Lower East Side

A Bodega Buffet Is Shut Down Because of the Smell

Lower East Side coffee shop d'Espresso closed on Stanton Street, Bowery Boogie reported. The Italian-style cafe opened in 2008 and expanded to midtown in 2010 (the midtown location will remain open). 100 Stanton Street Midtown Lunch discovered a "hidden gem"--an unnamed Indian buffet operating out ... More >>

What's Happening: Big Brooklyn Holiday Toy Drive and Mission Chinese Sandy Relief Fundraiser

Monday, December 3 Five Ambassadors of the New York City Culinary Experience: Join the owners of Russ & Daughters, Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese, and Amanda Hesser from Food52 as they talk about food and its place in history and community. New York Times' Sam Sifton will moderate the discussion at ... More >>

After Sandy: Coffee and Cheap Eats on the LES, Bloomberg on the UES

Gawker reports on coffee service creeping back to the Lower East Side. It might be lukewarm, but at least it's caffeinated.

Say Hello to Francois Payard, Cowboy Pizza

Macarons are taking over the dessert world. A new Francois Payard Bakery opened in Columbus Circle and gave away free macarons with every purchase. [Midtown Lunch] There's another pizza place on the Lower East Side. Cowboy Pizza has opened on Clinton Street. [Bowery Boggie] The Pudgie's-Nathan's- ... More >>

Happy Absinthe Day!

Today is National Absinthe Day, another booze holiday that kicks off a month known for combining drinking with the color green.

The Lower East Side Gets a Little Beer-Happier

Just what the LES needs: more beer.​Top Hops (94 Orchard Street), a craft beer shop-slash-tasting room is gearing up to announce itself to the Lower East Side. A few more details on the concept have emerged: it will specialize in American craft and select imports and offer growlers. If you're ... More >>

Culturefix's Ari Stern Talks Art in Bars and the Trouble with NIMBYism

Cole Schaffer (left) and Ari Stern​About a year ago, two guys opened a bar on the Lower East Side. Sound like a familiar story? What makes this one a little different is that the bar is also an art gallery. And, despite having no kitchen to speak of, it also offers pretty great food at awesome ... More >>

Open and Closed: Say Hello to The Lot on Tap, Goodbye to Café Charbon

Restaurants and bars, they come and they go. Here are a few making their debuts and bowing out this week. New Roma Pizza on the Lower East Side has been closed since Memorial Day and will not reopen. [Bowery Boogie] The New York Film Academy Café will close its doors on June 30, as the building t ... More >>

'Porno Paintings' Piss Off Prude Parents

Jeff Koons, pricier porn art​Art inspired by Internet porn is very 2011, and the Lower East Side's Windows Gallery on Orchard Street is displaying just that, titled simply, "Porno Paintings." P.S.42 is right nearby and so the New York Post managed to get a few parents to complain. "I don't wan ... More >>

Max Fish, Lower East Side Fixture, Shut Down Amid Police Crackdown; Art Show Held Hostage By City; Other Bars Claim NYPD Harassment (Updated)

​The police shutdown of Lower East Side fixture Max Fish on allegations of illegal sale of alcohol has some collateral damage -- works by 50 artists from here and elsewhere are being held hostage inside the locked and shuttered establishment. The bar, located on Ludlow Street, was formally cl ... More >>

The Egg Rolls & Egg Creams Festival Returns June 12

stevendepolo/Flickr​ The most delectably named street festival in New York history is returning next month to the Lower East Side. Per Bowery Boogie, the Egg Rolls & Egg Creams Festival will take place on Sunday, June 12. The block party, which is organized by the Eldridge Street Synagogue and ... More >>

MNDR And French Horn Rebellion Are Playing For Free At The Popshop Premiere Party Thursday Night

​Free show alert: Popshop is "a new monthly pop club night that endeavors to bring the best new pop music the world has to offer to the streets of New York City every month," taking over the Lower East Side's Tammany Hall every first Thursday. Tomorrow night is its grand premiere, wisely featu ... More >>

DOWNTOWN CRUSH

The Amoralists take over P.S.122

Make Daniel Holzman's Lamb Meatballs, Mediterranean Style from The Meatball Shop

Meatball madness.​Robert Sietsema raved about the house specialty at The Meatball Shop on the Lower East Side, declaring the only thing better than the beefy orbs to be the lamb special. Executive chef and co-owner Daniel Holzman shares his recipe for Lamb Meatballs, Mediterranean Style, which ... More >>

B&H Dairy Loses Its Awesome Sign

RevelinNewYork.comB&H Dairy​Among the numerous virtues to be found at B&H Dairy -- its egg creams, vegetable soup, and buttered challah are but a few -- is its wonderful, slightly homey old sign with its wonky ampersand and blue, yellow, and pink hues. Or at least, the sign was one of the lunc ... More >>

Melted Will Bring More Ruthlessly Compartmentalized Food to the Lower East Side

Scary kid, scary fingernails, scary enriched sandwich bread. And cheese.​What is it about the Lower East Side that makes it so alluring to restaurateurs intent on riding into the neighborhood on one-trick ponies? To the roster of cannoli, meatballs, and poutine, we can now add cheese.

Have You Seen These Kids Connected to Attacks on Asian Women on the Lower East Side?

Earlier today we mentioned that a group of "marauding youths" (how soon 'til Bloomberg utters the word "wilding" on this one?) is assaulting elderly Asian ladies in some nasty hate crime attacks on the Lower East Side. The NYPD has provided us with video of youths wanted for questioning in the fiv ... More >>

Lost and Found, NYC: Suitcase O' Money

​A post from EV Grieve this morning alerted us to an Internet-savvy gentleman who's located a suitcase full of moolah ($78,383, to be exact, and my accountant says that when things are in odd numbers like that, they're usually true!) on the Lower East Side. Out of the goodness of his heart, an ... More >>

Our 10 Best Lower East Side Restaurants

Cheeky Sandwiches has delightful beignets, but is it delightful enough to make our 10 best?​ The Lower East Side is home to an assortment of restaurants that provide a prismatic view of its immigrant past and more sanitized present. While the diversity and sheer number of its restaurants aren' ... More >>

Tomorrow: Our 10 Best Lower East Side Restaurants

David Shankbone/WikipediaMarco's mural welcomes visitors to the Lower East Side​ Last week, we ranked our 10 best East Village restaurants. Tomorrow, we'll wander a few blocks south to rank their Lower East Side counterparts. Because the geographical boundaries of the Lower East Side are open ... More >>

Empire of the Bun at Golden Steamer and Baohaus

Steaming is a gas at two bao specialists

Perhaps You Are a Singer-Songwriter, and Would Like to Be Part of the New Reality TV Show The Scene...L.E.S.?

​That the Lower East Side is a place totally inimical to struggling artists of any kind is probably the least of the ironies of The Scene...L.E.S., the new in-the-works reality TV show from Jimmy Lloyd Productions. As per the above Craigslist ad:

Vegetarian Delights of NYC: Escarole and Hubbard Squash Salad at 'Inoteca

​ If a salad seems like summer fare, check out this plate of greens, devoured at 'Inoteca last night. It might be the Platonic ideal of a salad--composed of bitter escarole, slicked with a salty, funky Gorgonzola dressing, and sweetened with roast hubbard squash and a flurry of pistachios. It ... More >>

Open & Closed: Say Hello to UO; Goodbye to Elvie's Turo-Turo

The new Sigmund Pretzel Shop on the Lower East Side was opened by pastry chef Lina Kulchinsky and partner Tricia Wancko. Expect small batch, hand-twisted pretzels, plain or dressed up with spreads and dips, both sweet and savory. [Always Hungry] Sushi UO has opened on the Lower East Side with 23-ye ... More >>

This Week in Dear God, Why? A Cupcake Lounge for the LES

papertrailsleaver.blogspot.com​What's the only thing less necessary than another cupcake shop? A cupcake lounge serving booze-laced cupcakes to be paired with more booze. Per Eater, that's what the Lower East Side is in for, courtesy of two of the dudes responsible for bringing the neighborhoo ... More >>

Beer Happy at Bia Garden

The view from inside Bia's walk-through beer fridge.​On a recent visit to the freshly opened Bia Garden on the Lower East Side, Fork in the Road was told by the hostess that the delivery menu neatly printed on a blackboard overheard was, in fact, "totally fake... we don't have delivery yet." ... More >>

Anticipating the Purgatorial Splendor of Next Week's CB3 Meeting

​Reading Eater's re-cap of last night's Community Board 2 meeting puts one in a state of anticipation about a few things: the Denton brothers' use of the former Frederick's Downtown space for their newest project, cors'ino; the next incarnation of the Cub Room space; and, of course, next Monda ... More >>

Lawyer Says Bike Lock Beatdown is a Crime

A You Tube vid of a young Lower East Side cyclist -- some have theorized he's a bike messenger -- delivering a brutal beatdown to a pedestrian outside the public restrooms on Allen and Delancey made the rounds on web sites and blogs last week: The vid shows the two travelers coming into conflic ... More >>

DRIVE THRU

Drilling Company presents Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot

EMPTY POCKETS, WELCOME!

Theater for the New City stays true to downtown arts

WHAT'S COOKING?

Crystal Skillman’s six-character play Nobody

LOWER EAST SILENT

A Yiddish film is set to jazz

Lower East Side Fujianese Joints Becoming More Refined

OFF THE WALL

Claw Money hits Headquarters Studio

Time Machine

Viewing the Lower East Side through a slow-motion lens

Drink Like the Bourgeoisie

No-Frills Bar Where You Can Just Drink, Now That's Refreshing

Slamming Back

The patron saint of the uncool strikes a blow against L.E.S. gentrification

Film

Shhh!: The Former Site of Lansky Lounge Has a New Hidden Tenant

The Unacknowledged Triumphs of Fashion Week

(And not one supermodel DJ in attendance . . .)

Mapquest

Three-woman desert session mines metal's shifting sands

Close-Up on the Lower East Side

Earth Angels: Eight-Hour Pageant Fetes East Village Gardens

Defending the caveman (& woman): A bar goes Paleolithic

Listings

Power to the People

Lower East Side Residents Oppose Con Ed's Expansion Plan

Hasid Jazz?

Orthodox, conservative, or reformed, klezmer's back and marching

Grand Slam

Photos by Sandra-Lee Phipps

East Side Story