Sarah Darville Remodeling today.Here’s one more late-August bar opening: The Beagle on Avenue A will reopen its doors in two weeks with a new look and a focus on the cocktails that Jim Meehan of PDT likes so much.
The Beagle’s cream-colored walls and tables have been replaced with dark blue paint, new blue glass doors, and booth seats. Its owners Matt Piacentini and Dan Greenbaum said their goal is to create a “cocktail den,” moving the space away from its previous status as half-bar, half-restaurant.
“We’re going for that intimate, cozy feel,” he said. “Making it somewhere where it’s a little more fun and easy to hang out.”
Mr. Piacentini said a new menu of cocktails and charcuterie would be “more approachable” but that the specifics were still in the works. One thing is certain: “There will be a lot of sherry,” he said.
Edna IshayikCommunity Board 3 may have set a record last night: with 27 items on the agenda – including Ninth Street Espresso’s bid to serve beer, a pitch for a German beer hall on the Bowery, and a Starbucks location’s attempt to win back its sidewalk seats – the board’s State Liquor Authority committee meeting ran past 2 a.m.
The main event: the owners of B-Side are hoping to open a spot at East Broadway and Clinton Street that would be “totally different” than the punk bar on Avenue B and would include a chip shop purveying “the best fish, chips and falafel you’ve ever had,” according to owner Sivan Harlap.
In an e-mail, Ms. Harlap called the new venture a “grown-up version of B-side,” explaining that “there are things I am interested in now that I wasn’t that all interested in when I was 22 – craft beers, cocktails, thoughtful food, this new place will reflect those new interests.”
Speakers lined up to argue in favor and against the new watering hole that would be catty-corner to the Seward Park Cooperative. Some neighbors said they looked forward to having a place to grab a drink or a bite in an area that isn’t laden with bars and restaurants. But opponents, some of whom were concerned about loud noise, had collected over 600 signatures, partially through churches and schools nearby. Read more…
Suzanne RozdebaGood morning, East Village.
DNA Info attended the historical plaque ceremony at Justus Schwab’s former saloon on East First Street. The Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation, along with Phil Hartman of Two Boots, plan to install similar plaques at least once a year, and Mr. Hartman is hoping to commemorate the former home of Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable at 19-25 St. Mark’s Place.
Speaking of Andy, The Times reviews “Jukebox Jackie,” based on the life of Warhol superstar Jackie Curtis. Charles Isherwood says that at times the new production at La MaMa “comes close to mimicking the foggy ramblings of someone on an intense trip,” but Justin Bond “most naturally embodies the Curtis who bloomed briefly before drug addiction felled him at the age of 38.”
The folks at the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative tell us that on Sunday at 1 p.m., theater historian Cezar Del Valle will lead a tour of the East Village’s Yiddish theater district, once known as the “Jewish Rialto.” As part of the tour, an architect involved in the restoration of Village East Cinema will talk about the theater that opened in 1926 as The Yiddish Art Theater. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 on Sunday, and can be reserved here. Read more…
