Kim Davis was good and thorough during his recent tour of East Village biscuit destinations, but something occurred to us: he overlooked 7-Eleven’s $1 biscuit! We asked our trusted chowhound to swallow his pride and give it a nibble. Here’s how it stacked up against the others.
Lauren Carol Smith
Ninety years ago, the New York columnist O.O. McIntyre was complaining that the Bowery wasn’t what it used to be. He detected “the faint rustle of silk.” What he couldn’t have anticipated was the faint rustle of hungry bargain-hunters unwrapping hot, steamy dollar biscuits, sold at the front counter of a spanking new 7-Eleven.
A review? Well, the biscuit tasted biscuity, thanks no doubt to the “natural butter flavor” listed along with dozens of other ingredients on the wrapper. It was more soggy than dry, its texture contrasting sharply with the springiness of the pale pork patty. “Spices,” the wrapper duly noted, and in fact I found pepper flakes in the sausage, responsible for the warm after-burn in the throat. Read more…
The police and fire departments said that a person was struck and killed by a Brooklyn-bound subway train near the Third Avenue station shortly before 8:21 a.m. this morning. L train service was suspended between Bedford and Eighth Avenues. No further details were available because the investigation is ongoing. Update: The MTA announced at 11:27 a.m. that service had resumed in two sections: between the Eighth Avenue and Bedford Avenue stations, and between the Bedford Avenue and Rockaway Parkway-Canarise stations.
Last week the Lo-Down reported that neighborhood activist Ayo Harrington complained to Community Board 3, among other organizations, about a mural on East Second Street near Avenue A that she considered “racially offensive” as well as sexist (the complaint was forwarded to New York City Commission on Human Rights).
Tats Cru, the Bronx-based graffiti artists who painted the mural, told the Lo-Down it was nothing more than “a marriage proposal where the guy wanted to depict cartoon versions of him and his girlfriend where he is trying to rescue her, sort of saving the princess type of thing.” Later, the man who commissioned the mural, Adam Sirois, wrote, “it is a shame that something bred of love is getting sprinkled with negativity because one individual misconstrued it – a piece of art, no less.”
Time-lapse video of the mural’s creation has now hit YouTube – what do you think: retrograde or romantic?
The New York Post reports that the police arrested Ariel Herrera and Logan Delfugeo on East 14th Street between Second and Third Avenues on Wednesday “after busting up their half-baked East Village drug deal and discovering a sweet stash of dozens of marijuana-laced Rice Krispies Treats.” The Post calls the block “a drug-sales hotspot.” Officers found the stash in the back seat of Mr. Herrera’s 2011 Honda Accord. “I guess these guys wanted to take care of the high and the munchies all at once,” a law enforcement source told the paper. Check out The Local’s crime blotter for more neighborhood crime news.
The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors reminds us that The International Center of Photography has a current exhibition, “Weegee: Murder is My Business,” on the photography of Weegee, who shot some of the most iconic photos of the Bowery and the Lower East Side.
EV Grieve writes that the Centre-fuge Public Art Project, “a rotating outdoor gallery with work by multimedia artists,” kicks off this weekend on East First Street. Rotating artists will beautify a drab, gray trailer, used by Second Avenue subway workers, that’s sitting on the south side of First Street. Read more…
A memorial service for Mary Spink, the local activist who died on Jan. 16 at the age of 64, will be held this Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at Cooper Union on East Seventh Street and Third Avenue. In an e-mail to The Local, Rona Clemente, the acting executive director of the Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association, wrote, “We are extending an invitation to the entire Lower East Side to join friends and colleagues at the memorial service.”
What happens when you leave a bike out for a year? Red Peak, a branding and design company, decided to find out by chaining one to a pole in SoHo and photographing it every day. Their time-lapse video, posted by EV Grieve, shows the bike disappearing by day 270. Maybe we’re jaded from so many bike thefts, but isn’t this a little man bites dog?
If you want a real story, take a look at the glorious Huffy above. Back in 2009, the author of this post chained it to a pole in the East Village, stupidly lost the key to the lock, and decided it wasn’t worth spending the $75 to $95 that a local locksmith would’ve charged to cut the chain. It was December (not quite biking weather), and this thing wasn’t exactly Tour de France material. But, man – more than two years later, it’s still there. As you can see, the tires have gone flat and the wheels have rusted, but still – impressive! Heck, after two years of salary bumps, it might just be time to spring for a locksmith. Every time we pass by it, it gives us the saddest little puppy-dog eyes.
Isabella Aqel grew up in a house where her family ate Arabic and Dominican meals, so it was only natural that she bring the cuisines to Tink’s, which she’ll open on East Seventh Street in about four to six weeks.
“My father is from Jordan, my mother is Irish[-American], and we had a Dominican nanny growing up while my parents worked,” she told The Local. “We’ve been cooking since my mother could sit me on the counter.” With a laugh, she described her family as “ethnically confused.”
Adding to that, Ms. Aqel, 24, who studied pastry-making at the French Culinary Institute and graduated about a year ago, said her cooking would also have a French spin. Read more…
Billy Leroy isn’t the only East Village stalwart who counts Lucien as one of his favorite haunts.
Chatting with The Local during his art opening at Churner and Churner Gallery last week, Taylor Mead said that he also frequents the French restaurant on First Avenue.
“I do all my interviews there,” said the 87-year-old writer and artist. “I just met some European journalists there the other day.” Read more…
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, The King Center has made available online for the first time 200,000 documents, including a handwritten draft of the civil rights activist’s acceptance speech for the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, and notes on the ending of his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.
And if you want to toast Dr. King over brunch, 7A Cafe and Yuca Bar are among the local spots offering special M.L.K. Day menus.
The Lo-Down has a roundup of stories about the tragic death of 12-year-old Deshane Santana, a resident of the Jacob Riis Houses, who was killed on Friday when she was struck by a minivan while crossing Delancey Street at Clinton Street. Read more…
The Local asked Kim Davis, the food maven behind At the Sign of the Pink Pig, to find the neighborhood’s best brunch biscuit. Luckily, he didn’t flake.
Noah FecksThe biscuit at Bobwhite Lunch and Supper Counter.
The East Village – traditionally a neighborhood of pierogies and kielbasa – has lately reached below the Mason-Dixon line for comfort foods. Suddenly, we can’t get enough biscuits! Witness the appearance of Bobwhite Lunch and Supper Counter on Avenue C. Its excellent dark-meat fried chicken with a brittle crust comes with impeccably fresh salad and a warm, buttery biscuit ($9.50). It’s a small, naked biscuit, though, and only made me hungry for that brunch-only delight: biscuits and gravy, just like somebody’s grandma – not mine – probably used to make.
Kim DavisA biscuit with fried chicken and gravy at the Cardinal.
The Cardinal, another relative newcomer, is primarily a barbecue joint on two levels, with a kind of Creole junkyard look, and cheerful servers in beards and baseball caps. One of the painted slogans on the walls warns of “lard biscuits,” but these biscuits were nothing special – flat, crumbly and completely upstaged by their fried chicken topping. The ivory-colored gravy distinguished itself by being warmly spiced, as was the house-made sausage freely crumbled into it. The biscuit with fried chicken is $15; it’s big enough to serve two. Read more…
We’ve made some New Year’s resolutions here at The Local – for one: making sure there are napkins around before we lay into a Porchetta sandwich. Another thing we’re going to do: update our blogroll. If you write about the East Village, or know of any sites that we should be following, let us know via e-mail and we’ll add you to our blogroll and our RSS reader. You don’t even have to grease our palms (because let’s face it, we’re probably going to forget about those napkins.) And hey, if you’d like to subscribe to The Local’s RSS feed, click here.
By pasting together some snippets from the Times archive, Bowery Boogie pens a brief history of 101 Avenue A, the building that now holds Pyramid Club. Turns out, it once housed a brewery belonging to the grandfather of Mae West.
The Daily News reports that Oscar Fuller, the man accused of punching a woman during a parking space dispute on East 14th Street, has rejected a plea deal and will again stand trial for felony assault on March 8. The original trial ended in a deadlocked jury.
EV Grieve notices two store closures: Vampire Freaks on Avenue A and Autumn Skateboard Shop on East Ninth Street, next door to the recently shuttered Itzocan Cafe.
Bowery Boogie notices that Teany Café on Rivington Street has been shuttered by the Department of Health. The eatery, formerly co-owned by singer Moby, garnered a whopping 90 violation points during a Dec. 28 inspection. The Local reported in November that Teany was serving beer without a license.
In happier news, Grieve hears that Bobwhite opens today on Avenue C near Sixth Street with southern-style fare (the owner is shown handing out fried black-eyed peas). And Bowery Boogie writes that two women who work in fashion are opening a bar called Wisemen at 355 Bowery. Read more…
Readers are reacting to the possible disappearance of two neighborhood long-timers. The first, Polonia, is already gone, as The Local reported last week. Renata Jurczyk, who owned the Polish restaurant with her husband for 28 years, said she couldn’t afford the rent after her landlord more than tripled it. Last week also brought news that Steve Cannon, the owner of A Gathering of the Tribes, was ordered to move out of his East Third Street space by the end of the month. Readers have responded by expressing sympathy for the local institutions, but also for their landlords. Here’s what they had to say. Read more…
From bike lanes to bar noise, from school squabbles to Four Loko — these are the stories that got readers of The Local worked up this year.
Rachel Citron
1. Conversation | 35 Cooper Square: “It’s not about the restuarant that occupied the space last month, or the artists that lived there in the last decade – it’s about 200 years of history that, if torn down, no one else will ever get to experience firsthand. And it’s not about this one building, but more about what it means in context of all the other buildings on the Bowery… And if we replace these gems with nothing but more bars for you frat-types, then a couple of decades from now, when you’re long gone, we’ll be the ones still here who’ll have to relive those bad days of drunks and dives all over again. Please don’t do that to us.” —Bowery Boy
2. Amid Headlock Allegations, Parents Complain About Disciplining at Girls Prep: “Hello!!! This is not a detention camp! Girls Prep is treating our girls as though they are in detention camp! Our girls should be treated with respect and dignity. If they caim to be prearing our girls to be leaders, this approach will not make them leaders. I’m hurt when my daughter tells me that she does not want to go to school anymore…this is a child who loves school. It even hurts more when she says, ‘mom they treat us like dogs’ These teachers seem to have no heart.”— GenevaRead more…
The Local was a journalistic collaboration designed to reflect the richness of the East Village, report on its issues and concerns, give voice to its people and create a space for our neighbors to tell stories about themselves. It was operated by the students and faculty of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, in collaboration with The New York Times, which provides supervision to ensure that the blog remains impartial, reporting-based, thorough and rooted in Times standards. Read more »
Lauren Carol Smith
