More 1908 Work Horse Competition

The University Diner has finally found its new identity…as a European cookie shop. The details:

“Almost a year after the closure of the classic diner University Restaurant, an Austrian corporation will open a specialty food shop in its place later this month, the owner of the incoming business said Tuesday.

“Gunz Fine European Food will sell cookies, snacks and other fine foods imported from across Europe, Daniel Gunz said.

“It will be everything from Belgian chocolate to Spanish cakes to Italian olive oil,”

Eater reports:

The 40-year-old icon Gotham Bar and Grill has shuttered again — this time for good. Earlier this year, it was the victim of a cyberattack in which it lost $45,000. “The restaurant could not claw back from the theft,” owner Cassandra Csencsitz said of the decision not to reopen. “The goal was to go back to our investors to reopen this fall, and time just kept going by until it became clear we could not reopen this fall or for the holidays. It is over,” she told writer Andrea Strong. This is the second permanent shutter since 2020, with Gotham closing permanently the first round in 2020 — after 36 years — before reopening in 2021. In 2019, Victoria Blamey took over the kitchen from longtime chef Alfred Portale. Chef Ron Paprocki, a former Gotham pastry chef, most recently led the kitchen.

All gone.

Next week (May 21 to May 25), Superstructure work will continue at the 18th floor level. The superstructure concrete work will be completed on the building buy the end of the month. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

The following week (May 28 to June 1), we will be working on the machine room levels on the 18th floor. Additionally we will have another crane on the Northwest corner of the site to help with a steel truss installation. This should not greatly affect pedestrian or road traffic. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic. The site will be closed on Monday, May 28th for the Memorial Day Holiday.

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, May 19th for superstructure related activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City.

To control noise levels within the site, work activities will be limited to the placement of formwork and concrete, plumbing and electrical work, rebar for concrete placement, using the crane and equipment to support all activities. Safety horns are used, and required by law, to coordinate lifting with the crane and to alert the workers of the danger overhead. We have directed the operators to limit the use of horns to one short sounding and to use the crane later in the day so as to avoid any excess noise. In addition to the normal work there will be a crew on 14th st. working on the Con Ed site connections.

Reminder: The annual shareholders’ meeting will take place on

July 22nd at 7PM – 9PM at The Seafarers and International House ,123 East 15th St. on the second floor.

Please attend, and if you can’t, please hand off your signed proxy to a neighbor who will be attending. After the meeting, the Board will send around the minutes and any presentations via e-mail. If you would like to update your e-mail address, please send it to donwillmott@hotmail.com.

Middle Eastern food, cooked on site, coming soon to 83 University Place. Visit eatnaya.com.