Mercadito Cantina: This is newest advance in the expanding Mercadito empire; besides the original Alphabet City Mercadito there’s also Mercadito Grove. This one is not far from the original, on Avenue B, and packs a lot of Mexican fixings into a dainty space that stays open ‘til 1 a.m. The main action here is at the make your own taco bar, where heavy rollers can choose from eight guacamoles and ten salsas, all made from......

The original Chocolate Bar was priced out of the West Village back in April, but that hasn’t taken the wind out of owner Alison Nelson’s sails as she expands across the chocolate seas as far away as Qatar. Closer to home, the Chocolate Bar East Village location opens today, with counter service for eight and all the quality product chocoholics rely on to keep it together. According to Strong Buzz, there’s a "Meet the Neighbors"......

Chef Marco Canora is having a good morning; Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni says “there may not be any dish I’ve enjoyed more in recent months than the pork blade steak” at Terroir (pictured). His column this week looks at how chefs at wine bars like Terroir and Gottino have transcended the “glorified snacks” that used to be de rigueur, to “exemplify a wine-bar evolution so thorough that nomenclature can’t keep up.” Less criticism than......

The Daily News scored an exclusive account of life inside the Economakis building on East 3rd Street-- their intern Barry Paddock happens to be one of the tenants getting evicted: "In eviction papers, they laid out a plan to combine our cramped but beloved rent-stabilized apartments into a suburban-style mansion. Apartments on my floor would be demolished and replaced by a hanging walkway overlooking their new two-story living room." Bonus fact: the Economakis family paid......

Last week the LES gentrification piece in New York magazine circa 1984 began circulating again, and now a look back to October 6th, 1985 when the NY Times published an article titled "If You're Thinking of Living In; The East Village." Ah, a time when buyers bargain shopped for run-down buildings in the now pricey neighborhood, seeking out "maximum space for minimal outlay." Even today residents are echoing the "Die Yuppie Scum" sentiment around the......

A lively, discontented rabble marched through the East Village Friday night, protesting what they see as the neighborhood’s ongoing desiccation, caused by “real estate developers, landlords, yuppie wine bars and Republicans.” Organized by longtime gadfly John Penley, the group swelled to approximately 100 protesters, who jeered, sang, read poetry and generally condemned others for enjoying fine wine and luxury apartments. Vanishing New York has a thorough account of the proceedings, which started outside the newish......

Even back in 1984 there was mainstream media attention on the ever-changing landscape of the Lower East Side and East Village. Real estate was "exploding," chain stores were popping up, and galleries were abundant. The New York Magazine cover story on May 28th of that year was titled: The Lower East Side -- There Goes the Neighborhood. Luckily, someone recently scanned the entire article, which could almost read like it was written today, if......

When it comes to turbo-gentrification, longtime East Village activist John Penley has drawn a line in the sand at the Bowery Wine Co.; the newish wine bar co-owned by actor Bruce Willis. Penley, who joined Jerry "the Peddler" Wade in pushing the Parks Department to permit this August’s concert commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Tompkins Square Park riots, not only objects to the “yuppie” wine bar’s sterile aesthetics but also Willis’s GOP support. A......

The long-running dispute between the owners of 47 East 3rd Street and their rent-stabilized tenants seems over, as the Court of the Appeals ruled the owners can evict tenants from the 60-room building in order to create a single super-duper residence. Alistair and Catherine Economakis took over the 15 apartment building a few years ago, after buying it for $1 million (and knowing it had rent-stabilized tenants). They told tenants, who pay $600-1200/month, they would......

Kafana: Serbia has landed in Alphabet City, over on Avenue C. Owner Vladimir Ocokoljic tells NY Mag that what sets his new place (pictured) apart can be summed up in one word: “Pork.” Thrillist has the menu, and Ocokoljic isn’t playing: pork dominates, from the Meat Meze appetizer of assorted pork rinds to the pan fried schnitzel entrée rolled with ham and creamy spread. There are salads for the swine-averse, as well as some concessions......

Photograph by wallyg on Flickr It's a $20 million miracle for an East Village church slated for demolition! An anonymous donor has given a multi-million donation to the struggling parish and its school: There's $10 million for the restoration of the the church, $2 million for a parish endowment and $8 million to support St. Brigid's school and other Catholic schools. With a cornerstone laid in 1848, St. Brigid's is one of the oldest......

Crisp: This sleek new vegetarian restaurant at Third and 43rd Street is all about fresh-made tea, colorful salad and Middle-Eastern tributes, like hummus bowls and “handbag” pita sandwiches stuffed with falafel and your choice of ingredients that include eggplant, sundried tomato spread and pesto. Naturally, Midtown Lunch had a correspondent at the scene for the opening, and first impressions are favorable. Much of the ingredients are organic and delivered fresh daily, the cooking oil is......

Today was all about the free iced coffee (and free chicken sandwiches, apparently). Tomorrow, it's free falafel. The East Village eatery formerly known as Chickpea held a contest to find a new name for its Glatt Kosher re-opening. They received hundreds of entries from crafty wordsmiths all vying for the $3000 prize. Only one winner was selected, Adi Libson, a NYU student, despite the fact that 21 other entrants submitted the same name -- Kosher......

You may know Adam Green as one half of The Moldy Peaches (the other half being Kimya Dawson), who recently got a lot of attention for the Juno soundtrack despite having gone on "hiatus" four years ago. Green also stands on his own as a solo performer; he just released his latest album Sixes & Sevens, and tomorrow night celebrates it with a performance at Town Hall (tickets). Recently he told us about some of......

Lost City visits one of the odder buildings in the East Village today, located at 62 E. 4th Street. Currently two of the five floors house the Duo Theater, but the top three levels have gone unused for nearly 40 years. Built in 1889, the current crumbling facade isn't the biggest mystery -- the architecture is. LC notes:There's all sort of Italianate grandeur in the shapes and lines. But it's all thrown off by the......

Police have arrested a bank teller for helping an NYPD rookie pull off two robberies at the East Village bank last year. Christina Dasrath admitted to cops that she received a portion of the $118,000 taken. Police officer Christian Torres was arrested last week after robbing a Sovereign Bank in Pennsylvania of more than $100,000. It turns out Torres was tipped off by Dasrath about the East Village branch's lax security (plus security changes made......

NYPD rookie Christian Torres has been charged in robbing an East Village Sovereign Bank branch twice. The law enforcement officer who held a second "job" as a felonious stickup man was initially arrested after robbing a Pennsylvania bank of $113,000. Torres robbed the New York bank a month before he entered the police academy and then again while he was a police officer; police found the clothes he wore during those robberies in his Queens......

It's not unusual for police officers to make side money by moonlighting with second jobs. Christian Torres is a rookie cop, however, who took that practice to a whole new level--allegedly robbing banks when off duty. On Thursday, Torres arrested in Pennsylvania less than a block from the bank he just robbed. Unaware the teller had tripped a silent alarm and that a police officer followed him, he showed his NYPD badge, thinking he was......

East Village pizzeria Artichoke has been open a scant two weeks, but the blogosphere is already abubble. All it took was one avid pizza geek kvelling to Slice that it’s on a par with Brooklyn's acclaimed Di Fara Pizzeria. This initial report led many to assume that this standing-room spot models its pies after those turned out by Dom De Marco, the maestro of Midwood. The only similarity between Di Fara’s and Artichoke is the......

A tip to America's Most Wanted led authorities to James Gonzalez, who police believe fatally stabbed his girlfriend and injured another woman at the East Village Key Food on February 29. Gonzalez was found in a Miami homeless shelter, and NYPD detectives are headed to Florida to bring him back to face charges. Last Friday, police had released surveillance footage in hopes someone would have information about Gonzalez's whereabouts. The NYPD also filmed a......

Images from WNBC A month ago, a man stabbed two employees of the Key Foods supermarket in the East Village, killing one and seriously injuring the other. Today, police released surveillance footage from the attack, in hopes that someone can provide information on suspect Jamie Gonzalez. The footage shows the suspect walking down the aisle, heading to the manager's booth. Some employees are seen heading towards the booth also, but he exits holding a......

Dozens of protesters stood inside and out of a Community Board 3 meeting yesterday, claiming that a proposed rezoning plan was racist and could result in the displacement of minority community members. At issue is a rezoning plan that places height restrictions on new buildings going up on the Lower East Side and the East Village. Community board officials claim that the restrictions are necessary for the area to retain its innate character. Critics claim......

This month many have been fooled into thinking this house, which is in Toronto, was actually in Brooklyn, NY. While the tiny abode is nowhere near any of the five boroughs, there are some little residential gems amongst us (albeit still bigger than most city apartments). liQcity points out "The smallest house in Long Island City" on Courthouse Sq, Hunters Point (pictured), and in the past we've seen a tiny houseboat in the Bronx, the......

After yesterday's story of a yarmulke robbing stopped by possible karma (carma?), the Post has another tale of fate stepping in to stop an East Village robbery from going worse. Rafael Nunez was on East 13th Street near Avenue B two weeks ago when two men attacked him in order to steal his "$8,000 gold chain and diamond- encrusted medallion of Jesus." They beat and pistol-whipped Nunez, who tried to fight back. They got the......

Shigemi Kawahara, who’s known in Japan as the Ramen King, unveiled the much anticipated Ippudo last night at a press event packed with food bloggers and dozens of members of the Japanese media. The East Village ramenya is his company's first restaurant outside japan. With the last chill of winter hanging in the air, it was a perfect night for slurping noodles and hot broth. And oh, what noodles they were: The thin strands had......

Heads up: David Chang's latest creation, Momofuku Ko, will be open for online reservations at 10:00 a.m. today, so cancel your meetings, bookmark the URL and prepare to crash the site's server. Will the dainty new baby live up to the breathless hype that swirls around Chang's burgeoning empire? Only the quick-clicking lucky few will find out anytime soon. As we described last week, Chang deliberately decided not to take reservations by phone and created......

The rowdy drunken yahoos stumbling out of nightclubs on the Lower East Side and East Village have some residents nostalgic for the old days of pre-gentrified lawlessness. 47-year-old Frances Ayers, who lives at Rivington and Ludlow streets, tells the Post, "At least with the drug dealers there wasn't any noise." Since July 2007, when the city’s stricter noise code went into effect, complaints recorded by local community boards have boomed. Between July 1st, 2007 and......

Photos via Copyranter Atlanta band The Black Lips better tell their street team the correct date of their upcoming Bowery Ballroom show. The above posters were spotted around the East Village (a clever guerrilla marketing campaign), but some of the dates are wrong! Copyranter calls out the "lazy hipsters" for the inconsistency, but in the end it's a nice way to be a little "green" while promoting shows. P.S. - The Bowery Ballroom show......

The Village Voice has taken a page from MTV and begun to invade the cribs of rock stars. Okay, indie rock stars...who haven't quite broken out of their downtown bubble yet. First up on Indie Cribz (it's really called that): Team Robespierre. Mediocre band, amazing "semi-legal" apartment story. Bassist of the band, Mike House, lives in a former squat on 9th Street between Avenues C and D. In 2002 Giuliani sold the former squat to......

Drawing on his roots in the fecund 1970s East Village avant-garde film scene, critic J. Hoberman has spent his three decades at the Village Voice introducing readers to the more adventurous cinematic worlds awaiting beyond the realm of Hollywood. He is the author of nine books, most recently The Dream Life: Movies, Media, and the Mythology of the Sixties, which was described by Slate as "an extraordinary publishing event." To commemorate his thirty years at......