Results tagged “village”

An unidentified man was stabbed in the neck at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and West 4th Street just after 4:40 a.m this morning, ABC 7 reports. The stabee is now at St. Vincent's in stable condition. Two suspects were witnessed fleeing the scene; one wearing a black shirt and another in a... grey shirt. So give those two a wide berth if you spot them! Last Thursday a Buffalo man was hospitalized after an alleged late-night gay-bashing assault in the Village, and on Sunday another man was stabbed in the back and arm during a heated pre-dawn argument. Some local residents are complaining that their quaint neighborhood is becoming sketchy, and NYPD stats support those anecdotal reports, at least in the category of violent assaults, which are up about 40% over last year thus far. Robbery, burglary, and grand larcenies are all down, though, so try not to panic—but do check back often for updates on this alarming crime wave!

Responding to questions about a dramatic increase in violent assaults downtown, NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters yesterday that police are "aggressively investigating" the crime wave, while acknowledging that "there also has been a bit of a hate crimes element in some of those crimes, so our Hate Crimes Task Force is doing an investigation." But Kelly also stressed that "the rise in those assaults we believe emanated from clubs," and that insisted that overall crime is down in the Village. The remarks came after a City Council budget hearing, during which he warned that the impending $20 million in NYPD budget cuts could mean less cops on the street, because the department will have to fire 395 civilian administrative aides who type and file reports. At first they'll be replaced with cops on restricted duty, but Kelly predicts that officers will eventually be pulled off patrol to help with paperwork. The police force is already down to 35,571 cops, from 40,000 in 2001, and one source points out the obvious to the Daily News: "Anyone pulled in to type is a dead waste of people."

Here's the latest installment in our ongoing quest to find a good, cheap meal that won't kill us or our budget.

This week Frank Bruni at the Times takes his turn with L'Artusi (photos), the plus-size Greenwich Village twin to the dainty, crowded dell'Anima. Bruni doesn't hate it like NY Mag's Adam Platt, but it's definitely a mixed review: "They have gone not only bigger—with nearly 115 seats, L’Artusi is more than twice the size of dell’Anima—but also bolder, and the uneven results are a lesson in overextension. If they turned a more skeptical eye to some of Mr. Thompson’s inventions, edited the menu to about two-thirds its current length and focused harder on the execution of what remained, they’d have an excellent restaurant. As it is, they have a fitfully enjoyable one." The New Yorker's review is also mixed, and notes that "the décor has an identity crisis."

Of course, the big thing on everyone's minds this morning is Frank Bruni's review of Bobo, a Greenwich Village restaurant as maligned for its food as it is adored for its ambiance. Well, after a long night of suspense and speculation, Bruni has made his announcement: one star, and considerable praise for Patrick Connolly, the restaurant's third chef in a year. "In fact a few of his dishes — his appetizers, at least — manage to steal attention from the votive candles lining the dark, narrow staircase up to the main dining room and that room’s droopy lighting fixtures, which bring to mind gargantuan glass jellyfish." But when a waiter upsells Bruni into a $115 Burgundy, he finds himself "wishing that Bobo was a little less bourgeois and a little more bohemian."

Two of the women involved the infamous lesbian catcall beatdown of Aught Six may get out of jail soon, the Times reports. A four-judge appeals court yesterday overturned the convictions of Terrain Dandridge and Renita Hill, who are currently doing time on assault charges after they attacked a man who they say tried to woo them outside the Greenwich Village IFC Center with come-ons like “I’ll fu-k you straight.”

Kafana: Serbia has landed in Alphabet City, over on Avenue C. Owner Vladimir Ocokoljic tells NY Mag that what sets his new place (pictured) apart can be summed up in one word: “Pork.” Thrillist has the menu, and Ocokoljic isn’t playing: pork dominates, from the Meat Meze appetizer of assorted pork rinds to the pan fried schnitzel entrée rolled with ham and creamy spread. There are salads for the swine-averse, as well as some concessions made to lamb and beef lovers. Ocokoljic also shows restraint with the desserts – items like Zito (wheat sugar nuts) are 100% pork free. 116 Avenue C, (212) 353-8000.

Hundred Acres: Marc Meyer and Vicki Freeman were fed up with the way their Macdougal Street restaurant Provence had become just “a special-occasion restaurant.” According to Eater they “want a place that people would be happy coming to all the time” – not a bad goal for a restaurateur. So they gutted the space and have reopened as Hundred Acres, a more casual iteration of the stuffier predecessor. Two back rooms filled with wooden tables and herb planters are meant to evoke a contemporary farmhouse; up front the classic white subway tiles by the bar suggest an old-timey butcher shop. Currently open for dinner only, the rustic American menu features modestly-priced entrees (the most expensive is $22, most cost much less) like walnut pesto pasta or the corned beef tongue with multigrain bread, mache and ramp relish. 38 Macdougal Street, (212) 475-7500.

           

After last year’s stuffy exile at NYU’s Skirball Center, the Village Voice Obie Awards were back at the raucous, open-bar Webster Hall – or rather the Ritz, as Stew, co-creator of the phenomenal Broadway rock musical Passing Strange recalled. For over fifty years, the Obies have honored the best of Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway theater; coming on the heels of last week's Tony nominee announcement, the awards serve as a pointed reminder that the most exciting theater usually happens far away from the big stages in Times Square.

For quite some time now, a group of East Village residents have been pressuring the local Community Board to snuff out Death & Co., the dark and sophisticated bar on East Sixth street, just down the block from that old timer who sells and repairs bicycles. Like other turbo-gentrifying neighborhoods, the local scolds are fed up with the all the noisy drunkards staggering around their neighborhood at all hours, and they’ve focused their energy on less-established newcomers like Death & Co.

As the weather warms up, restaurants who keep their windows open wide maintain a serious advantage over their stuffier competitors. On a recent heated evening, this is how we stumbled upon the LES's Kampuchea, a crowded spot that riffs on Cambodian street food.

Also for the Times, Peter Meehan highlights two of his favorite East Village haunts: Punjab and Polish G. I. Delicatessen. Punjab’s the beloved little hole in the wall on First Street near Avenue A that dishes out some the best cheap vegetarian food around; Meehan correctly asserts that the 24-hour institution is “as good at breakfast as it is after stumbling out of a show at the Mercury Lounge across the street.”

        

The farewell party for the famous "Toy Tower" at the Avenue B and 6th Street community garden took place yesterday. Vanishing New York estimates about 100 well-wishers were in attendance to eulogize the found object art tower, which rose to a height of 65 feet over the course of two decades. The eclectic structure is the work of the colorful East Village character Eddie Boros, who passed away one year ago this month.

After undergraduate studies in French Literature at Columbia, Michigan-born chef Anita Lo found herself unable to resist the call of the kitchen, and relocated to France to study at the esteemed Ritz-Escoffier school. Graduating first in her class, Lo soon got her start in New York in the kitchen of David Bouley. Eight years ago she struck out on her own with the Greenwich Village favorite Annisa, which serves contemporary American cuisine with accents from Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean. Critical acclaim followed, Crain's named her as one of the top 100 influential women in New York business, and she schooled Mario Batali on Iron Chef. Lo's latest move is the promising West Village restaurant Bar Q, where she's focusing on creative Asian-style barbecue, as well as a raw bar.

A tipster tells Vanishing New York that the iconic found object “Tower of Toys” that began rising out of the Avenue B and 6th Street Community Garden in the mid-80s will be demolished by the Parks Department. According to the garden's executive committee, the 65-foot tower has been deemed unsafe. And, let’s face it, it’s just not in keeping with the city’s ever-expanding ‘generic and soulless’ real estate trend.

The Habitat: This charmingly designed bar and restaurant we reported on a few weeks ago opens tonight. Built almost entirely out of salvaged lumber, The Habitat has achieved a rustic back porch ambiance by building an actual porch next to a wall dressed up with exterior siding and fake windows. Chef Ashley Engmann's small plate menu has empanadas, a pecan mandarin salad, cheeseburgers, and other sandwiches. 12 New York microbrews are on tap. 988 Manhattan Avenue, between India and Huron, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, (718) 383-5615.

A judge has finally ruled on a long-simmering dispute between a restaurant and its deliverymen. Last March deliverymen at the popular Vietnamese restaurant Saigon Grill, which has locations in Greenwich Village and on the Upper West Side, demanded a raise from owners Simon and Michelle Nget. The deliverymen reasoned that since the chain was pulling in more than $2 million a month, they ought to earn more than $120 for a 75-hour week.