By Caroline Benveniste
Curbed and other media channels have reported that the Three Lives & Company bookstore (154 West 10th Street) is closing, but that is not the case. The building was sold, but Three Lives is negotiating with the new landlord and hopes to be able to stay. In the meantime, stop by and visit, as business has been hurt by the rumor that they had already closed.
Open
NISI Estiatorio (302 Bleecker Street): This newly-opened spot describes itself as a casual Greek/Mediterranean restaurant. The owners also run Korali Estiatorio on the Upper East Side. The chef, Nikola Karvelas, is originally from Greece, and the menu includes fairly standard Greek items, although there is a Lobster Moussaka. Early reviews have been positive. See this month’s review of NISI Estiatorio (page 28) for more insights.
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Chumley’s (86 Bedford Street): This historical pub and former speakeasy makes a long-awaited return to the West Village. See this month’s article on Chumley’s (page 15) for more details.
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Giulietta’s Cantina Club (13 Carmine Street): This modern Venetian wine bar features updates on classic northern Italian dishes. Everything, including pasta, is made fresh in-house, and the large wine list has bottles from every region of Italy. Even more exciting, cicchetti, or, Venetian small bites, will be available by the piece as they are in Venice. The owner, Michael Greco, a chef and sommelier by training, was previously the Director of Operations at Il Mulino. Wine classes and dinners will be offered soon.
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La Newyorkina (240 Sullivan Street): The La Newyorkina paletas (or Mexican ice pops) were previously only available at street fairs and kiosks, but Villagers can now enjoy these, and ice cream too, in an actual store. Dough owner and Mexican native Fany Gerson is the woman behind these frozen treats. La Newyorkina donates a portion of its sales to an organization that helps low-income women in Mexico find employment.
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Bareburger (103 West 14th Street): There are a dozen or so of these spots around town. While the menu features salads and other items, the focus here is the burger, specifically, the seven step “Be My Burger”. You get to choose your patty, from relatively tame organic beef to bison and wild boar; your bun, from the sublime (brioche) to the ridiculous (gluten-free collard green wrap); and so on. There are four types of bacon and ten cheeses to choose from. My daughter, a picky burger eater, tried it out and enjoyed it quite a bit.
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Akashi (14 Christopher Street): By our count, this is the sixth fancy omakase spot to open in the West Village. And it might be one of the more expensive, with a $200-plus 20-course tasting. There are only 10 seats in the restaurant, and the subterranean spot can be tricky to find.
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Taco Mahal (73 7th Avenue South): Another fusion restaurant, this one apparently mixes Mexican and Indian cuisines. However, the “taco” is an Indian bread (your choice of roti or naan), and the fillings are traditional Indian curries. Still, it is nice to have an inexpensive, quick, and interesting lunch/dinner option in the area.
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The Black Derby, a New York bistro, has opened in the space previously occupied by THE PLACE at 310 West 4th Street. The elegant, minimalist décor is black and white with mirrors and derby hats. The menu is reasonably priced with updated versions of classic dishes. The owners hope that it will become a neighborhood hangout. Read this month’s accompanying review for more insights.
Expanding / Moving
Other news outlets (including DNA Info and the Times) announced the opening last month of Mew Men at 7 Cornelia Street. However, we were not fooled: It was in the same location and had the same decor as the similarly named Ramen by Mew which we flagged in our March “In and Out” column. The name is different and the menu has changed a bit (however it still features ramen), but, according to the folks in the restaurant, it is being run by the same company.
Closed
Babushka Café at 179 MacDougal Street, which opened towards the end of 2015 and specialized in Russian dumplings, has disappeared overnight. Karavas Place (Pizza ‘N Pita), a Greek fast food place near the subway entrance at 108 Seventh Avenue South, had been there forever but is now gone. The other Karavas on West 4th disappeared in 2015 and was replaced by another Greek spot, Oppa. Café Minerva, a popular Village gathering spot serving delicious coffees and Mediterranean food at 302 West 4th Street, has closed. The owners also ran the retro soda fountain Hamiltonnearby which we reported as closed in our June issue. Café Minerva had been nominated for a GVSHP Village award this year and made it to the second round of the competition. Sadly, we have been told that Duet Restaurant at 37 Barrow Street will be closing. They opened in the fall of 2014 in the space that had been previously occupied by Centro Vinoteca.
Coming Soon
In our March “In and Out”, we reported that The Missing Ingredient, a gluten-free restaurant at 99 Bank, was coming soon, and had been since April 2015. A month or so ago, the awning changed to read simply 99 Bank; activity at the space leads us to believe that the renamed spot may actually open soon. Signage has gone up for While We Were Young Kitchen & Cocktails at 183 West 10th Street. Baby Brasa, an organic Peruvian Chicken Rotisserie on the Lower East Side will be opening a second location in the old Empire Szechuan Village space at 173 7th Avenue South in early 2017. Gray and Davis Fine Jewelry is coming to 234 West 13th Street—the space that used to house the Integral Yoga Natural Vitamins shop. I was extremely excited to see a See’s Candies sign in the window at 60 West 8th Street. Their candies were previously only available locally in New York department stores. Greenwich Steak House FG which we mentioned in our “Restaurant Row” article, and whose signage indicated they were opening in the fall of 2015, is finally showing signs of life. They have applied for a liquor license and have posted renderings of the interior space on the windows. McNally Jackson Store – Goods for the Study at 50 West 8th Street will sell fancy stationery supplies and modern-looking office furniture, lighting, and accessories.
Thanks to all of you who have been sending us your opening/closing observations of local businesses. Please keep the information coming, as it makes our work a lot easier! Write to us at wvnewsinout@gmail.com.
