The East Village’s most well-known yoga studio, Yoga to the People, has been sued by the originator of the Bikram variety of yoga for stealing poses, DNAInfo reports. Bikram Choudhury, the creator of the yoga done in sweltering studios, alleges that instructors at Yoga to the People were illegally using his copyrighted poses. Mr. Choudhury is seeking over $1 million in damages.

Stephen Rex Brown Workers packed up at Hottie on Monday night.

Stephen Rex Brown Hottie at 5 St. Marks Place.

Employees were spotted packing up the inventory at Hottie on St. Marks Place on Monday night.

Aurora Berdejo, a sales associate at the gaudy jewelry store between Second and Third Avenues, would only say it was closing for “personal reasons.” Another employee, Olivia Lee, said that the store had been open for four years, and that the rent was $10,000 per month.

A “For rent” sign was already up in the window.

Lauren Carol Smith The now-closed location of Nevada Smiths.

The popular soccer bar Nevada Smiths served its final beer last night, but there’s no need to behave like a hooligan: the staff will be showing games at Webster Hall until the bar reopens at its new location.

Owner Patrick McCarthy told The Local that he planned on showing his first game at Webster Hall this weekend. A staffer at the nightclub and concert hall confirmed the arrangement.

“It’s perfect in there,” said Mr. McCarthy, who was cleaning out his old space on Third Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets. “I want to stay in the neighborhood, naturally. This all worked out great.” Read more…

Courtesy of Frontstoop Films.

I Love Old New York recently visited the Block Drug Store, snapped a few pictures from the sidewalk, and chatted up the owner, Carmine Palermo. The blog’s shutterbug wasn’t allowed to shoot inside, however: “[Mr. Palermo] told us that such permission would cost a lot of money.” The Local called up the pharmacy to inquire about Mr. Palmero’s asking price, and he said that in general he only charges top dollar to filmmakers.

“We’re local,” he explained. “People depend on us. There are very few times when we can close — they want to take over the store for 12, 15 hours.”

So, just how much would he charge? “Whatever it takes to discourage them,” Mr. Palermo said.

Of course, nothing is stopping filmmakers from shooting the store’s neon sign. That’s exactly what local auteur Ajay Naidu did for the above shot in his film “Ashes,” which recently became available online.

Daniel Maurer, Japa Dog The store as it was today, and a rendering of the interior design.

This morning, The Local spotted a construction crew working on the East Village outpost of Japa Dog, the Japanese-style hot dog chain that counts Anthony Bourdain (and apparently Ice Cube and Steven Seagal) as fans. Noriki Tamura, who founded the chain in Vancouver, Canada, where it now boasts four mobile locations and a storefront, said the first of what he hoped would be multiple New York City outposts (including hot dog stands) will open at 30 St. Marks Place sometime next month.

So why St. Marks? “There are so many stores here; so many restaurants,” said Mr. Tamura, with the aid of an interpreter. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Avenue A Mini Market.

A construction shed has gone up at the boarded-up Avenue A Mini Market. A worker told The Local today that another bodega would open in the space between Ninth and 10th Streets. In September, the 24-hour store posted a sign saying it would soon reopen. One month later, a sign in the window advertised the space to potential tenants. A call to the building’s landlord was not answered.

The New York Post reports that famed playboy and hotelier André Balazs will officially seal the deal on his purchase of the Cooper Square Hotel today, and that he will change its name to The Standard East Village. Those aren’t the only changes in store: The tabloid reports that the hotel’s “public spaces will be reconfigured, its rooms refurbished and its restaurants overhauled.” When Balazs appeared before Community Board 3 in September he pledged to keep the hotel fairly low-key in comparison with the original Standard on the west side. Still, does this mean the end of The Trilby?

Daniel Maurer

Two restaurants on First Avenue near 12th Street (where at least one news truck was still parked earlier today) are in trouble. As mentioned earlier, EV Grieve noticed that Sahara East, which has for years lured a young set to its back garden, has been seized by authorities for nonpayment of taxes. A spokesman for the state Department of Taxation and Finance now reveals that the hookah spot owes $393,773.41 in “open tax warrants” (unpaid taxes). The Local hasn’t yet been able to contact the restaurant’s owners to find out whether they will try to reopen.

One block north, a reader told Grieve that Quantum Leap, a vegetarian restaurant, might close this week. A hostess at the restaurant, Elizabeth Perez, told The Local that indeed it would close tomorrow in the wake of a recent rent increase. Read more…

Photos: Noah Fecks

Yesterday evening, Joe Dobias, the chef-owner of JoeDoe on First Street, opened a spin-off sandwich shop, JoeDough, at 135 First Avenue between St. Marks Place and Ninth Street. Slicing bread in a 4-seat nook decorated with personal tchotkes, Mr. Dobias said, “This place is for the customers. It’s about what they want. My other restaurant is about my ego and what I want.”

That said, at least a couple of JoeDough’s $10 sandwiches are carryovers from JoeDoe: The Conflicted Jew consists of chicken liver, bacon and onions on challah bread; the JoseDoe Cubano is made with roasted pork shoulder, shoulder bacon, Swiss cheese, mustard sauce and house-made pickles. Read more…

Photos: Noah Fecks

After a couple of preview dinners for friends and family, the East Village outpost of Williamsburg’s B.A.D. (“Breakfast All Day”) Burger will open for 24-hour, seven-days-a-week service at 7 p.m. tonight. Perry “Pee Wee” Masco, who owns the restaurant with her brother Keith, said she hoped to honor the history of its address, 171 Avenue A, as a rock-and-roll destination. In the 1980s, the late Jerry Williams, after briefly using the space as an after-hours club, turned it into a rehearsal and recording studio where the Bad Brains and other punk and hardcore legends performed. Read more…

Brendan Bernhard

While we’re peering into forthcoming Italian restaurants, here’s a shot that contributor Brendan Bernard took inside of Zi’ Pep, the Southern Italian restaurant that Gerard Renny of Stuzzicheria and Pane Panelle is bringing to 424 East Ninth Street. As mentioned in The Day this morning, The Feed posted a write-up of the restaurant along with photos of a few dishes. Grub Street posted the menu last week. An employee tells us that Zi’ Pep is serving friends and family tonight and will open to the public tomorrow at 5 p.m.

Noticed a new business opening? Snap a photo for The Local’s Flickr pool, and tip us off via e-mail.

When Greg Nardello, 55, and his son of the same name, 23 (shown above), opened a new bar at 115 St. Marks Place near Avenue A over Halloween weekend, they hadn’t yet settled on a name. They’ve since christened it The Burger Shop and erected a sign painted by local street artist Beau. Yesterday they put the finishing touches on the storefront by installing planks of recycled wood acquired from M. Fine Lumber in Brooklyn.

The Nardellos, who live in Bayswater, Queens, built out the bar’s interior themselves, using many such planks – some of them 140 years old. A tabletop in the back corner nook, where prints of vintage pin-ups hang, is actually a repurposed sewer grate that Mr. Nardello, Sr. acquired at a construction site when he was in the business (before going into construction, he owned a bar in Queens). Read more…

Steven Kim tells The Local that NY Tofu House, his new Korean eatery at 6 St. Marks Place (a building that was once home to the New St. Marks Baths), may open as early as tomorrow, assuming all goes well at a private preview dinner tonight. The Local attended a similar event last week and found the grills firing, pop music blaring, and waiters offering bowls of tofu stew to more than two dozen attendees. Watch our video to see the restaurant’s interior as well as some of the dishes on the menu below. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

Time Warner, the cable company that boasts a measly 1.5 stars on Yelp, has been going out of its way to please the neighborhood of late. Maybe they’re nervous about that rogue Comcast truck? Witness the form letter (and a flyer) from a so-called Concierge Relationship Representative for the 10009 zip code that recently appeared in the foyer of at least one East Village building. “I would like to personally take this time to speak with you,” writes Sheeva Butler, who includes her cell phone number, “to discuss any needs or concerns that you may currently have.” Sure – let’s grab a latte at Ost? Meanwhile, a contributor to The Local who preferred to remain anonymous e-mailed us this tale of an unexpectedly fruitful exchange with Time Warner’s customer service department. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The moving truck outside of Life Cafe.

Kathy Kirkpatrick, the owner of Life Cafe, was spotted moving kitchen equipment out of the beloved eatery this afternoon — the latest sign that her business remains in limbo.

Ms. Kirkpatrick, who closed down the cafe in September because of the condition of the building, told The Local she remained frustrated with her landlords.

“Significant work still needs to be done,” she said. “There is scaffolding; a pigeon coop with [crap] falling on the sidewalk; they ripped down my awning; no one can see the cafe; there are sloping floors; they ripped off frontage, exposing ugly brick.”

But one of the landlords of the building, Bob Perl, said that the repairs should only last around 45 more days. “She could have been in possession all through this time,” Mr. Perl said. “Construction to repair the building is ongoing right now.”
Read more…

Tonight, the Williamsburg outpost of Mama’s, an East Village comfort-food fixture since 1995, officially debuts after having “soft opened” on Thursday. Last night at a private party, The Local sat down with Jeremiah Clancy, the onetime manager of Mama’s Bar who bought Mama’s Food Shop in 2007. Mr. Clancy, who grew up in Chicago and now resides in Prospect Heights, lived in South Williamsburg in the 1990s. “It reminds me of what the East Village was 15 years ago,” he said, smoking a cigarette at an outdoor table that looked onto an overpass of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, a street festooned with Dominican flags, and a playground where he said games of pick-up basketball are popular.

Inside, portraits of mothers – including those of the restaurant’s landlord and broker, as well as some belonging to local residents – hung on the walls. “I didn’t want to compete with Bedford or Berry,” said Mr. Clancy of his off-the-strip location. “I just wanted to provide good cheap food for the neighborhood.” Read more…

Today The Local is turning its attention to the monks of the East Village. Earlier we heard from an investment banker turned Bhakti monk. Now: a pair of former monks turned cheese mongers.

Co-owner Lobsang Tsultrim, in the office at
East Village Cheese.

Around the corner from Astor Place, the East Village Cheese shop is a long way from the Himalayan plateau, where owners Thupten Tenphel, 35, and Lobsang Tsultrim, 29, grew up. Like many who opposed the Chinese occupation of Tibet, they were forced to flee the country in the 1990s because of their political views. Neither spoke a word of English when they arrived in New York, but they found work at East Village Cheese and taught themselves in part by listening to chatter in the cramped, bustling store.

On a recent afternoon, as employees waited on customers, they spoke about their journey. Sharing a desk in a small office behind the counter, the two also share a timid, humble nature – a vestige of their upbringing as Buddhist monks. From time to time, they even complete each other’s sentences when command of the new tongue wavers. Read more…

Cyn Darling Ariel Palitz with Darryl McDaniels from Run DMC.

The owner of the neighborhood’s hip-hop haven is looking to expand her brand and open a new business that goes beyond the club scene.

Ariel Palitz, the owner of Sutra Lounge on First Avenue, put her club on the market last week — only a few days before she celebrates its seventh anniversary.

While insisting that her business was making as much money as ever, Ms. Palitz admitted to The Local that she has been mulling over a new endeavor in the East Village.

“It’s a unique idea. It will have food, alcohol, there will be unexpected services — it’s going to be an unexpected twist on what I think the future of nightlife is,” she said, without going into further details. Read more…

Photos: Noah Fecks

Hamid Rashidzada tells us that he and his partner in Summit Bar, Greg Seider, opened Prima, their first restaurant together, on East First Street yesterday. This will be a neighborhood affair: Not only did the duo enlist Mathieu Palombino (of Motorino and the forthcoming Bowery Diner) as well as David Malbequi (formerly of BLT Fish, now of Bowery Diner) to design a seafood-centric dinner menu, but they’re also teaming with Ken Nye, the owner of Ninth Street Espresso.

Once coffee service (from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m.) starts in a couple of weeks, Prima will be the only restaurant carrying Ninth Street’s full array of espresso drinks, according to Mr. Rashidzada. In the meantime, it’s open for dinner from Sunday through Wednesday from 5 p.m. till midnight and till 1 a.m. from Thursday through Saturday (the bar, manned by Mr. Seider, will stay open for cocktails an hour later). Read more…