bought the neighborhood institution in 2007 and closed it in July, said learning that the building’s landlord planned to take over the space was “bittersweet.”

Mr. Clancy does not own the Mama’s trademark, but wanted to distance himself from the new restaurant that his former landlord, Richard Freedman, plans to open with the possible name of Mama’s Eats and a similar menu of southern comfort food.

“This is a completely new business with a different owner,” said Mr. Clancy. “Even though he is serving similar foods, by no stretch of the imagination does that have anything to do with the Mama’s ethos, the Mama’s vibes and what was created over the past 15 years. This is something completely different.”

News that Mr. Freedman planned to give the space a significant upgrade including new bathrooms and an improved kitchen didn’t sit well with Mr. Clancy, who cited the burden of maintenance costs as a reason for the restaurant’s closing. “He’s making repairs on the space that I hemorrhaged the majority of my money on,” he said, later adding, “I loved that he sort of played a victim. He feels that property taxes are so high, but he still has the means to gut renovate a restaurant.”

Mr. Freedman, who also owns Mama’s Bar adjacent the restaurant space, said the new eatery would open in the next few months.