Eater has a write-up of one of The Local’s favorite watering holes, Lucy’s. The article examines the revered bartender who has gotten plenty of attention on this site, but it’s the photographs that caught our attention; has Lucy’s ever been so…bright? It appears likely that the photographer brought in lights for his shots, giving the dive a whole new look. Regardless, it’s a timely primer for happy hour, which is just around the corner.

The neighborhood is getting a new fried chicken joint, and this one has a colorful past that goes far beyond secret recipes. Pudgie’s Famous Chicken, which EV Grieve noted is replacing the shuttered King Gyro on First Avenue between Third and Fourth Streets, was once run by a former chairman of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce who was accused of embezzlement. The New York Post reported in August of last year that Jeffrey Bernstein abruptly resigned his post at the Chamber after he was accused of embezzling more than $2.3 million from the non-profit Albert Ellis Institute while serving as its president. In an article from 2003 in Chain Leader, a magazine for restaurant executives, Mr. Bernstein was described as a “turnaround artist” who bought the troubled Pudgie’s chain and made it profitable.

Phillip Kalantzis-Cope Odessa is still standing.

In 1986, a New York magazine article coined the term “blintz-krieg” while reviewing over a dozen Polish and Ukrainian coffee shops and restaurants then crowding the neighborhood. In light of Polonia’s recent closing, it seems a fitting time to remember some of those Eastern European haunts.

Suzanne Rozdeba 111 Avenue A, former home of Leshko’s.

In 1966, Andy Warhol came upon the ballroom of the Polish National Home in a row of St. Marks Place townhouses when searching for a venue for a nightclub he hoped to create. The Polish National Home had taken over 19-25 St. Marks Place back in the 1920s. In the 1880s, when the area was known as Little Germany, the buildings had housed the Arion Society, a German music club. Warhol took part of the Polish Home’s name (Polski Dom Narodowy) for his club, The Dom, in which he showcased a then unknown band he managed, The Velvet Underground. (Yesterday, The Post reported that the band is suing the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.) Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba A chef and his puddin’.

A week after opening, Puddin’ by Clio has already shut its doors – temporarily. A sign in the window reads: “Closed until Friday 4 p.m. We are cooking and cooking…good ole’ pudding.”

“We are slammed,” explained Clio Goodman, an owner and the executive chef. “It’s been the craziest couple of days ever. We sold out in an hour and a half on our first day.”

Hevra, Clio’s mom and sous chef, said her daughter was already considering opening a second production kitchen. “Because we’re so tiny, we’re limited in how much we can produce here,” she said. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The owner of Ame Ame, Teresa Soroka.

A new store on Ninth Street takes the term “specialty shop” to the next level.

Ame Ame caters to the stylish New Yorker caught in the rain who also happens to have a sweet tooth. The name for the store comes from the Japanese word “ame,” which means — that’s right — both “rain” and “candy.”

“I want to put an end to those disposable, cheap, ugly black umbrellas,” said owner Teresa Soroka, 30, who opened the store on Nov. 16. “They’re bad for the environment, and in a fashionable city they’re a disgrace.”

So, why all the candy? “What’s better on a rainy day than a bag of candy?” Ms. Soroka explained. “I wanted a colorful, cheerful experience when shopping.” Read more…

Jessica Bell

B.A.D. Burger wasn’t the only restaurant that went before members of Community Board 3 last night: at the meeting of the S.L.A. and D.C.A. Licensing committee, Gyula Bertok, 42, and Attila Draviczki, 43, received support for their bid for liquor at a new address. The partners plan to take over the former home of Angels & Kings on East 11th Street and serve sausages and other Hungarian fare.

The Local reported in December that neighbors opposed Keybar’s previous plan to relocate to 14 Avenue B. “We were here a month ago and the community opposition was huge,” Mr. Bertok admitted. “We understand the concern, but we are part of the community as well. We think we can change this for the better, and they supported us finally.”

Neighbors spoke out against the proposed 11th Street location as well, issuing the usual pleas that the area was already too congested with nightlife; but at least one neighbor welcomed the idea of Hungarian cuisine. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The electrifying scene at last night’s meeting.

The always-colorful Community Board 3 liquor license committee recommended on Monday night that one of its more outspoken critics not be allowed to serve beer and wine at his restaurant.

The board denied the beer-wine license for Keith Masco’s 24-hour B.A.D. Burger, citing the proximity of other booze-selling establishments, similar restaurants that operate without licenses, and “consistent community opposition.”

“B.A.D. Burger, bad neighbor. Deny them,” said Shawn Chittle, who lives above the restaurant at 171 Avenue A.
Read more…

Zagat Buzz hears that “in roughly two weeks, the space attached to Momofuku Ssäm Bar (that used to house the first Milk Bar) will transform to a technology-heavy cocktail lounge” serving “a menu of 22 creations, made with the likes of liquid nitrogen and high-tech toys (a rotovap and centrifuge among them)” as well as accompanying food. David Chang confirms via Twitter: “True! Dave Arnold created own company with @momofuku, called ‘Dax & Booker’, one of first projects is working w Ssam Bar bar on booze.”

Suzanne Rozdeba

For 12 years, H. Song helped run East Village Farm with his wife and his mother, a grandmotherly woman known to sneak candy into customers’ bags at the counter. But this will be the last month of business for the grocery store on Avenue A near Sixth Street.

“We’re closing at the end of the month,” said Mr. Song, 56, who first identified himself as a partner in East Village Farm Plus Inc., which owns the deli, and then said he is now a manager. “I came with a dream to America. I started with a small store, and then I dreamed of something bigger. But I lost everything. I give up,” he said.

Rumors that the store was closing first surfaced on EV Grieve today. Read more…

In one of The Local’s most commented stories of 2011, the owner of Mara’s Homemade blamed bike lanes for the closing of her restaurant. The owners of The Toucan and The Lion, which quietly opened in the former Mara’s space on East Sixth Street last month, say they’re just fine with them.

“Having a bike lane on First Avenue creates a lot of order,” said Craig Dagata, 33. “It makes the neighborhood so much more convenient for everybody traveling.”

Mr. Dagata – who has worked in the restaurant industry as a manager, bartender, and events planner – and his partner, Tabitha Tan, 29 – a freelance food-and-lifestyle writer turned events organizer – gutted the old Mara’s space and built a marble 6-stool bar and communal table on one side of the room. On the other side, a small dining room holds 30 seats. Read more…

David Chang, the chef and owner of the Momofuku restaurants, tells the Times’s Travel section “Where to Go Eat in 2012,” and one of his recommendations, Kajitsu, is right here in the East Village: “I think, consistently, it might be the best restaurant in the city,” he writes. “And it’s totally a value; there’s an eight-course tasting menu for $70. The executive chef, Masato Nishihara, serves Shojin temple food, an ancient cuisine developed in Buddhist monasteries — sort of Japanese comfort food. It’s all vegetables, but you’re not going to miss the meat. And his pickles are so delicious. It’s a thought-provoking experience, but also incredibly fun and extremely tasty.”

Daniel Maurer

Just how excited are some East Villagers about the Starbucks that’s replacing the Bean at First Avenue and Third Street? Well, in addition to the crude messages that were affixed to construction plywood at that location last month, The Local spotted the flyers at left attached to the plywood at the Bean’s soon-to-open location at First Avenue and Ninth Street, and the message at right chalked onto the exterior of Khufu, the coffee shop and hookah lounge around the corner from the ‘bucks. Not that any of this is delaying the inevitable; as you can see below, workers were putting scaffolding up at the Starbucks site this morning.  Read more…

Puddin’ by Clio, a new dessert shop offering pudding, parfaits, cakes and pies, will open on St. Marks Place today at 11 a.m. Clio Goodman, 23, the founder and executive chef, has enlisted her mom, Hevra, as sous chef. “We’ll be here until midnight,” said mom as she made preparations days before opening, making phone calls and taking orders from her daughter.

Puddings, which cost between $5.50 and $12.50, include creamy butterscotch (made with actual scotch), vanilla (made with Madagascar vanilla beans), chocolate, and vegan coconut. There are also parfaits like the “Banana Cream Dream,” made with banana pudding, graham cracker crumbs, banana cake and a dollop of whipped cream. Watch The Local’s video to see the mother-daughter duo in action, and check out the menu below. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

JapaDog’s takeout menu boasts a photo of a line down the block at one of its original hot dog stands in Vancouver, Canada, but no such line has formed outside of its first stateside outpost, which opened at 30 St. Marks Place, between Second and Third Avenues, earlier today. We’ll give the place credit for the shortest soft-opening period in history: Yesterday, a tweet announced, “Opening ceremony is going to be held at 2:40 pm on 5th Jan! And GRAND OPENING is at 3:00 pm!”

When The Local spoke to Noriki Tamura, the mini chain’s owner, back in November, he promised a special dog made with Kobe beef – turns out, it’s topped with caviar and costs $13.04 (other dogs range from $7.99 to $9.55). Have a look at JapaDog’s interior below, and ponder the takeout menu if you care to find out what the Love Meat hot dog consists of. Hours are 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday and till 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Read more…

Photos: Noah Fecks

A couple of months after its roll-down gate was painted by Chico, Bobwhite Lunch & Supper Counter opened at 94 Avenue C, near Sixth Street, last night. Keedick Coulter, the restaurant’s 33-year-old owner, said he hoped the menu would evoke the home-cooked meals he enjoyed at the family table while growing up in Roanoke, V.A.

Mr. Coulter described his menu as “more Old Dominion than deep south,” adding, “People come in sometimes and say, ‘Where are you from?’ and when I say, ‘Virginia,’ they have this disappointed look on their faces because they’re from Mississippi or Alabama and Virginia doesn’t count in their minds.”

Don’t expect to see barbecue and mac and cheese on the menu – at least, not very often. The specialty – executed by chef Amanda Beame, a recent graduate of the Culinary Institute of America – is fried chicken, made with free-range organic meat (white or dark) and paired with biscuits and a side salad consisting of produce from upstate farms. Read more…

Sarah C. Tung Sign at EV Shoe Repair

After drafting a letter to landlords promoting retail diversity in the face of a nightlife glut, Community Board 3 has formed a subcommittee that may take some of its cues from San Francisco legislation.

On Tuesday, Community Board 3 announced that it had drafted a letter to local landlords asking them to respond to a “high demand for more daytime retail business such as grocers, butchers, shoe stores, stationery stores and other businesses that serve our local residents” rather than moving further in the current direction of “too many bars and eating/drinking businesses.”

During a meeting of the Economic Development committee last night, Mary DeStefano, an urban fellow for the board, outlined several strategies to insure such growth, including formula business restrictions, a measure that she said had proved successful in San Francisco. The move would limit the amount of chains by requiring a “formula business,” defined as “a restaurant or store that has 11 or more locations nationally,” to apply for a special permit, she said. Read more…

Renata Jurczyk spent Dec. 29 with her family, cleaning out Polonia, the restaurant she had owned for 28 years and shuttered on Christmas Eve.

“I feel bad for the people who came here. They felt like this is their home and it’s a big part of their lives. And it’s gone,” she said.

Ms. Jurczyk abandoned her career aspirations to run the restaurant, which first opened at 126 First Avenue (it moved a block down six years later). “I finished law school in Poland,” she said. “I never dreamed about having a restaurant. I came here when I finished school. I started to go to school here to become a paralegal, but I didn’t finish because I had too much work in the restaurant and small kids.  It was too much.”

The Local spoke to Ms. Jurczyk and her daughters as they packed up last week.

Photos: Noah Fecks
In this week’s “Off the Menu” column, Florence Fabricant announces a couple of local openings – L’asso EV at 107 First Avenue and Bobwhite Lunch and Supper Counter at 94 Avenue C. When The Local alerted you to L’asso’s opening last week, we promised a look at the interior and at the menu. Enjoy the former above, and the latter below. And, of course, a close-up look at the pies. Read more…

On Sunday, Billy Leroy shuttered Billy’s Antiques & Props, the tent on East Houston Street that will be replaced by a two-story building. The store’s most expensive item in the days before it closed was a $3,500 Coney Island boardwalk sign, but its keeper said he would sell some pricier merchandise at the new location: “The tent limits the price we can charge. You can’t charge $5,000 for something a boutique could easily get. It’s going to change. It’s going to be an upscale Billy’s.”

Before packing up and heading off to vacation in Paris (he’s half-French), Mr. Leroy showed The Local his five favorite relics of the old neighborhood – places that might just be considered oddities or antiques in what he said was a new era of mom jeans and flip-flops.