Thursday, December 6, 2007

*Everyday Chatter

There's been some kind of rift at Mud coffee. I spotted this familiar truck on 14th and 5th, but it said Love, not Mud. The Mud partners have apparently split--one to the earthbound Mudspot and one to the streets. Now the coffee you'll find on four wheels is Love Street Coffee: "Same truck, same orange color," said the coffee man, "but with a different logo and a bit of pink."

In what way does the coming arrival of a "huge, 26,500 foot, three-level glass box" containing an American Eagle Outfitters signify that the "long vacant former Howard Johnson Restaurant in Times Square is finally coming back to life"? [Post via Racked]

I haven't heard much from the Breslin Hotel battlefront--until today, when alerted to its sealed fate as a hipster hotel. So what happens now to all the live-in tenants? [Curbed] [NY Times]

The big, fat newborn baby Chase at 18th and 6th looked forlorn last night, with the new desks not yet cluttered by occupants, the computer monitors still sealed, the detritus of a Dunkin Donuts-fueled celebration--and this rather depressingly hopeful whiteboard note: "Welcome 6th Ave and 18th St Team to Our Vision Day." What sort of visions dance in the heads of the Chase team? You can bet it's got nothing to do with sugar-plums.


I've been having trouble lately finding a good place to get a cheap, tasty burger in the East Village while enjoying a little ambiance. At night, McSorley's is the Ninth Circle of Hell. Teresa's is dead. What's left? McDonald's. [NMNL]

Speaking of EV food, tell me why the Gossip Girls are eating Veselka pierogis. [Gothamist]

The MTA is featuring lightboxes filled with Saul Leiter's photographs in the Bryant Park station. Leiter's work includes some of the few color images you'll find of New York in the 1950s -- a strangely under-photographed era. Looking at these pictures soothes my spleen. [MTA]



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dunkin' Donuts wouldn't sue for "color-scheme copyright infringement" (there is no such claim recognized).
Instead, they would sue under trademark/trade dress infringement, and would probably have a hard time at that....

Anonymous said...

The NY Times just had a brief review of Belcourt (84 East 4th St) as a charming place for comfort food...burgers made with ground lamb.

Anonymous said...

It's not EV, but NoHo Star has a wierdly good burger -- even if it comes on Rye toast and you have to eat it with a knife and fork. Not cheap, though!

Anonymous said...

These Vendor trucks are a stain on the city.
They run generators take up valuble parking and are just a bad idea.
We should ban them outright!
There seems to be more and more vendors using these trucks in midtown.

Anonymous said...

There is plenty staining this fine city - food trucks aint so bad and there's usually some colorful characters working them...but if this is the same Anon, you've given us a good idea of what/who you do and don't value.

Why don't you just pitch a tent and live in a mall? "Nice" and clean and predictable and...UPSCALE! HEYYYY! You'd feel SO special! Sooo unique!

*makes jerking off motion, flips the table and storms out*

Anonymous said...

I really have a problem with the previous anonymous entry. Trucks are good! Their scrappy entrepeneurship really put a smile on my face when I'm walking down the street. And with so many delis closing, where are you going to get a cup of Joe? The walk on Broadway between Houston and Astor seems to have about 3 regular trucks and carts (neither MUD nor LOVE) each with it's own personality. It's a nice break in the landscape, they always have a line. So what's the problem? You can't get a cup of tea at the Adidas store at 7AM, can you?

L'Emmerdeur said...

While I am a fan of street vendors, whether stands or trucks, a bit of common sense and regulation would make some examples more resident-friendly. One of the best examples are the vendors who clog up 14th Street on Union Square and those who make Prince Street sidewalks impassable on the weekends. What's worse is that the vendors who sold their wares there a few years ago were mostly local artists, and I used to love to buy from a couple of them. These days they have been replaced by the usual locust swarm of immigrant hawkers selling plastic doo-dads, $5 belts and scarves, and any other piece of apartment filler coming out of China. FFS, you are immigrants, give us something interesting, or switch to Red-Hook-like fare. I'm hungry!

That said, I don't see how the Mud truck inconvenienced residents at its location on Broadway off of 14th. The noise and congestion endemic to that corner existed decades before the truck started doing business there.