The Plan to Revive Our Neighborhood

Here’s a great look back at the former Schraffts Restaurant which stood on the southeast corner of 5th and 13th before it morphed into clubs in the 80s and then delis in the 90s before burning down a few years ago. Now, of course, a 10-story condo is rising on the site. But enjoy these memories of the good old days.

Over on East 12th St., it was Piola, the Brazilian pizza place, and now it’s Ribalta, the Italian pizza place. And it’s a pizza school, too. UrbanDaddy writes:

There are book smarts.

There are street smarts.

And then there are pizza smarts.

Today, we’re going to focus on that last one.

Also, we’re going to eat a bunch of pizza pies.

So let’s enroll at Ribalta, the only pizzeria in New York with three different types of ovens and its own university (but alas, no football team), now open.

Bottom line, this restaurant is really quite absurdly serious about pizza. The dough: imported from an Italian mill and aged 48 hours before baking (we’ll let you imagine what this does to a crust). The tomatoes: all San Marzano and all hand-crushed. The ovens: plentiful, varied and powerful.

Yes, these master pizzaiolos/fusspots felt it was necessary to install three different ovens in the place. Brick. Wood-burning. And stainless-steel convection. Reason #1: to bake your sausage-and-sage pie precisely the way God intended. Reason #2: the syllabus required it.

See, when this place is not standing in as the prototypical Friday night date spot, it’s doubling as the city’s first Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli—an esteemed pizza school that’s been around in Italy since the ’80s. So eventually you’ll be able to register here for classes, seminars and lectures on the science of the slice.

Assuming you scored high enough on the pizza SATs.

The upscaling of the neighborhood continues with speakeasy Everything’s Jake on East 13th St. Cocktail prices are… not bad.

The Times has an article about the arcane and contradictory rules governing what can and can’t be sold in the Union Square farmer’s market. Bottom line: it’s a mess.

The NYPD 6^th Precinct Community Council Meeting will take place in person Wednesday, September 25 at 7:00 PM

Our Lady of Pompeii’s Fr. Demo Hall – Lower Level at the corner of Bleecker and Carmine Streets

note: meeting will begin promptly at 7:00 pm 

Please sign in at the door early if you wish to speak or ask questions of the panel.

Join the leadership of the 6th Precinct, your neighbors and local businesses for an update on community affairs.  This is also your opportunity to advise Precinct Leadership of chronic or specific crime/safety/quality of life problems you see in our community so their actions are directed with your unique insights. Take this opportunity to listen or to voice your thoughts in an open and informative session.  We encourage you to tell/bring a neighbor and be a part of your Community’s voice.

As part of the planned 2024 enhancements we return to our regular monthly meeting program with our very important September 25^th meeting that will feature a comprehensive panel of our Community’s Elected Officials addressing Crime, Safety and Quality of Life in our community.

Scheduled Panelists:

-Brad Hoylman-Sigal – State Senator

-Brian Kavanagh – State Senator

-Erik Bottcher – City Council

-Carolina Rivera – City Council

-Deborah Glick – NY State Representative

After serving 13th St. and the neighborhood for more than 30 years, BC Laundry has suddenly closed, so suddenly in fact that clothes are trapped inside. Good luck!