Melvin Felix

Mama’s Food Shop, a cheap-eats joint that had been a mainstay of the ever evolving and increasingly upscale East Village dining scene, closed last night after more than 15 years in business. Its proprietor, Jeremiah Clancy, sent The Local a statement addressed to patrons, supporters, and fans that cited “increasing rents and property taxes, and the constant expenses that arise when maintaining an older building.” He wrote, “I now join the ranks of Kate’s Joint, Zaitzeff, Life Café, and Lakeside Lounge; all business that have folded in a neighborhood going through a period of flux,” and went on to complain: “We live in a city where the Health Department has far too much power, the cost of the permits, inspections, and maintenance are so high it is impossible for a Mom & Pop operation to keep up with.”

The move comes just a few months after the shuttering of the restaurant’s short-lived Williamsburg outpost. At that time, Mr. Clancy, who took over for longtime owner Michael Rosenfeld in 2007, said he was open to finding an investor for the East Village location.

In 1999, The Times’ “$25 and Under” critic Eric Asimov, in a $10-and-under roundup, wrote that “this little self-serve restaurant with just a few tables, offers homey American dishes that are the equivalent of white picket fences and shady elm trees.” The menu and the business model – which called for customers to order a meat and a side (or three) at the front counter – never changed much, and the place never did score a liquor license. Brunch was eventually added and the restaurant got a boost from an appearance on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,” but it apparently wasn’t enough.

Here’s Mr. Clancy explaining his decision to call it quits. Read more…

Sarah Darville The vacant space at 130 St. Marks Place.

Talk about no rest for the weary. While most Community Board 3 committees are taking the month off, the SLA and DCA Licensing committee will meet on August 20 to consider 45 different businesses seeking approval for new or modified licenses to sell alcohol.

Some of the highlights include a liquor license renewal of UCB East, which has a complaint history, according to the board. The new owners of Lakeside Lounge — soon to be Blackburn — are scheduled to appear before the committee, as expected.

A new business is bound for 130 St. Marks Place; an employee at Whole Earth Bakery next-door told The Local that rumor has it that it will be a sushi joint. (Take this with a grain of salt, Sushi Lounge is only a few doors away at Avenue A). The space had been vacant for close to a year.

And as usual, Nevada Smiths is once again scheduled to appear for approval of a full liquor license. The new location of the soccer bar has appeared on the agenda for months, only to be scratched at the last minute. Here’s the rest of what’s on tap for the Aug. 20 meeting. Read more…

Concerned cyclists can breathe easy: the two bike racks being removed from the west side of the cube at Astor Place tomorrow will be reinstalled after August 18, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation. The racks are not going to be replaced by a bike share station, as some commenters had speculated on EV Grieve. Rather, they’re being taken out to make way for Summer Streets, the annual event that closes roads to cars on the first three weekends in August and includes a stage at Astor Place. (So no need to go claiming one of the remaining racks as private). If you’re looking for the zip line that the city set up in Union Square last month as a teaser for Summer Streets, though, you’ll have to head south to Foley Square near City Hall.

A driver involved in a car accident at Avenue C and East Houston Street assaulted a traffic agent who arrived on the scene yesterday, police said.

The suspect, Lower East Side resident Magda Napoleon, was driving a Dodge Caravan through the intersection at around 9 a.m. when she was involved in an accident with another vehicle that fled the scene, a police spokeswoman said.

The police said that Ms. Napoleon — apparently infuriated by the accident — threw a liquid in the face of a traffic agent who responded to the accident; the confrontation escalated further, and the 43-year-old suspect ended up in a scuffle with the traffic agent. A 40-year-old man, Jason Ferrer, is said to have joined the melee, and ended up in handcuffs as well.

Ms. Napoleon was charged with assault. Mr. Ferrer faces a charge of obstructing government administration. The traffic agent was taken to New York Downtown Hospital for scratches and bruises on her face.

Courtesy Village Fishmonger Farm-raised littleneck clams are one of the
types of seafood that will be offered through the
“community-supported fishery.”

It’s a common lament at community board meetings: the neighborhood needs a butcher, baker and candlestick maker. Inevitably someone will add, “And a fishmonger!”

If Samantha Lee’s plans come to fruition, one of those neighborhood needs will be filled. She and two partners have founded the Village Fishmonger, a seafood-pickup service modeled on community-supported agriculture — everyone calls them CSAs — that should deliver its first bounty off the boat in September.

Ms. Lee also aims to open a brick-and-mortar location in the East Village sometime early next year. Read more…

A tag photographed by one of our eagle-eyed community contributors, Scott Lynch, reveals plans for Tompkins Square Park riot reunions on July 29, and August 4 and 5. The former and latter dates correspond to Tompkins Square Park Live! events, which feature music, spoken word and other types of performance. Meanwhile, The Lo-Down brings word that the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars will headline a concern in the East River Park amphitheater on August 23.

eBay

Mars Bar closed and all you can get is this lousy t-shirt.

It’s been a year (plus a couple of days) since the dive was shuttered, and the former regular who designed the “Marz Bar” shirts is selling the very last of them. “This building has been marked and stocked as a fallout shelter,” the t-shirt reads.

“I thought I had sold out of them last year but this one turned up in a box of records for some reason,” writes the designer (who goes by the name of Ecto-Glow) in an eBay listing, adding that he won’t be reprinting the shirt. The size-small is going for $25 and at the time of posting, a little over 4 and a half hours were left on the auction.

In an earlier blog post, the shirt’s designer, who says he grew up on Lafayette Street, explained that he first designed a “DEFEND MARZ BAR” shirt because “everyone wanted a shirt, including me. I asked someone to ask Hank [Penza, the owner] for me and he was cool with it so the first lot came out and sold out fast.” The fallout shelter shirts followed, and a little under 300 shirts were sold in the end.

“I’ve been to tons of Bars in NYC,” wrote Ecto-Glow, “but the only place I’ve been to at least triple digits was Mars (stoops and 40s don’t count) and I could probably fill a book with stories about the place (as I’m sure most could).”

If you’re not a size small or the auction’s over, don’t worry: Sergey Aniskov’s drunken Santa shirts are also still available for purchase.

Melvin Felix

Melvin Felix

An electrical fire at the Union Square subway station led to the temporary closing of one block of 14th Street at around 2 p.m.

EV Grieve rounded up photos of the small blaze, which is in a grate beside a subway entrance on the south side of 14th Street between Broadway and Fourth Avenue. The fire was caused by a “service box failure,” a spokesman for Con Edison told The Local. A spokesman told Gothamist, which gathered tweets about the fire, that the cause was “a failure of electrical cables.” No injuries were reported. Read more…

Hunter Canning Phoebe Silva and Michael Criscuolo in “Decompression.”

Tickets go on sale for the Fringe Festival today, meaning the explosion of cutting edge, experimental and just plain out-there theater is right around the corner. It also means that a mountain of intriguing press releases have once again landed in The Local’s mailbox. Here are our 10 favorite excerpts from the 61 releases accompanying next month’s annual celebration of the avant garde.

I Married A Nun: “Recounts the wild life adventures of 78-year-old, ukulele playing, world traveling, bisexual, Bostonian, Jewish gal — Ms. D’yan Forest. Through her tales of fun with the nun, their tragic divorce, forbidden nights in the demimonde of Paris, humorous mishaps of falling off a camel in Tibet, the courageous Ms. D’yan Forest exposes her inner self for all to see. Throughout the show, the story is interspersed with meaningful parodies performed on her uke.”

Alice & The Bunny Hole. Josiah DeAndrea and Michelle Wood in “Alice.”

BANG! The Curse of John Wilkes Booth: “Features one actor playing 30 roles in this twisted shocker performed in verse, song, magic, sideshow antics and stand-up comedy. You’ll be astonished at how your American History books lied to you about Booth in this theatrical extravaganza that was banned from performance in Booth’s hometown of Baltimore! Plus, there’s a mummy involved! Was Booth really captured and killed by Federal troops in a burning barn in 1865, or did he escape, aided by a secret society, and live under various aliases until he committed suicide in Enid, Oklahoma Territory, in 1903? Prepare to be amazed!”
Read more…

At the very least, the water store on East 10th Street, Molecule, is a hit with reporters. “I mean it’s subtle, but if you have a sensitive palate you can totally tell” co-owner Adam Ruhf tells The Wall Street Journal. “It was sweet and tasted good,” a customer tells DNAInfo. “Who’d waste money on Molecule? Those who belong to the High Holy Church of Culinary Rectitude,” writes the always warm and fuzzy Steve Cuozzo in The Post.

Has Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver gone rogue? He tells The Daily News he won’t be campaigning exclusively for Democrats in the Senate this year.

Second Avenue has its noodle nuts, Jersey Street has its sneaker fiends. Bowery Boogie has shots of people queuing up for the release of limited edition Nike sneakers. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Dina Leor’s Mexican memorabilia store, La Sirena, may have to move due to a 30-percent rent increase.

A low-income housing association in the East Village is planning substantial rent hikes for its commercial tenants — a move that has already forced the Mexican trinket shop La Sirena to notify its customers that it will close.

Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association’s executive director Val Orselli explained that the rent increases will pay for $400,000-worth of renovations to some of its 25 buildings over the next couple of years. The Association’s tenants include familiar names like the 4th Street Food Co-op, East Village Music Store, Rivington Guitars, Bond Street Chocolate, and FAB Café. As many as 24 will face rent hikes once their leases expire.

“We tried as much as possible to use our reserve funds, instead of increasing the rents of the tenants through big increases that tenants cannot afford,” said Mr. Orselli. “So either the cost has to be borne by residential tenants, who are very low-income, or the commercial tenants.”

“We don’t have a choice,” he added.

The owner of La Sirena, Dina Leor, faces a rent increase of around 30 percent, according to Tower Brokerage president Bob Perl, who will be negotiating the new lease. “Their mission is to have affordable housing,” he said of the Association. “The board has decided to make good use of the retail values in the area.” Read more…

New York Police Department The suspected impersonators.

The police are still searching for two men who posed as police officers late last year and attempted to rob two spas, one of which is in the neighborhood.

New surveillance images depict the men, who the police say posed as police officers at the Waterfront Spa on First Avenue on December 1. In that incident, the pair flashed a shield and asked to review the spa’s licenses and any cash kept on the premises, police said. A 55-year-old worker was grabbed by one of the suspects but not injured.

A second incident on December 12 at a spa in Washington Heights followed a similar pattern.

In both cases the victims refused and the suspects fled empty-handed.

The suspected police impersonators were first covered in a police blotter in January.

Earlier this week the police announced they were searching for a man who posed as an officer and robbed teenagers in the Bronx of their cellphones.
Read more…

Paul Defiglia The line at Momofuku today at around 6 p.m.

Paul Defiglia Yep, it goes around the corner.

Nothing is more appetizing in 95-degree weather than…a hot bowl of ramen noodles? Fans are lining up in droves outside of Momofuku Noodle Bar for a taste of guest chef Ivan Orkin’s cooking. These photos were taken at 6 p.m., a half-hour after the event was scheduled to begin. So much for “walk-in” only.

Update | 7 p.m. A Momofuku employee is now telling people that the list for Mr. Orkin’s ramen has been closed and those not on it won’t get a taste. He said the restaurant sold three times as much ramen as it had expected to during the first hour.

Stephen Rex Brown The dormant construction site next to the garden that is owned by the Educational Alliance. Green thumbs say it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Alphabet City’s community gardens always feel like verdant refuges from city life, but lately Orchard Alley Community Garden has seemed downright tropical.

Stephen Rex Brown Check out the bites on Steven Matthews’ leg.

Yesterday swarms of mosquitoes forced members of the garden on East Fourth Street near Avenue D to close it indefinitely. The itchy green thumbs point to an adjacent stalled construction site owned by Educational Alliance as the insects’ breeding grounds.

“I was here playing catch with my son; after 10 or 15 minutes we had to go,” said Steven Matthews, whose legs were covered in bites from a recent visit.

Until the pools of water at the site are cleaned up the garden, which is open to the public whenever one of its 15 members is present, will remain closed.

Ayo Harrington, the head of the garden, won’t walk on the same side of the street as the garden, and said she’d been taking double-doses of Benadryl to keep the itching at bay. Read more…

A neighbor of IHOP passes along word that last night someone was inspecting the new ventilator equipment and ventilator unit that several people said is making a loud mechanical hum around the clock. A Department of Environmental Protection inspector is also expected to check out the equipment today. Yesterday the owner of the restaurant said that the new machinery, which cost more than $40,000, may need some adjustments to alleviate the noise. Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post referred to the ventilation unit as a “smog-hog.” That reference has been deleted since the term is a brand name and Smog Hog says that it did not manufacture the unit in question.

Sandy Berger The ventilation unit on the roof of IHOP.

Out of the bacon frying pan, into the din of the ventilation unit.

Earlier this month, neighbors of the IHOP on East 14th Street were thrilled when the smell of bacon was greatly reduced by a new ventilator unit on the roof of the restaurant. But the elation quickly gave way to frustration as they realized that the odor-eater causes an around-the-clock ruckus.

“It looks like a locomotive and sounds like a locomotive,” said Sandy Berger, who documented her life as an IHOP neighbor in The Bacon Diaries. Read more…

Sarah Darville Yael Carmel (center) tries out a bike.

The 7,000 bicycles that will hit the road when the city’s bike share program launches at the end of summer were meant to be sturdy and hard to topple. “They’re a bit like a tank,” remarked a Citi Bike employee who showed some of them off at Tompkins Square Park today.

So when Yael Carmel wobbled and nearly fell off of one of them, she had to laugh. It was one of her first times on a bike after recently learning to ride, she admitted. The employee steadied her and she was off toward Avenue B.

“I really like it,” she said as she got off the bike. “I need to get used to the idea of riding in the city. But I will.”

Ms. Carmel’s test ride might terrify those who worry the city’s bike share program will flood the streets with inexperienced riders, but today’s preview attracted more experienced cyclists as well. Read more…

Frank Bardin A cane left on the front door of 510 East Sixth Street that belongs to the landlord, according to a resident.

On monday evening firefighters were called to 510 East Sixth Street after the elderly landlord, Martha Fedorko, fell asleep with a pot on the stove, a resident said.

“The firemen had to break into her apartment and luckily, no damage resulted,” wrote the resident, Frank Bardin, in a comment on last month’s article on Ms. Fedorko. “Earlier, late afternoon, she sat on a chair just inside the foyer to the building, lifting her lower leg, trying to block tenants from entering the building and in one case, yelling ‘police, police’ when one entered, gingerly slipping past her.”

A spokesman for the Fire Department confirmed that firefighters responded to a kitchen fire in the building between Avenues A and B at around 8:50 p.m. Following The Local’s story on the quandary the tenants of the building found themselves in, several others came forward with their own stories.
Read more…

The founder of Gathering Of The Tribes, Steve Cannon, says that negotiations are underway with his landlord, and that the lengthy dispute should be resolved by the end of the month. “It looks like she’s going to agree what we want,” said a confident Mr. Cannon. “I feel relieved. It’s going in my direction.” In April the founder of the art space won a legal victory when a Housing Court judge ruled that his dispute with his landlord, Lorraine Zhang, should be settled in State Supreme Court. Nevertheless, Ms. Zhang served Mr. Cannon with a 10-day notice to leave the building at 285 East Third Street in May. (The notice was ignored). Ms. Zhang would not comment on the latest developments in the saga, which has been brewing since March of last year.