For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: Figlia & Sons.

Melvin FelixRyan Figlia with employee Leonard “Lee” Hills.

If he could, 23-year-old Ryan Figlia would spend the steamiest summer days cooling off atop his surfboard, rather than helping run the air-conditioning sales and service business his grandfather started nearly 50 years ago on Avenue A. But his brother is off in Florida – “he’s pursing a golf career and a girlfriend,” Ryan explained – and his father will eventually hand over the family business, now located at 746 East Ninth Street. “My plan is to retire and for him to send me a check every week,” said Ryan’s father, George, “but first this guy has to start making me some money already!” Actually, business has tripled in the last year, according to Ryan: this summer they’ll install a record 5,000 cooling units around the city. We asked the father-and-son team why they aren’t sweating the economy.

At 23, you are pretty new to this.

Ryan: I started three or four years ago and started developing a company that mainly focuses on cooling the lobbies in the buildings that we already do the residential for. The market for commercial air-conditioning is a lot bigger than residential. So far it’s doing all right. That’s what I want to focus on growing and do more. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

Death & Co., the perennially packed cocktail lounge on East Sixth Street, has sold its first book for what an agent in the deal confirms is over $250,000.

The as-yet untitled book will gather over 500 recipes, according to agent Jonah Straus, who said a handful of publishers were interested in it before Aaron Wehner at Ten Speed Press pre-empted an auction with a six-figure offer. (Ten Speed published the People’s Pops cookbook last month.)

Nick Fauchald, a former Food & Wine editor who founded Tasting Table, will share writing duties with David Kaplan, an owner of the bar that Mr. Fauchald said is hugely influential in the cocktail world. “When I’m researching a cocktail trend or a bunch of recipes for something and you start tracing the recipes back to their origin, more often than not it ends up at Death & Co.,” he said, citing a recent trip to a prestigious bar in Amsterdam where the barkeep surprised him with drinks from the lounge’s stable. Read more…

Courtesy Alphabet City Brewing Jason Yarusi with half-barrel kegs in Garretsville.

The owners of Alphabet City Brewing Company breathed a sigh of relief last week as Governor Cuomo signed into law a tax credit – supported by State Senator Daniel Squadron – for New York’s craft breweries.

“We’re small enough that anything like that affects our margins drastically,” Jeffrey Simón told the Local. Small, yes, but growing: Mr. Simón and his business partner and former roommate, Jason Yarusi, are currently expanding their brewing operation and planning an East Village beer garden.

The duo started the company in their third-floor apartment on Seventh Street and Avenue A. During those home-brewing days of searching for the perfect recipe, they could often be seen crisscrossing Tompkins Square Park and carting sacks of hops or malt, or test tubes full of yeast.

“Pushing a keg in a cart through Tompkins will get you attention,” said Mr. Simón. Read more…

Sarah Darville Radouane Eljaouhari beside his new clay tandoori oven.

When Radouane Eljaouhari moved into his new location on East Sixth Street, he told contractors clearing out a shuttered Indian restaurant to not completely gut the kitchen. Now, what was once a lark for Mr. Eljaouhari and his chefs at the new location of his Moroccan restaurant Zerza has turned into a permanent cross-cultural twist.

Instead of a traditional Moroccan grill, meat dishes are cooked in a clay tandoori oven leftover from Angon on the Sixth, which closed in 2010. (Another Indian restaurant briefly occupied the space after Angon).

The clay oven gets twice as hot as the Moroccan grill, and “makes the meat cook without burning it,” Mr. Eljaouhari said. “It’s juicy, and that’s not the case with the grill, where it touches the flame sometimes. So this is a treat.” Read more…

Joel Zimmer Lakeside’s photo booth.

When it was reported that Lakeside Lounge would close at the end of April, New York Music Daily wrote, “the bar that defined oldschool East Village cool will be replaced by a gentrifier whiskey joint, no doubt with $19 artisanal cocktails and hedge fund nebbishes trying to pick up on sorostitutes when their boyfriends are puking in the bathroom – or out of it.”

Not so fast?

A liquor license application questionnaire submitted to Community Board 3 indicates that the space on the corner of Avenue B and 10th Street is being taken over by one of Lakeside’s partners, Laura McCarthy, who is also an owner in Bowery Electric, HiFi, and Niagara – all rock’n’roll spots that aren’t exactly known for catering to “hedge-fund nebbishes.” As if that trifecta doesn’t make for enough cred, Ms. McCarthy also opened Brownies, the rock club on Avenue A that was widely mourned when it was transformed into HiFi. Read more…

No word on when Long Island’s Yogurt Crazy will open on Third Avenue, or when the gelato joint on Second Avenue will start scooping (though we did notice it just got a new awning), but here’s some good news if you’re scouring for something cold and comforting.

Only U, the neighborhood’s latest frozen yogurt spot, opened yesterday at 159 First Avenue. According to owner Jason Chen, a Brooklyn resident who, until recently, owned a Chinese restaurant in the Bronx, the yogurt flavors will vary each week, though classics such as vanilla and chocolate will always be ready to serve.

This afternoon, the do-it-yourself stations were dispensing banana, sweet coconut, cheesecake and red velvet; there were more than 20 topping choices, including honeydew, kiwi, blueberries, Gummi Bears and low-fat granola.

The frozen treats go for 49 cents an ounce.

Only U, 159 First Avenue (East 10th Street), 212-254-8886.

Daniel Maurer

Suzanne RozdebaJune 21.

There’s trouble on Avenue A today, as the Fares Deli-Grocery has been seized by the state. A notice on the shutter cites nonpayment of taxes. It’s only the latest attention-grabbing sign to be slapped on the bodega between St. Marks Place and Seventh Street: last month a tipster noted that the police department had put notice of a restraining order on the front door prohibiting the illegal sale of alcoholic beverages. Two unfortunate setbacks for a spot that recently gussied up its old-school bodega signage. We’ve asked the state Department of Taxation and Finance as well as the Liquor Authority for information about specific violations. We’ll let you know what we hear.

Update | 4:10 p.m. A spokesperson for the Department of Taxation and Finance said the business was seized today as a result of a tax warrant filed with the New York County Clerk on June 5, related to $218,000 of unpaid sales tax from the years 2006 to 2008. “What we’re talking about here is sales tax that was collected from customers but not remitted for state and local government purposes,” said Geoff Gloak.

Paul Defiglia The line at Momofuku today at around 6 p.m.

Paul Defiglia Yep, it goes around the corner.

Nothing is more appetizing in 95-degree weather than…a hot bowl of ramen noodles? Fans are lining up in droves outside of Momofuku Noodle Bar for a taste of guest chef Ivan Orkin’s cooking. These photos were taken at 6 p.m., a half-hour after the event was scheduled to begin. So much for “walk-in” only.

Update | 7 p.m. A Momofuku employee is now telling people that the list for Mr. Orkin’s ramen has been closed and those not on it won’t get a taste. He said the restaurant sold three times as much ramen as it had expected to during the first hour.

Daniel Maurer Mercat

Last month The Times reported that Hung Ry had served its last bowl of noodles on Bond Street, and it now looks like Mercat may have shuttered on the same block. On June 27, we tried to watch the Spain-Portugal game and found the tapas bar closed without explanation. Same deal during several return visits, and phone calls have gone to a full voice mailbox numerous times.

Last night, we peered in to see a copy of Norman Mailer’s “The Gospel According to the Son” on the bar along with a couple of wine glasses, but not a person in site. Weird, right? Same deal this afternoon. The shelves behind the bar are mostly empty of alcohol.

An employee of neighboring Il Buco said the restaurant has been consistently dark over the past month.

The Catalan tapas bar opened in 2007 and expanded to Williamsburg in 2009 only to close after less than a year there.

Bummer, but here’s some good news: Eater reports that Mighty Quinn’s, a popular vendor at the Brooklyn Flea’s Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, is going brick and mortar in the former Vandaag space. Owner Hugh Mangum calls his style of barbecue “Texalina,” which the Brooklyn Flea blog described as “a cross between the authentic Texas BBQ he grew up with and the eastern Carolina methods he learned from his wife Laura, who hails from North Carolina.”

A neighbor of IHOP passes along word that last night someone was inspecting the new ventilator equipment and ventilator unit that several people said is making a loud mechanical hum around the clock. A Department of Environmental Protection inspector is also expected to check out the equipment today. Yesterday the owner of the restaurant said that the new machinery, which cost more than $40,000, may need some adjustments to alleviate the noise. Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post referred to the ventilation unit as a “smog-hog.” That reference has been deleted since the term is a brand name and Smog Hog says that it did not manufacture the unit in question.

Sandy Berger The ventilation unit on the roof of IHOP.

Out of the bacon frying pan, into the din of the ventilation unit.

Earlier this month, neighbors of the IHOP on East 14th Street were thrilled when the smell of bacon was greatly reduced by a new ventilator unit on the roof of the restaurant. But the elation quickly gave way to frustration as they realized that the odor-eater causes an around-the-clock ruckus.

“It looks like a locomotive and sounds like a locomotive,” said Sandy Berger, who documented her life as an IHOP neighbor in The Bacon Diaries. Read more…

Sarah Darville

If you’re the type to slurp ramen on the off-season, take note: Ramen Setagaya on St. Marks is closed until July 26. The Local spotted workers hauling bags of debris out of the restaurant this morning; head contractor Tom Kim said they were replacing the cracked wooden floor with new tile.

So where can you get your ramen fix in the meantime? Tomorrow at Momofuku Noodle Bar, Ivan Orkin will take over for the night. Mr. Orkin, originally from Long Island, made his name at his own noodle shops in Japan. Noodle Bar will serve three of his creations  – including one featuring pork neck, pork fat, chicken feet, and bacon – along with a smaller selection of their normal dinner food. The menu might be a sign of what’s to come at Mr. Orkin’s planned New York City restaurant; Grub Street reported last month that he’s looking to open a U.S. outpost by the end of the year.

The “Invader from Planet Ramen” goes from 5:30 p.m. “till the ramen runs out” and is first come, first slurp (no reservations), so get there early.

Ray Lemoine Jose Collado

A couple of businesses are expanding on Avenue C.

Jose Collado is planning to open Yankee Pizza next to his current operation, Yankee Deli at Avenue C and East 11th Street, as well as a food market across the street. The 40-year-old Mr. Collado, who grew up on 14th Street and also owns Yankee Two Deli along with a couple of others in the neighborhood, said that New York Healthy Choice, in the former Monk Thrift Shop space at 177 Avenue C, would concentrate on fresh greens, meat and seafood as well as the usual canned goods.

Meanwhile, Rob Ceraso, co-owner of The Wayland, said his cocktail bar will expand next-door, into the former home of the Bite Me Best pizza parlor, so that it can add a proper kitchen, six more bar seats, and a handful more table seats. Once gas ovens replace the electric induction ovens that are currently behind the bar, the menu will expand and the bar will also begin opening earlier, at 5 p.m. Mr. Ceraso said he hoped to be able to show off the upgrades next month.

Shira Levine

For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: Best Housekeeping.

How has Best Housekeeping managed to stay in business since 1924? “Old-fashioned, corny customer service,” said Fred Stern, whose father bought the building that houses the wholesale appliance store at 17 Avenue A for a mere $110,000 some 34 years ago (the store’s original owner, Bernie Hymowitz, chose the name Best Housekeeping to honor his own initials). Mr. Stern, who inherited the role of president from his father Martin ten years ago, said that over the past few years business has improved 25 percent, in part because competitors have gone under. Now, he’s hustling to get the enterprise ready for the next generation to take over: he has six boys and one girl. “I will consider myself lucky if two of them go into the business,” he said. “Let’s just say I don’t think I’m busting my chops for nothing to make it.”

You do kitchen appliances and cabinetry; most businesses do one or the other.

Actually, it was initially a furniture store with a little bit of appliances on the side. My father dropped about half the amount of furniture and upped the appliances. When I took over I dropped all the furniture to focus on just appliances and cabinetry. We kept the name, though. We like the old sign. Read more…

Sarah Darville

Ray Lemoine The gutted Chinatown Brasserie.

New signage went up today at 380 Lafayette Street (Great Jones Street), where Chinatown Brasserie recently closed. Last month, Diner’s Journal reported that Andrew Carmellini, Luke Ostrom and Josh Pickard, who own The Dutch and Locanda Verde, are opening a French restaurant in the bi-level space.

It’s a return to form for Mr. Carmellini, who received acclaim cooking French cuisine under Daniel Boulud of DBGB, and the chef’s second project on Lafayette Street. He and his partners are also opening The Library at Joe’s Pub, just a block away.

Melvin Felix

Somebody call Michael Moore: there’s been a Factory closing on 14th Street.

The mysteriously-closed Meatball Factory is a goner and will become a seafood restaurant next month, its new owner said today. Miha Khondoker, who previously owned the West Village’s now-closed Mixx Lounge, said he’s busy deciding on a name and finalizing the new restaurant’s menu and decor.

“It’s going to be very different,” he said. Read more…

Something Sweet, the small bakery on the corner of 11th Street and First Avenue, is “closed for now,” according to a sign in the window. The bakery’s display cases were empty and its gate was down on Tuesday. Health Department records show that it was forced to close following an inspection on July 2 that found a missing food protection certificate, evidence of mice and flies, and food that was contaminated or not discarded properly. The shop has closed unexpectedly a few times before.

Daniel Maurer Zaragoza.

Zaragoza’s nearly year-long quest for a beer and wine license is entering the final stretch.

Ruben Martinez, one of the deli’s owners, confirmed that the family-owned business will soon go before the State Liquor Authority after filing missing paperwork with Community Board 3.

“It was my fault. I had other things on my mind and I didn’t sign it off,” Mr. Martinez said of the documents that agreed to a series of community board stipulations. “It was just dropped off a week later and it wasn’t on time.”

For Zaragoza, the dry spell began last July when its alcohol license expired. The family failed to renew it and, a month later, they were charged for selling beer with an expired license. (It didn’t help that they sold the alcohol to a minor, either).
Read more…

Pat Merino Another day of drinking at McSorley’s.

One of the neighborhood’s most famous landmarks has joined the chorus for an historic district in the neighborhood.

In the past, the owner of McSorley’s Old Ale House was wary of any regulation of renovations to their building at 15 East Seventh Street. But now they would rather be included in the 330 buildings that comprise the proposed East Village-Lower East Side Historic District.

“We’ve surrendered to it, it’s time,” said Bill Wander, an unofficial historian of the bar who is close to its owner. “Now that the rest of the neighborhood is going to be protected, let’s not be left out.”

McSorley’s embraces its history as much as any business in the East Village. In February, for example, the McSorley’s Militia celebrated its 158th anniversary with a five-gun salute in Revolutionary War garb. Still, bar owner Matthew Maher had been skeptical of the designation for the typical reasons — the approval process involved in replacing things like windows and air conditioning units.
Read more…