What to Expect From The Immigrant’s New Tap Room

Screen Shot 2013-01-31 at 11.36.51 AM Rendering of the bar.

Next month, The Immigrant will go before Community Board 3’s liquor licensing committee to present plans to expand into the space next-door to its current home on East Ninth Street, between First and Second Avenues.

A questionnaire submitted to the committee indicates The Immigrant Tap Room, which is taking over Change of Season’s former space at 341 East Ninth Street, will have 18 seats at four tables, plus an L-shaped front bar accommodating seven more.

In a letter to his block association, Jason Corey, the bar’s owner, says the tap room will likely offer eight draft beers. “The menu will consist of our usual cheese and meat plates, and we are also planning to add a few sandwich plates, as people are sometimes looking for more food than we can offer in the current Immigrant space,” Mr. Corey writes, adding that The Immigrant sources its bread from 9th St. Bakery, its fruit from Commodities Natural Market, and its meats from Russo’s.

If the food and drink menu submitted with the questionnaire is any indicator, the wine and beer bar will serve brews from the East Village’s own Alphabet City Brewery. Check it out below. It’s an early sample menu that’s subject to change, but it’ll give you some idea of what team Immigrant is thinking. Read more…


The Day | Anti-Violence Rally Today

EAST VILLAGE buildings (painting)Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

This afternoon a Lower East Side Unity Rally will convey a message of “no more violence!” in the wake of Raphael Ward’s killing. The rally begins at 5:30 p.m. at Avenue D and East Sixth Street. [The Lo-Down]

Alphabet City is one of 12 neighborhoods that qualify for a $200,000 grant meant to build business-improvement associations. [DNA Info]

There are still tons of bodegas in the city, “but there’s no denying that the texture of the city would be flattened if the idiosyncratic bodega became an endangered species. Not so much because of what the stores sell as because of the larger role they play in the community.” [The Atlantic Cities]

Eddie Huang on business attire: “I do a lot of meetings, whether I’m at networks or publishers, and everybody is in suits—but I don’t want to wear a suit, so I wear sweat suits.” [GQ via Eater]

“Cata, which opened on the Lower East Side last September, specializes in tapas and gin and tonics, a combination, it’s fair to say, that is not available on every corner.” [NY Times]


Photos: A Burlesque Bash For Ray, at His Candy Store

Francisco Valera

Ray Alvarez, the beloved owner of Ray’s Candy Store, turned 80 earlier this month. Last night, a few of the man’s friends, including his upstairs neighbor Francisco Valera, got some dancers from the New York School of Burlesque to donate their time and talents to the man whose milkshakes bring all the boys to the yard. Mr. Valera shared the above photos. Warning: some of them may not be appropriate for work — unless you work at a late-night soda fountain on Avenue A.

Happy birthday, Ray!


Next On First: Ear Candeling, Forbidden Rice, Polish Periodicals, and Ice Cream

Image(1)Daniel Maurer Left to right: Look beauty salon, 111 Convenience, ice cream shop, and bistro.
photo(82)Daniel Maurer 111 Convenience

That ramen bar isn’t the only newcomer on First Avenue.

The strip will soon boast a couple of new eateries, a salon, and a convenience store.

Actually, the convenience store has already opened: Zahid Mahmood, who spoke with The Local a month ago, opened 111 Convenience Store on Monday. As you can see from our photo, the narrow space that used to house Hetal 111 First has been spiffed up, but the neighborhood’s old guard can rest assured that Mr. Mahmood, a native of Pakistan, is still carrying Polish magazines and newspapers. The coolers aren’t quite full yet: the state still hasn’t given its final blessing for beer and lottery-ticket sales.

Over at 59 First Avenue, Looks, a beauty salon, will open tomorrow, offering threading and waxing from $5 (for chin-hair removal) to $40 (for a back wax). Ear candeling is $30. Bikini waxes, facials, and body massages are also on offer.

Finally, on the block between St. Marks Place and East Ninth Street, a sign indicates that in the summer, “handmade ice cream” will come to the former home of Discount Cleaners, at number 137.

And right next door, in the same building, a bistro is taking over the former home of Tara Thai. A questionnaire submitted to Community Board 3’s liquor license committee, which will consider the new restaurant’s beer-and-wine application next month, indicates that Ivrose Bamba, the owner, plans to offer Mediterranean dishes such as lamb mignon with ratatouille, and salmon carpaccio. Sides will include curry couscous and forbidden rice.


With 2 Bros. Poised to Cut Into Business, Vinny Vincenz Slashes Slice Price

photo(81)Daniel MaurerVinny Vincenz, next to the incoming 2 Bros.

With a 2 Bros. Pizza set to open right next to it on First Avenue, Vinny Vincenz has dropped the price of its slice to a rock-bottom $1. Since then, business at the pizzeria, which turned ten earlier this month, has been up an estimated 500 percent. But Ari Elalan, the owner, isn’t happy about it.

Earlier today, Mr. Elalan stood behind the counter at Vinny Vincenz while, right next door, workers put the finishing touches on the incoming 2 Bros. He told The Local he wasn’t happy when he discovered that the wildly popular dollar-slice chain would be his neighbor, and he let its owner know about it: “I told him, ‘Don’t you know there’s a pizzeria over here next to you? He said, ‘I didn’t know.’ There’s a big sign outside and you didn’t know?”

Mr. Elalan decided to drop the price of his slice, formerly $2.50, to just $1, without changing the recipe. “I’m using the same size, same sauce, same cheese,” he said. “I’m not making no money on the slice, but listen, I have to compete.” The pizzaiolo, who said he was offering $1.25 slices back in 1987 when he helped run Pizza One in the West Village, believes there’s no comparison between his slice and the one at 2 Bros. After hearing that the chain was moving in, he tried one of the slices at the St. Marks Place original. “I took one bite and I threw it out,” he told The Local. “I said, ‘You know what? I don’t have to worry. If they’re going to use that slice I don’t have to worry.'” Read more…


St. Marks Residents: Now We’re Cooking Without Gas

1359498095369-1 Molly Socha

Residents of 22 St. Marks Place have been dining out a lot lately. Shortly before Christmas, firefighters responded to a complaint about a gas odor, and the building has been without cooking gas ever since.

What started as an inconvenience (ever try to cook a Christmas feast in a microwave?) has become a genuine irritation.

“People are getting mutinous,” said a tenant who did not want to be named. In fact, some are circulating a petition that they’re threatening to take to the Department of Buildings.

It’s uncertain who, exactly, is responsible for the extended outage. According to a representative of the building’s management company, NBKM Realty, Con Edison turned off the gas because of a leak in one of its ground-floor restaurants.

Mamoun’s briefly closed because of the leak but reopened around Jan. 4. “It was the building’s fault,” said Kareem Ibriham, an employee of the falafel joint. He insisted that the gas for the restaurant is separate from the apartments above, and has been restored.  Read more…


The Day | Butch Morris Dead at 65

Olek: Chilled to the BoneScott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

A neighborhood legend has passed: “Butch Morris, who created a distinctive form of large-ensemble music built on collective improvisation that he single-handedly directed and shaped, died on Tuesday in Brooklyn. He was 65.”

On East Sixth Street, “The Congregation Adas Le Israel Anshei Meseritz has signed over the rights to its second floor to East River Partners LLC, as part of a 99-year lease worth approximately $1,225,000, according to documents filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.” [DNA Info]

Following a New York Times article about an American Girl doll that was being lent out to patrons, the Ottendorfer library has received an outpouring of support, including a $1,000 check and five new dolls. [NY Times]
Read more…


N.Y.U. Faculty and President Keep Sparring

faspDaniel Maurer

The new year has brought yet more verbal volleys between New York University’s president, John Sexton, and the most vocal opponents of the school’s plan to grow its footprint in Greenwich Village and around the world.

Friday, Mr. Sexton, who in March faces the possibility of a vote of “no confidence” from the faculty members of N.Y.U.’s School of Arts and Sciences, sent an e-mail welcoming professors back from winter recess and indicating that he had been “reflecting over the break on various aspects of the University’s direction.”

“NYU has come a long way in a short time,” wrote Mr. Sexton, the school’s president of 11 years, “but one area in which I believe we have fallen far short is the level of broad faculty involvement in our decisional process. As President I take full responsibility for this, as well as the need to remedy it.”
Read more…


What’s Kurt Cobain Doing in a Coffee Cup?

Untitled Kurt Cobean

Leonardo DiCappuccino is coming to a cup near you.

Tired of crafting the usual foam leafs in latte, Bushwick artist Mike Breach began blending his talent for brewing up puns with his job as a barista at the Ace Hotel.

The result? Kurt Cobean. Soy George. Ziggy Starbucks.
Read more…


Gallery Scene | Ladies, Girls, Dolls, and Toys

The Local’s occasional round-up of what’s new and interesting on the art scene.

Screen Shot 2013-01-29 at 3.01.58 AM

Ladies. Dina Brodsky and Bonnie De Witt curate a show of images that “tease and blur the lines between innocence and knowing, between the daydreaming of young girls and the certain knowledge of women.” The all-female lineup of artists includes Lynn Albanese, Julie E. Brady, Maya Brodsky, Diana Corvelle, Michelle Doll, Heidi Elbers, Candace Goodrich, Kathleen Hayes, Maria Kreyn, Amber Lia-Kloppel, Susan Seaton, Hilary Schmidt, Melanie Vote, and Mitra Walter. Opening reception Feb. 13, 9 p.m. to midnight at KGB Bar, 85 East Fourth Street, (212) 505-3360. Show at Kraine Gallery in the same building.

Screen Shot 2013-01-29 at 3.32.46 AM

Ayse Wilson: Recent Works. Ms. Wilson, a Turkish-American artist who worked as a painting assistant to Jeff Koons, paints cartoonish yet somber images of children against monochromatic backgrounds. Jack Geary Contemporary presents this show at the Site/109 pop-up space at 109 Norfolk Street. Feb. 8 to 24; Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 6 p.m., Mondays and Tuesdays by appointment.

Screen Shot 2013-01-29 at 3.19.24 AM

Valentine’s Day Reenactments. During this offshoot of the “Art in Odd Places” festival, artist Rory Golden will ask passersby for romantic stories so that he can use dolls to reenact their tales of love and loss. The resulting vignettes will be filmed and sent out via Facebook and other social media. Premieres in and around Madison Square Park, Feb. 12, 13 and 14, 10 a.m. to noon and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Read more…


The Day | 7-Eleven the New K-Mart?

EAST VILLAGE garden snow sleet3Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

“Congress gave final approval on Monday to an emergency aid package of nearly $51 billion to help millions of victims of Hurricane Sandy, ending the legislation’s long and complicated odyssey.” [NY Times]

The current anti-7-Eleven campaign recalls the anti-K-Mart sentiment of the late ’90s. [Village Voice]

A comic strip in a very special issue of Punk magazine starred Richard Hell as Nick Detroit, with David Johansen as Mob King Tony. [Dangerous Minds]

Read more…


NYC House Authority: Ron Morelli of L.I.E.S. and A-1 Records

Since 1996, A-1 Records on Sixth Street has attracted countless vinyl enthusiasts to its bins of hip-hop, jazz, soul, disco, and house music. On any given afternoon, disc diggers discuss what white-label 12-inches they’re going to DJ, tossing out obscure names that are foreign even to the other die-hards flipping through the stacks.

Ron Morelli, one of the four employees at A-1, has seen dramatic changes in the city’s electronic music scene during his ten years of spinning vinyl. The DJ, whose discovery of punk and hardcore started him on his journey into underground music and culture, started the DIY dance music label, Long Island Electrical Systems, in 2009 to showcase gritty, analog-based techno and house. He’s also used L.I.E.S. as a vehicle to release his own music (along with co-conspirators Jason Letkiewicz and Steve Summers) under the moniker Two Dogs In a House.

The small-run 12” records that Mr. Morelli releases (many of which feature hand-stamped track listings on the dust jacket) feel intimate: it’s clear they’ve been lovingly assembled by hand. Early releases by Steve Moore and Professor Genius started the buzz that has collectors rushing to buy the releases before they hit Discogs for quadruple their initial price.

Despite the sold-out events Mr. Morelli DJs in New York and Brooklyn and the label’s success in Europe, there’s a low-key presence to L.I.E.S. Rather than a lavish release party, L.I.E.S. artist Professor Genius first spun his latest 12″, “Hassan,” at Heathers Bar on a Thursday night. Recently, Mr. Morelli shared his thoughts on the changing face of New York’s electronic music scene and the state of record stores.
Read more…


Choza Opens on MacDougal


Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.Courtesy Choza Taqueria

Taco Town’s population just grew: Choza Taqueria has opened its second location at 124 MacDougal Street, a rep informs. The budding quick-service chain, from Matt Wagman and chef David Albiero of Murray Hill’s popular after-work spot PS450, started with a food kiosk at Municipal Plaza and opened its first storefront location in the Flatiron in 2010.

N.Y.U. students, consider it an alternative to the Chipotle on St. Marks Place? You can see the menu below.
Read more…


A Video Tour of Newly Resurrected St. Brigid’s

After closing 12 years ago, dodging demolition, and undergoing a $15 million renovation St. Brigid’s church reopened on Sunday with a ceremony that drew Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and his predecessor, Cardinal Edward M. Egan. As previously reported, the parish, having merged with St. Emeric’s, will now be known as St. Brigid’s, St. Emeric’s Church.

Last week, days before the reopening, Michael Doyle, the architect who led the restoration over the course of nearly four and a half years, gave The Local a tour of the revitalized structure on Avenue B.


The Day | East Villagers Escape to Bushwick

Street Pig!Joann Jovinelly CAPTION

Good morning, East Village.

A couple that lived in one of Allen Ginsberg’s old apartments decided they wanted out. “They paid around $2,400 a month for less than 500 square feet and a bit too much old-fashioned charm. The claw-foot bathtub was child-size, and the bathroom sink was in the hall. You couldn’t fit a cookie sheet in the oven. Screaming pedestrians passed by at all hours.” The solution: moving to Bushwick. [NY Times]

“A straphanger was slashed aboard an F train on the Lower East Side early yesterday, police said.” [NY Post]

A bitter divorce may mean the end of a sweets spot. “Derek Hackett and Blythe Boyd, both of Manhattan, opened Lula’s Sweet Apothecary in 2008 while still married. But they divorced in 2012, and this month Hackett filed papers in Manhattan Supreme Court demanding the business be dissolved because, he says, Boyd is hoarding profits.” [NY Post]
Read more…


Street Scenes | Squirrels On Ice

IMG_9352Nicole Guzzardi

Dog-Run Duo | Cheryl and Lily

Cheryl and her "granddoggy" Lily
Nicole Guzzardi

The Master: Cheryl Magliocca is the proud “grandmama” of her daughter Lauren’s pup. Lauren is an East Village resident. When Cheryl visits her about once a month from Charlotte, North Carolina, she takes her beloved grand-doggy to the dog run.

The Dog: Lily, a two-year-old Pug and Havanese mix. Jokingly called the “clearance dog,” because she was on sale for quite some time before Lauren scooped her up, saving her life and giving her a safe home.

Favorite Food: “Well, we just shared a hamburger,” Ms. Magliocca said, laughing. “So she definitely likes those.”

Favorite Spot: Lily loves to sleep right by Lauren’s head, Ms. Magliocca said, but when she comes to visit her daughter, Lily can be found sleeping by Ms. Magliocca’s head instead.

Best Friend: Casey, a neighborhood Golden Retriever. Casey will actually hold Lily’s leash in her mouth and walk her around. “She won’t drop it unless you tell her to and Lily just lets her do it,” she said.


Making It | Danny Abrams of Mermaid Inn, Turning Ten

Danny Abrams head shot credit Melissa HomMelissa Hom

There can never be too much ice at a seafood spot with a popular raw bar. Danny Abrams, owner of The Mermaid Inn, estimates that every day his restaurant at 96 Second Avenue goes through significantly more than the 1,500 pounds his two ice machine hold collectively. “I can’t keep up,” he told The Local. “It’s never enough, especially on the busy nights and during happy hour.” Come March 23 the Mermaid will need quite a bit of ice: as previously mentioned, it’s celebrating its ten-year anniversary and the launch of weekend lunch. To find out how the restaurant has made it a decade, we chilled with its owner.

Q.

How many oysters do you sell a year roughly?

A.

We sold probably $350,000 in just the East Village location in 2012. (There are Mermaid Inns also in the West Village and Upper West Side.)
Read more…


On Crashing Allen Ginsberg’s Funeral

Last week “Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg” opened at the Grey Art Gallery. The photos of Beat icons amount to a love letter to a lost New York. They prompted novelist Porochista Khakpour to look back.

Cat. 124 Allen Ginsberg, 1955Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York. © 2012 The Allen Ginsberg LLC. All rights reserved.Allen Ginsberg, 1955.

The year is 1996 — as it turns out, Allen Ginsberg’s last full year on the planet — and I’m 18 and new to New York. I attend an ill-fitting fancy liberal arts school located 20 minutes north of the city. Every semester I write letters thanking my benefactor for my scholarship and my suitemates remind me their parents pay full-price, and I spend as little time there as possible. Instead, three to four days a week, I take the Metro-North into the city — jump the train, in fact, as another scholarship kid taught me. Many nights I miss the last train back to campus on purpose and stroll the East Village streets and diners and cafes and bars until dawn when I get back to Grand Central.

I care about two things: reading and writing. As a suburban Los Angeles kid, the Beats were my first literary loves and my guide to New York’s downtown life. In my first months in the city, I try to find the corners that resemble my favorite movie (Cassavetes’s “Shadows”) and try to spot the bars and cafés Kerouac and Ginsberg and Burroughs frequented. Some were there; some were not. Cedar Tavern downtown, where Kerouac supposedly pissed in an ashtray, the West End across from Columbia where Ginsberg and Lucien Carr played chess, were all just packed full of kids my age in hooded sweatshirts, hooting over big pitchers of beer — the same set you’d see at a Midwest state school on Super Bowl weekend. I started haunting St. Mark’s Poetry Project and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, in hopes of finding my own neo-Beat scene but I felt late even to the spoken-word and slam-poetry scene of the nineties, which was approaching its own flaccid fizzle.

One thing remained: Allen Ginsberg. He was still alive and well, it seemed — living on East 12th Street near First Avenue, but you’d see him all over the East Village’s single digits and into the alphabets, often alone but looking like he was rushing to meet someone, someone I’d care about. It was through him that I discovered my favorite coffee shop — the Ukrainian diner Kiev, where 50-cent coffee and borscht became my meal of choice, after I’d encountered the poem in which he canonized the spot with “I’m a fairy with purple wings and white halo/ translucent as an onion ring in/the transsexual fluorescent light of Kiev/
Restaurant after a hard day’s work.” Read more…


Police: This Guy Pulled a 10-22 at 7-Eleven

108-13 7 PctNYPD

Guess someone hasn’t seen those “Shopping 7-11? Shame on You!” stickers.

According to the police, the man shown here used a credit card stolen from Pianos to make a purchase at the 7-Eleven at 142 Delancey Street. The unidentified individual is wanted for grand larceny.

The incident, which occurred Nov. 30, is part of a continued rise in thefts at bars and restaurants. During one weekend last month, there were three incidents at the Bowery Electric and Phebe’s. In October, arrests were made for bag boosting at Bowery Electric.