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.

Suzanne Rozdeba

A “bistro Francais moderne” has left foodie row. Taureau, a quiet BYOB spot that opened in 2010 and specializes in cheese and chocolate fondues, has moved to 558 Broome Street. The Local noticed a sign up this morning announcing its move from East Seventh Street, between First Street and Avenue A. Don’t worry: you can still do fondue at the Bourgeois Pig on the same block, and also at newcomer Heidi.

A couple of blocks over, I Coppi, an Italian restaurant on East Ninth Street, has also closed, taking its lovely back garden with it. Civil Court documents spotted by The Local over the weekend and dated Sept. 7 indicate that the neighborhood longtimer, which opened in 1998, allegedly owes at least $37,600 in back rent. Calls to the owner, Lorella Innocenti, and the listed claimant, Daria Genza, have not yet been returned.

Daniel Maurer

Last night The Local spotted 7-Eleven signage up at 142 Delancey Street (Bowery Boogie also noticed it) and today EV Grieve noted that the chain has opened at Broadway and East 12th Street. Not only that, but check out the signage above. It went up over the weekend at 85 Canal Street, on the corner of Eldridge Street, where the Highline Deli is replacing the “gourmet” deli before it. The High Line, by the way, is a good three miles from this corner. Why not name it the Low Line?

Suzanne Rozdeba

Care for some lamb brains?

Jehangir Mehta, best known as a memorable contestant on “The Next Iron Chef,” is planning to serve the gamey delicacy with an onion confit when he opens Graffiti Me next to his restaurant of five years, Graffiti. He said preparing brains is “as easy as slapping together a ham and cheese sandwich.”

The Local spotted a fresh coat of bright orange paint today on the 10th Street storefront that previously held bridal boutique Atelier Muse. Mr. Mehta is transforming the narrow space into a casual-cozy restaurant that he said would “literally look like your living room.” Though no graffiti will adorn the walls, chandeliers will create a “Bohemian chic” vibe. Lobster soufflé and bone marrow with fennel relish will be among dishes included on the three-course, $30 tasting menu. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

A couple of troubled establishments on Avenue A have closed, and it’s uncertain whether they’ll reopen. A sign on the window of Diablo Royale Este indicates the Mexican spot is closed “until further notice” and redirects patrons to the West Village original. And a reader uses our Virtual Assignment Desk to express concern about Bar on A, also between 10th and 11th Streets: “The last couple times I’ve walked by it’s been closed,” writes the tipster. The bar’s outgoing phone message indicates, without explanation, that it is indeed “temporarily closed.”

Both businesses had a troubled history. Bar on A’s owner, Bob Scarrano, died in 2010 after surgery to address esophageal cancer, and his widow fell behind on the rent, according to an associate of the bar who spoke to The Local in May. That associate said at the time that an upstairs neighbor had called 311 numerous times in an attempt to shut down the bar. The neighbor said she was only trying to resolve “excessive noise” issues. In July, EV Grieve noticed a listing indicating that bar’s space was on the market.

Diablo Royale’s headaches were similar: during an acrimonious community board meeting last November, neighbors who had been complaining of noise since 2010 accused the restaurant of “contributing to turning Avenue A into a booze-filled entertainment zone.” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Porsena’s bar back in July.

Porsena’s next-door bar will open tomorrow for lunch and dinner. The Local spotted chef-owner Sara Jenkins prepping Extra Bar this evening, and a Tumblr page lists the small plates (e.g. lemon potatoes with caviar and Surryano ham with spicy greens) that will comprise the “fleeting and changing menu, reflecting inspirations from the Mediterranean, random travels by Sara, and found ingredients.” Ms. Jenkins said the narrow space, which is made up mostly of a bar and boasts a map of Rome on one wall, won’t be ready for photos until Friday; in the meantime the chef has been posting images of dishes such as yellowfin tuna puttanesca, gulf shrimp and black spaghetti, and a salad of yellow zucchini, tomatoes, lemon vinaigrette, pecorino Romano, herbs. See Porsena’s Twitter feed for more.

When we last updated you on Porsena’s annex in July, Ms. Jenkins had a few words for Porchetta.Hog, the relative newcomer that she said was “so pathetically copying” her other joint on Seventh Street, Porchetta. Well, guess what? A sign on the door of that fine establishment indicates, without explanation, that the place is “temporarily closed.” A call to the restaurant went unanswered.

Further down Seventh Street, Greek favorite Pylos is also temporarily closed – “for renovation,” according to a sign on the door. Work was being done at the restaurant this evening and an outgoing phone message indicated it would reopen Sept. 8.

Update | 11:00 p.m. Porsena has sent over its lunch and dinner menus, below.

Opening Lunch Menu

Opening Evening Menu

Daniel Maurer The old and new homes of Village Dream

There’s a lot of action on St. Marks Place today, and we’re not just talking about the incoming Han Joo.

First, our lunch plan was thwarted when we noticed Baoguette was closed, and looking rather emptied out. Michael “Bao” Huynh confirmed to Eater today that he has shuttered the Vietnamese sandwich shop’s location at 37 St. Marks Place.

Daniel Maurer Interior of Baoguette.

Down the block, piercing and tattoo parlor Village Dream is moving from its current cubbyhole at 3 St. Marks Place to 128 Second Avenue, where the Village II smoke shop got new signage today. In the next week or so, Village II will officially reopen as Village Dream, with less tobacco accessories and a new focus on piercing and tattoos. Giesh Heidel, who is a partner in both stores, said he was moving because his lease was up after seven years and his partner planned to move the gem shop adjacent to Village Dream into the space at 3 St. Marks Place. The gem shop’s space, meanwhile, will soon be home to what Mr. Heidel thought would be an Asian food joint. Read more…

Noah Fecks

Can we tell you about a couple of completely insane additions to the menu?

Daniel Maurer Cheesesteak on a bagel

First off, Tompkins Square Bagels is running a “Philly cheesesteak on a bagel” special today. As impressive as it looks (at right), it’s to be expected of the place that brought you the infamous bagel burger. What really blows are minds and will probably pop our buttons is this: L’asso EV, itself no stranger to experimental bagels, is adding a trio of Chicago-style deep-dish pizzas to its menu, and one of them, called the Big Muff, is the pizza version of that New Orleans meat monster, the muffuletta.

We happen to have a soft spot for the muffuletta, and apparently so does L’asso’s owner Robert Benevenga, who after his last trip to N’awlins, came up with the idea of a pizza version of the sandwich. Of course, New Orleans-inspired pizza is nothing new (Two Boots, anyone?) but this is really something special: a two-inch pie formed in a buttered deep-dish pan in the following calorific manner: layers of soppressata, caciocavallo cheese, mortadella, and capicola are covered by a bed of mozzarella and then a slathering of the obligatory giardiniera, consisting of pickled olives, carrots, celery, red onions, cauliflower florets and peppers. The process is repeated all over again and then – “to add color,” says chef Joseph Lee – the pie is topped off with yet more mortadella.

The Big Muff, $16, debuts at L’asso EV on Tuesday along with a deep-dish meatball pie. You can see that one in The Local’s Flickr pool.

Shortly after Labor Day, Alan Teigman will close Teigman Press, the print shop that four generations of his family has operated over the course of 101 years. In early August he let go of his only employee, his son, who after an extended apprenticeship had decided to return to school for an accounting degree.

In the 1970s and ’80s, when Mr. Teigman was the apprentice and his uncle ran the shop, the business flourished by printing brochures and charts for the fur industry. As fur became less fashionable and printers became more affordable, customer demand dwindled. Lately Mr. Teigman, a part-owner of the building in which his press is located, had taken on whatever business he could get, including local pizzeria menus and bargain boxes of business cards.

In the end, he decided it would be more lucrative to lease the bottom floor and basement to “fancy Bushwick restaurateurs.” Paperwork filed with Community Board 3 and spotted by Bowery Boogie indicates those restaurateurs will be Jessica Lee Wertz and Ted Mann, owners of Lone Wolf bar. Read more…

When the music’s over, turn out the lights?

A reader took this photo of the former home of Norman’s Sound and Vision as it was cleared out yesterday. The record store closed its location at 67 Cooper Square after 18 years and is now based in Williamsburg, at 555 Metropolitan Avenue, where its new incarnation opened in April.

“More music-minded people are living out there. It’s what the East Village was 20 years ago,” Norman Isaacs told The Local in May, when it came to light that the shop would leave the neighborhood in the face of a rent increase.

Of course, the East Village still has its share of record stores. And here’s what they’re playing.

Daniel Maurer

The new Starbucks isn’t the only one that got signage today. The Local spotted workers putting up new awnings at the former Meatball Factory, which, as expected, will become a seafood joint.

Robert McRae, a contractor, said he had returned the Meatball Factory space at 14th Street and Second Avenue “almost to normal” after its brief time as a psychedelic art café, restoring the bar to its original state and so on. Soon, he said, fishing nets and perhaps a “pirate’s wheel” will decorate the place, which is set to open Sept. 7.

Photos: Daniel Maurer

Daniel Maurer Future home of Nevada Smiths

Back in February we got a first look at two enlarged buildings as they came out from under plywood. Today, there’s progress at both of them.

Just minutes ago, workers were spotted hoisting signage for the Starbucks going into  219 First Avenue, at the corner of 13th Street. A contractor said the store may open next week.

As you can see in our slideshow, this ‘bucks won’t have discrete lettering like the “neighborhood Starbucks” that replaced the Bean farther down First Avenue. Nope, it’s old-school all the way!

And over at 100 Third Avenue, the (bi-level!) space that will soon house the new Nevada Smiths has been revealed. Clearly, it’s still very much under construction. We’ve asked the owners of Nevada’s, who were back in front of the Community Board 3 last week, for their latest opening date. We’ll let you know what we hear.

Update | 11:20 a.m. Patrick McCarthy, owner of Nevada Smiths, has now told us he’s shooting for “sometime in October,” with the floor hopefully going in tomorrow. “Oh my God, it’s a big place,” he said.

Courtesy Maharlika

The folks at Maharlika posted photos today of last weekend’s balut-eating contest. (Got a strong stomach? There’s video, too.) The man you see here is winner Wayne Algenio, who ate 18 fertilized duck embryos in five minutes. A spokesperson for Maharlika said, “We created a great way to introduce the public to Filipino food as well as saw a champion rise.” Hopefully that’s all that came up.