Dana Varinsky Atef Boulaabi.A specialty food shop that counted local chefs David Chang of Momofuku and Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune as fans will reopen next month.
Before closing a little over a year ago, S.O.S. Chefs sold high-end imported spices and gourmet products like truffles and rare mushrooms to “some of the most renowned restaurants and chefs in the world,” as none other than Martha Stewart put it. In the Momofuku cookbook, David Chang said he improvised his roasted mushroom salad after going there to pick up some truffles and instead buying Turkish pistachios, hon shimiji and king oyster mushrooms, fleur de sel, and pistachio oil. He’s gotten bay leaves there, too.
Atef Boulaabi, the owner, said S.O.S. Chefs 2020, as its new incarnation will be called, will have more of a retail focus. “Before we were chef, chef, chef,” she said, noting that 80 percent of her business was wholesale. 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.
Ria ChungGood morning, East Village.
To kick off your day, dig Joey Ramone’s new posthumous album, currently streaming on Rolling Stone’s site. Pyramid Club and Save the Robots, the legendary after-hours on Avenue B, get shoutouts in a song with the chorus “I’m proud to make my home in New York City.”
Speaking of gritty hangouts, Bowery Boogie has a look at Max Fish’s new Asbury Park outpost. Needless to say, the blog has an opinion about what’s more punk rock, skee ball or pool tables.
Commercial Observer reports that Edward Minskoff, who personally invested over $100 million in equity in his 51 Astor Place office building, is closing in on a deal with its first tenant: “Hult International Business School is in talks to take 51 Astor’s entire second floor, a roughly 55,000-square-foot space. Sources say the school could pay rents that begin in the $60s per square foot but escalate to around $100 per square foot over the life of a long term lease at the roughly 400,000-square-foot property.” Read more…
Rachel CitronGood morning, East Village.
Big Think talks to Richard Price about his novel “Lush Life,” which was inspired by a shooting on the Lower East Side. Describing changes in the neighborhood, he says, “It had a neighborhood identity. That identity has gotten lost, that sense of community has gotten lost. But also what’s gotten lost is about a million junkies. Now, do you want to replace junkies with yuppies? Maybe the truth lies in the middle.”
DNA Info attends an open house for a penthouse on Third Avenue that, with its solarium and “three-bridge view,” is going for a little over $4.5 million.
Playbill touts two new productions at the New York Theatre Workshop: Paula Vogel’s “A Civil War Christmas” looks at the war through the eyes of President Lincoln, Union and Confederate soldiers, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Walt Whitman; and “Sontag: Reborn” is “a tender look at the prolific essayist before she was a world-renowned author and activist.” Read more…
Stephen Rex Brown Yesterday on Astor Place.Good morning East Village, and happy Rosh Hashanah.
The National Review’s Katrina Trinko checks out Ron Paul’s speech at Webster Hall on Monday and finds a crowd that “skews more hipster than hip replacement.” In her piece, she dubs the contrarian Libertarian the “The President of the East Village.”
Further south, City Room has the latest twist in the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests: Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna may have used pepper spray in a second incident.
Back in our neck of the woods, EV Grieve spotted a noise complaint outside of UCBeast, the Upright Citizen Brigade’s recently opened East Village outpost. Anyone else think noise in front of the club is no laughing matter?
Read more…
What’s more disconcerting, Anthony Bourdain in a priest’s outfit (Grub Street now has video footage of “Father Anthony” at the aforementioned Big Gay Ice Cream Shop opening) or David Chang modeling a down jacket for Uniqlo? The Times has a look at the Japanese retailer’s new ad series, featuring Mr. Chang (described as a “staple of goodness”) as well as another man who is synonymous with the East Village, John Leguizamo. The Momofuku chef-owner is busy as ever these days: He’ll also be appearing with fellow Villager, Padma Lakshmi and others at the September 13 installment of the Moth reading series, “Moth Eaten: Food Adventures in Epic Proportions.”
