Now open in the former D’Agostino’s location is Agata and Velentina, a high-end grocery store with an Italian flair. Lots of meats, cheeses, and prepared foods. Prices sort of on a par with Garden of Eden. One gripe: the store layout forces you to follow a single path and the result can be crowding and claustrophobia at certain times of the day. Try it out.
Regale Deli, on 5th Ave. north of 14th St., has closed. It was always a little dark and spooky, but it was popular, and now there is one less convenient deli in the neighborhood. If University Deli on the corner of 13th closes, we’re doomed.
Nostalgic dessert chain Milk Bar is opening its 10th New York City location Saturday, but this time with new menu items only available at this store near Union Square.
Located at 110 Fifth Ave. and 16th Street, this latest Milk Bar is a part of a new store called Camp, created to be “immersive” shopping for families. The 10,000-square-foot space has a camp theme that will change every eight to 12 weeks, with “base camp,” modeled after children’s summer camps, first up.
To fit into the camp theme, Milk Bar will have a sundae bar with a rotating special — starting off, appropriately, with a s’mores sundae of cereal milk soft serve topped with compost cookie crumbs, charred marshmallows, fudge sauce, and marshmallow sauce. The sundae bar also has very Milk Bar-esque topping options such has cornflake crunch, confetti cookie crumb, and blueberry corn. And Milk Bar classics — crack pie, corn cookie, birthday cake truffles — fill out the rest of the menu, in full below. There’s also Counter Culture coffee.
Rumor has it that the parking garage directly across from us at 12 East 13th St. is for sale and could be converted into offices, a hotel, or most likely 17 to 20 luxury condos. More construction to come????
Wondering what happened to the cute green building on 13th between 5th and 6th that housed Taste of Tokyo and La Dolce Vita? It’s gone. In its place will rise a small boutique hotel.
Karaoke Boho has struggled to open at the old Crunch location on East 13th St. for six months. Now a slight change: in addition to karaoke, the store is offering a full Korean restaurant, some competition for the adorable Do Sirak on our block.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has been doing some reconnaissance to find out what exactly developer Billy Macklowe has planned for his new condo building that will replace Village icon Bowlmor Lanes, and what they’ve found has not heartened them: “[The building] will take the form of a short base with retail uses coming out to the streetwall, and a very tall, narrow, residential tower rising above it. At approximately 308 feet in height, this will be one of the tallest, if not the tallest, buildings in the Village. Apparently Mr. Macklowe has told elected officials that the building will be limestone rather than glass or steel