East Village Eats

Food & Drink recommendations straight from the East Village, New York City

Back Forty Offering Chicken Dinners

Posted on | March 25, 2012 | 1 Comment

Back Forty Dinner MenuBack Forty (reviews here) will be offering a 2 course dinner featuring a soup, buttermilk fried chicken (with sides) & a beer for $25.  via Tasting Table:

Comfort food reigns supreme on Sunday and Monday nights at Back Forty. In addition to the regular menu, the restaurant offers a special dinner of seasonal soup followed by buttermilk-fried chicken with a honey biscuit and coleslaw ($25 for two courses and a draft beer).

Back Forty: 190 Avenue B (@12th St.)

Acme

Posted on | March 22, 2012 | 2 Comments

Acme NYCBack in May of last year I wrote about how Acme, one of my favorite Southern food mainstays, had unceremoniously closed (employees were given no notice at all), completely gutted (EVGrieve has coverage) & after lengthy renovations opened as a Nordic (by way of Scandinavia) restaurant.  The team from Bond St. managed to convince Chef Mads Refslund, a founder of Noma to move from Copenhagen & become the executive chef. Read more

San Matteo Panuozzo coming to the East Village

Posted on | March 21, 2012 | No Comments

San Matteo PanuozzoSan Matteo’s 2nd outpost (they have a location in the UES) will be taking over the former Mõtek Crepe shop on St Marks.  I didn’t know what a panuozzo was, but according to the website:

“The panuozzo starts as would a pizza but results in a type of panino but with freshly baked bread. The bread, with its beautiful honeycomb-like crumbs, is moist and permeated with the scent of smoked scamorza or the sweetness of porchetta, just to name but a few of the ingredients that can be had.”

San Matteo PanuozzoI wasn’t a big fan of Mõtek, so I think this will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood.  They’ll be serving pizze, wine & espresso too.  Personally, any restaurant that has cured meat hanging in the window is OK in my book.

San Matteo Panuozzo: 121 St Marks at Avenue A

Choice Eats 2012

Posted on | March 20, 2012 | No Comments

Choice Eats 2012 near closingI’ve been to a few Food Events over the past few years, so it wasn’t my first rodeo, but nothing prepared me for the scale of this year’s Choice Eats tasting event that took place last week.  I thought I’d be clever & arrive 15 minutes early to ‘avoid the crowd’, but we were greeted with a sea of ticket-holders, many of whom must have arrived hours earlier.  We were told that the line ended around the corner, but it continued for 2 more blocks, pretty much full circle.  My nephew & I waited patiently in line while I second-guessed myself for being such a cheapskate & not coughing up $30 more for VIP tickets which would have given us access an hour earlier. Read more

Joe’s Bar Becoming Josie’s?

Posted on | March 19, 2012 | 2 Comments

Joe's BarAfter Joe’s Bar owner passed away last Thanksgiving, the future of the bar has been totally up in the air.  There are rumors that Bob Corton, part of the team at nearby Sophie’s & Mona’s farther north will be taking over the space & it will be called Josie’s.  According to the rumor-mill, Joe’s ‘widow’ (they were never actually married) Dotty is making things a bit difficult for the prospective buyers, so the likely date that Josie’s will open is June/July.

Take this all with a pinch of salt, everything I’ve posted above is neighborhood hearsay & totally unsubstantiated.

Joe’s Bar: 520 E 6th St (between Aves A and B)

Picture via Marty After Dark

Egg Creams at Ray’s Candy Store

Posted on | March 16, 2012 | 2 Comments

Chocolate Egg Cream @ Ray's Candy StoreFor some reason I got a few tweets yesterday informing me that it was ‘National Egg Cream Day’ & that I should visit Ray’s Candy Store or Gem Spa in the East Village to partake.  With a name like ‘Egg Cream’, I immediately assumed that both ingredients were in the drink which completely turned me off.  After reading Neighborhdr’s blog post, I learned that the drink contained neither of these.  I’m always eager to help out local businesses & Ray’s is just a block away from me so I headed over to see what all the fuss was about. Read more

Stinky Cheese Festival 2012

Posted on | March 12, 2012 | No Comments

Stinky Cheese Festival 2012Quite by chance, a friend clued me up on a celebration of stinky cheese that was going on in early February.  As a lover of both cheese & booze, I felt it was my duty to attend, stuff my face full of cheese & report. Read more

Life Cafe Gutted

Posted on | March 12, 2012 | No Comments

Life Cafe GuttedThere has been a lot of talk on local blogs about the fate of Life Cafe (review here) that has been in limbo for quite some time.  A friend passed by yesterday at 9pm & the bar has been completely dismantled.  If you’re still hankering for some of their food, there’s a location in Williamsburg.

Update: EV Grieve reports that 9th Street Espresso will be taking over part of the space.

Life Cafe: 343 East 10th Street at Avenue B

99 Cent Pizza Taking Over The East Village?

Posted on | March 3, 2012 | 1 Comment

99 Cent Pizza on Avenue CAn article last December by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (coverage by EV Grieve) showed that the 10003 zip code had the highest concentration of pizza shops in New York with 33.  Needless to say, we’re pretty spoiled for choice when it comes to pizza with excellent shops like Sal’s, Two Boots, Gruppo & South Brooklyn Pizza.

99 cent pizza shops seem to be popping up at an alarming rate here in the East Village.  There’s Mamani Pizza on Avenue A, two 2 Bros. Pizza on St Marks, one on 2nd & B & most recently a shop opened up on Avenue C between 9th & 10th.

I guess that they have their place, but I really can’t fathom why we need so many in such a small area.  Personally, I’d take a great $3 slice over 3 at a discount.  Am I correct in thinking that the neighborhood is over saturated?  Post your comments below.

Akter Grocery Busted Again

Posted on | March 3, 2012 | 1 Comment

Akter GroceryAkter GroceryAkter Grocery (aka Anwar Grocery) was shut by the NYPD on New Year’s Eve for selling alcohol to minors & operating with an expired liquor license.  Apparently they’re at it again & have been shuttered for the second time.  I passed by yesterday around 8:30pm & there were several police officers outside shutting the gate & putting up notices.  The charge this time is ‘Illegal Sale of Alcoholic Beverages’.  More news as it comes in.

Akter Grocery: 106 Avenue B between 6th & 7th St.

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