In an at times vitriolic give-and-take of accusations and counter-accusations, neighbors came out in force last night to oppose a liquor license renewal for Diablo Royale Este, a Mexican establishment on Avenue A that has been plagued with complaints since its opening in May of 2010.
At a meeting of Community Board 3’s S.L.A. & D.C.A. Licensing committee, Andrew Coamey accused Diablo Royale of “contributing to turning Avenue A into a booze-filled entertainment zone.” The neighbor, who is a frequent attendee of the meetings, distributed a packet of materials to committee members detailing numerous complaints against the restaurant, complete with photographs of drunken revelers outside of the establishment on Halloween. One photograph showed a man urinating on the door of Mr. Coamey’s building. “Cleary they are not running the family-friendly Mexican restaurant this board approved,” he said.
“My concern is more the impact [Diablo Royale] has on all of us,” said longtime East Village resident Judith Zaborowski, 68. “I think that an operating license in the neighborhood is a privilege. I think that the fallout from an operation being permitted to continue when it has a history of complaints and non-compliances, will have an impact on us in our own space.” Read more…
Co-owner Greg Barris told us a little about the menu at L’asso’s forthcoming East Village outpost after a Halloween party at the pizzeria’s construction site. Though the space is still a work in progress (as our snapshots show), the menu is a done deal. Feast your eyes on it below. Read more…
A judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a man who is accused of second-degree felony assault for punching a woman into a coma during a dispute over an East 14th Street parking space. DNA Info reports: “After nearly four days of deliberations, jurors said they had voted 11 to one to convict Fuller, but that the single holdout juror could not be swayed because they believed there was not enough proof Fuller intended to seriously hurt Rosas, as was required to convict him under the assault charge.” A new trial date will be set early next year.
For “1,150 Days,” I’ve photographed elements of day-to-day life in New York City to create a daily record of the environment I call home. It’s interesting how many different versions of New York have surfaced: a city centered around parked bicycles, a city of colorful lights and abstract shapes, and a city where pigeons try to fit in, too. Each of these seemingly mundane perspectives reveals a sense of levity and wonder; a reminder that the background of our daily lives is comprised of many unexpected and often missed details. What draws me to shoot in the East Village is the area’s culture, its fascinating people, and the living history of each block. Like JR’s TED-prize-winning Inside Out Project in Cooper Square, featuring portraits of local citizens.Read more…
Last year, Allison Hertzberg recommended the neighborhood’s best first-date bars. But what about the second date? We asked Allison to go on one at Sauce, the new restaurant from Frank Prisinzano of Frank, Lil’ Frankie’s, and Supper.
Photos: Noah Fecks
When picking a dinner spot for that ever-so-important second date, a few things should come to mind: charm, lighting and affordability (so: the same things you look for in an apartment). Located on the other side of the tracks (across Houston Street) on the corner of Rivington and Allen Streets, Sauce serves up the same homestyle Italian food and pay-what-you-drink wine as its sister restaurants in the East Village. It also happens to be the perfect “I’m trying not to look like I’m trying” spot for a second date. Read more…
Oh, and another argument for a bike-share program: Avoiding ordeals like the one Matt O’Rourke faced last year after his custom-made bicycle was stolen on 10th Street and Avenue C. According to Jalopnik, Mr. O’Rourke published a Craigslist post offering a $500 reward for the bike’s return, but didn’t get any responses until 18 months later, when a woman who had read the post recognized the bike on the Williamsburg Bridge and informed its new owner, who had bought it in Tompkins Square Park, that it was stolen.
Last month The Local introduced you to Gingersnap’s Organic, the vegan café that Jamie “Gingersnap” Graber, previously of Live Live & Organic and Euphoria Loves Rawvolution (the Los Angeles location, not the East Village outpost), planned to open on East Seventh Street near Avenue A. A walk past the location reveals that it quietly opened earlier this week – it’s operating from noon till midnight daily, with delivery coming as soon as the shop acquires a bicycle this weekend.
In the open kitchen this afternoon was executive chef Scott Weingard, previously the chef at Pure Food & Wine and more recently of Angelica Kitchen and the now-shuttered Counter. Mr. Weingard also runs a Brooklyn-based vegan supper club, Nasturtium. He and his crew will be preparing the dishes on the menu below (click to see a larger version) and packaging them to-go. Or you can settle in at night, when b.y.o.b. is permitted. 130 East Seventh Street; (212)-533-9939.Read more…
A walkby reveals that, after a brief spell of uncertainty about when it would get the green light from the Department of Health, NY Tofu House opened for lunch and dinner today at 6 St. Marks Place between Second and Third Avenues. The Local gave you an early look at the Korean newcomer and its menu yesterday.
Ray LeMoineA bike share demonstration
at Tompkins Square Park.
Last night at a meeting of Community Board 3’s Transportation and Public Safety Committee, the director of the Department of Transportation’s bike share program presented a comprehensive overview of a plan to bring 10,000 bikes to a total of 600 stations across the city.
Kate Fillin-Yeh said the city carefully examined existing bike share programs in the United States, London, and Paris before selecting Alta Bicycle Share — which operates bikes in Washington, D.C. and Boston — to spearhead the New York operation, which may be the first to debut an option that does not require credit cards. Read more…
Alec Tabak took the above photo Tuesday night of an incident near Astor Place. His report, via The Local’s Flickr pool: “Victim was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital by ambulance. What kind of moving thing hit the woman unkown to me.” We’ll let you know if we find out more.
The Daily News posts a recording of a 911 call reporting the altercation between Lana Rosas and Oscar Fuller. According to the Post, the jury is still deadlocked and will return for a fourth day of deliberation on Monday.
The Times discovers that Michael White, the acclaimed restaurateur behind high-end midtown seafood destination Marea as well as the more casual Osteria Morini in Soho, will open a pizzeria, Nicoletta, in the spring at 160 Second Avenue (Tenth Street). He acknowledges that “there are already 66” pizzerias in the neighborhood, but his pie will be “different, crisper.” Read more…
According to the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation’s Off The Grid blog, Father’s Heart Church and its former rectory at 545-547 East 11th Street, near Avenue B, were added to the New York State Register of Historic Places last month. Make sure to read the registration form nominating the church. Among the many interesting facts: In the 1860s, when the Gothic revival building was erected, Avenue B was known as “German Broadway.”
The Post reports that the jury has failed to reach a verdict in what the paper is calling the “parking-punch trial,” in which Oscar Fuller is accused of causing a brain injury to Lana Rosas after punching her during an argument over a parking spot on East 14th Street. “The judge did not declare a mistrial,” reports The Post. “He is expected to instruct jurors after lunch to keep working.”
Food and drink writer Joshua M. Bernstein has spent many an evening in the pubs and taprooms of the East Village. In fact, tonight at 6 p.m. he’ll sign his new book at one of them, Jimmy’s No. 43. With “Brewed Awakening: Behind the Beers and Brewers Leading the World’s Craft Brewing Revolution” out this month, we asked Mr. Bernstein to take us to his five favorite beer joints in the neighborhood. Crawl along with the sultan of suds by watching our video, and below, find out what he likes to wet his whistle with at each spot. Read more…
One need only prowl the East Village’s boutiques to see that the perpetually popular animal-print trend is far from becoming endangered. Incorporate it into your look and you’ll come off as bold, chic, feminine – even rich. As with the neon trend, you may want to avoid going head-to-toe unless you want to look like a confused cheetah. (And stick to faux fur or printed fabric if you love animals so much you could cry.) Instead, take a less-is-more approach and add just a “hint of print” via one of the skinny belts, necklaces or hats that The Local’s Boutique Freak spotted in some of the neighborhood’s standout shops this past weekend.
Last night, Mark Epstein, chairman of Cooper Union’s board of trustees, held a community meeting with students, alumni and school officials, in part to discuss a controversial announcement that the school may begin charging tuition for the first time in over 100 years.
Though press was not allowed at the event (The Local was firmly but politely escorted out of the school’s Great Hall), the proceedings were tweeted by Sean Cusack, an alum of the school and an adjunct professor who is a member of the Cooper Union Task Force.
Mr. Cusack’s tweets depict an at-times contentious exchange. Asked if he would take personal responsibility if the school had to charge tuition, Mr. Epstein is said to have drawn boos and hisses when he stated, “If it weren’t for the lack of alumni support, we wouldn’t be here.” Read more…
A line formed outside of Video Games New York on East Sixth Street last night (above: the scene at 7:30 p.m.), in anticipation of the midnight release of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.” The video game was expected to sell as many as 6 million copies in 24 hours, according to Bloomberg.
According to DNA Info, a representative of the Department of Transportation will be at tomorrow’s meeting of Community Board 3’s Transportation and Public Safety Committee, in order to hear suggestions about where in the neighborhood bike share stations should go.
EV Grieve notices flyers in several buildings maintained by Jakobson Properties encouraging fellow tenants to tweet about any upkeep problems that haven’t been addressed. Read more…
The Local was on the scene this afternoon as a group of protesters – supported by City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu – headed from 181st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue to Zuccotti Park. Check back here for video from the 11-mile march as it went down Broadway near 13th Street.
A reader sent word at 3:41 p.m.: “Occupy marching at East 10th and Broadway now,” presumably referring to today’s march from Washington Heights. A group of Latino and black protesters (several hundred people strong, according to the Daily News) is expected to arrive in Zuccotti Park shortly. If you witnessed the march as it passed through the neighborhood, tell us what you saw and what you think via the comments, and upload photos to our Flickr pool.
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 »
Daniel Maurer
