Flu Shots on September 28

The deli at the corner of University and 13th will become Qdoba, a chain of Mexican fast food. More chain stores in the ‘hood. Signs of the times.

The Hell’s Kitchen restaurant Taboon, which has charmed diners since 2004 with its breads, pizzas and small plates, will soon offer a taste of the Middle East to the NYU crowd.

The owners of the eatery on 10th Avenue and 52nd Street will open a still-unnamed “quick-service” Mediterranean joint at 30 E. 13th St. within the next two months, the realtor for the space announced this week.

The 1,000-square-foot space previously held the Korean restaurant DoSirak, which moved across the street in September and changed its name to BAK Korean Kitchen & Craft Beer Hall.

Fans of Taboon, which New York Times food critic Frank Bruni said put “a deft, sophisticated spin on Middle Eastern food,” will find its new sister restaurant has a similar atmosphere, Kelly Gedinsky of Winick Realty Group LLC said in a statement.

Here is the corner of 13th and 5th, looking at the NE corner which now, of course, is The New School. This photo dates to the 1930s. Interesting how many changes have come to this corner over time.

Comparing 3rd quarter 2007 to 3rd quarter 2008, real estate prices around here have actually done pretty well, according to the Times.

Neighborhoods that experienced price drops include the Lower East Side and the East Village, where median prices fell 5.5 percent; and Carnegie Hill, where co-op prices decreased 7.2 percent. Median prices in Hamilton Heights and Morningside Heights dropped 30 percent, with sales decreasing to only 19 from 67 in 2007. In Washington Heights, median prices went down 6.3 percent, but the number of sales increased to 24 from 18 in 2007.

The neighborhoods that fared the best through the third quarter included Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue from 59th to 96th Streets, where median prices went up 35 percent. In Lincoln Square, an area between 57th and 72nd Streets from Central Park West to the Hudson River that is home to high-priced apartments in 15 Central Park West and the Time Warner Center, median co-op prices went up 18.6 percent and median condo prices went up 25 percent. Prices also rose in Lenox Hill, where median co-op prices went up 19 percent; and Chelsea, where median co-op and condo prices went up about 6 percent.

Other neighborhoods that experienced increases include Greenwich Village, where median prices for co-ops went up 3.9 percent; Union Square and the Gramercy area, where co-op prices went up 3.3 percent and condo prices went up 2.6 percent; and the Upper East Side, where median co-op prices went up 2.3 percent and condo prices went up 9.1 percent.

Long-timers will remember the 40-foot lizard that one sat atop the now demolished deli on the corner of 13th and 5th when it was the famed Lone Star Cafe. The bar closed in 1989, and the iguana disappeared, but as this article says, it has now been found.