the lo-down magazine- september 2014

The Lo-Down | TheLoDownNY.com 1

LO-DOWNTHE

www.thelodownny.com

Patricia Field'sLES life

Also inside:

News from the Lower East Side

SEPT.2014

STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS

A Slump at the Essex Street Market,

as Redevelopment Nears

STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS

A Slump at the Essex Street Market,

as Redevelopment Nears

The Lo-Down | TheLoDownNY.com 1Halstead Property, LLC We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin. All information is from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, prior sale or withdrawal without notice. No representation is made as to the accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate and all information should be confirmed by customer. All rights to content, photographs and graphics reserved to Broker.

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The Lo-Down | TheLoDownNY.com 3

LO-DOWNTH

E

Ed LitvakEditor-in-Chief

Traven RicePublisher/Arts Editor

Jennifer StromAssociate Editor/Food Editor

Kim Sillen Art Director

Tobi ElkinContributing Writer

Alex M. SmithContributing Photographer

David KleinProofreader

Evan ForschCartoonist

Viviane EngIntern

Advertising inquiries: [email protected]

Story tips: [email protected]

Contact us: 646-861-1805The Lo-Down® is a registered trademark of

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LO-DOWNTHE

September 2014

letter from the Editor:

There are fancier food halls in New York City. You will find a wider selection of gourmet products in the West Village or on the Upper East Side. But what makes the Essex Street Market special is something that could never be manufactured by any urban planner: a blend of old and new that is uniquely LES. Somehow, grocers originally from the Dominican Republic, a short-tempered cook named Kenny Shopsin, a cheesemonger who supplies some of the best restaurants in town and a barber from Uzbekistan don’t just get along — they actually seem to complement one another. In the past year, we’ve been hearing that some vendors are struggling, potentially upsetting the delicate balance in the market. So in this month’s cover story, we take a closer look at what’s happening, as plans for the facility’s relocation and expansion in the year 2018 begin to take shape. Also this month, we profile downtown fashion trailblazer Patricia Field, survey some new lunch spots and meet a longtime Ludlow Street artist, in our “My LES” feature. We hope you enjoyed your summer. It’s shaping up as another busy autumn on the Lower East Side, full of development deals, restaurant openings and cultural events. We’re looking forward to covering it all for you, in the magazine and online.

in this issue

Cover StoryEssex Street Market in transition

Calendar/Featured Events Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, Sarah Jones, Opening Night: Art + Fashion

New ArrivalsBillykirk, Sabit NYC, Tokyo Rebel

Neighborhood NewsRivington House Closing, Dashane Santana Way, Intercity buses

The Lo-DineNew weekday lunch optionsSummer/Fall Openings: Max Fish, Copper & Oak, Comfort Diner

Arts WatchFashion maven Patricia Field’s downtown style

My LESPerformer and artist Laura Foulke

LES SidewaysEvan Forsch’s cartoon

6

14

22

12

Ed Litvak

16

18

24

28

On the cover: Inside the Essex Street Market. Photo by Alex M. Smith. Composite by Kim Sillen.*

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THE TAYLOR SCHOOL

PAUL TAYLOR’S


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By Ed Litvak

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Business Slows For Some Vendors as Planning

Accelerates to Replace Historic Building

Business Slows For Some Vendors as Planning

Accelerates to Replace Historic Building

Essex Street Market in Transition: Essex Street Market in Transition: Essex Street Market in Transition:


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Photos, top to bottom:

1. ) Rhonda Kave, Roni-Sue’s Chocolates 2.) Anne Saxelby, Saxelby Cheesemongers

3.) City officials with Batista Grocery, Luna Brothers staff 4. ) Tra la la Juice Bar

A view from Essex Street of the 1939 market building.


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“Di Palo's Guide to the Essential Foods of Italy” at Tenement Talks: Lou Di Palo, owner of Di Palo Selects on Grand Street, comes to the Tenement Museum with his new book to talk pasta, cheese and the story of the relation-ships that form around a family-run neighborhood shop. Yes, there will be samples, too. 103 Orchard St., 6:30 p.m., free, tenement.org.

Opening Night: Art + Fashion on Orchard: The Lower East Side Business Improvement District coordinates this block party, kicking off more than 30 fall art open-ings and a “Looks of the LES” fashion show with local styles selected by Cosmopolitan.com Editor Amy Odell. Live music is curated by Cake Shop, with DJ Anton Bass of Sea to Sun Recordings spinning for the catwalk. Paul Taylor 2 dancers will make appearances as well. Orchard Street (just above Grand Street), 4 to 8 p.m., fashion show at 7 p.m., free, lowereastsideny.com.

calendarVisit our CALENDAR online at

www.thelodownny.com/calendar for more details and

to add your own events.

SEPTEMBER

Steve Coleman and Five Elements at The Stone: The contemporary jazz saxophonist and composer, in residence for two weeks, has been hailed as the suc-cessor to Charlie Parker. He plays with Five Elements members and special guests David Bryant, Anthony Tidd, Miles Okazaki, Jonathan Finlayson and Sean Rickman. The second week, he premieres excerpts of new compositions with the same crew, augmented by members of the Talea Ensemble and Brazilian and Cu-ban percussionists. Avenue C at Second Street. Through Sept. 28, two shows nightly, Tuesday through Sunday, 8 and 10 p.m., $15, thestonenyc.com

Mid-Autumn Moon Family Festival at the Museum of Chinese in America: Join MOCA for a fun-filled afternoon of activities, including drop-in arts and crafts, calligraphy, lantern-making, sto-

rytelling, a scavenger hunt and a special mooncake tasting. Noon to 4 p.m., $10 ($8

MOCA members), mocanyc.org.

Justin Vivian Bond in “The Drift” at Joe’s Pub: Inspired by Tennessee Williams’ novella The Roman

Spring of Mrs. Stone, Bond creates a new, free-

associative collage of spoken word and song inspired by the story of Karen Stone, a retired actress who drifts from one space to another— either in her mind, in couture or in bed. Also Sept. 12, 18, 19 and Oct. 2, 3. 425 Lafayette St., 7 p.m., $25, joespub.publictheater.org.

Sat.

6

Thurs.

11

Wed.

17

Tues.

16

Edited by Traven Rice

Sun.

7

what to do in

Queer New York Interna-tional Arts Festival at Abrons Arts Center: Returning for its third year, this

festival presents performances by artists from around the world who continue to focus on broadening the traditional concept of “queer (in) art." This year's lineup includes U.S. premieres of Croatian theater director Branko Brezovec’s “Confusions”; India-born choreog-rapher Sujata Goel’s “Dancing Girl”; American expat dance artists Jeremy Wade (Berlin) and Mark Tompkins’ (France) collaborative work “Stardust”; and Dutch choreographer Jan Marten’s “The Dog Days Are Over.” Through Sept. 28 at various venues, headquartered at Abrons, 466 Grand St. Ticket prices and showtimes vary, abronsartscenter.org.

Wed.

17Jewish Baroque Music From the Concertino New York Chamber Ensemble at the Museum at Eldridge: Enjoy a fitting backdrop for a performance of instrumental and

vocal music by Italian, French, Austrian, English and Dutch composers of the 17th

and 18th centuries, including Handel, Rossi, Saladin and more. The young ensemble plays compositions that were commissioned by major European synagogues

and performed during various occasions of the Jewish calendar. 12 Eldridge St., 4 p.m., $20; $15 students and seniors, eldridgestreet.org.

Sun.

21

Sat.

27Curating the Region: Reflections from Here and Elsewhere at the New Museum: Examine regional specificity as a device for framing contemporary art practices, while also addressing opportunities and challenges involved in curating art from and about the Arab world at this symposium organized in partnership with ArteEast. Participants include academics, curators and other art professionals who are shaping ideas about art from Arab contexts. 235 Bowery, 1 to 6 p.m., $10, newmuseum.org.

Thurs.

18Don't miss the Tony Award-winning play-wright and performer in a special preview of her latest one-woman show. Noted by The

New York Times as "a master of the genre," Jones is always engaging and insightful, and her new piece is bound to include a hilarious slate of new characters. Luckily for us, she has regularly returned to her stomping grounds at the Nuyorican (she's a former grand slam champion) to develop her newest creations, trying them out on a welcoming audience be-fore going on to bigger venues. Through Oct. 18, 236 E. Third St., 7 p.m., $35/$24 students, nuyorican.org.

Sarah Jones’

Preview at The Nuyorican


new arrivals

DREAM COME TRUE K9 (174 Attorney St., dctk9.com): Veteran dog trainer and Lower East Side native Blake Rodriguez, who founded his company in 2010, has opened a storefront space offering private and group classes to help city dog owners. Services include walking, boarding and behavioral training programs. Hours are from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday. (After hours, check out the work of street artists Fumero and Vandal Expressionism, who painted the gates.)

edited by Viviane Eng

BILLYKIRK (16 Orchard St., billykirk.com): Started in 1999 by brothers Chris and Kirk Bray, Billykirk began in Los An-geles as a leather wholesale design company; the LES location is the company’s first retail space. Specializing in belts, bags and wallets, the brand now partners with three U.S.-based manufacturers and ships its products around the world. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

GREEN GATE CLEANERS (179 Orchard St., green-gatecleaners.com): This “environmentally safe, green dry cleaners” and laundry opened in July. Services include standard laundry and organic dry cleaning along with shirt presses. They ask clients to return their hangers in order to “reduce, reuse and recycle.” Green Gate is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

TOKYO REBEL (158 Allen St., tokyorebel.com): After closing its Avenue B store two years ago, this Japanese punk clothing boutique is back in the neighborhood. The new location opened in mid-July, and provides the Lower East Side with all the frilly Goth street fashion it needs. Store hours are 1 to 8 p.m. six days a week. It is closed on Tuesdays.

SABIT NYC (43 Clinton St., sabitnyc.com): Headed by Japa-nese designer Shoichi Amemiya, this boutique aims to bring Tokyo flavor to urban hip-hop-inspired clothing. In its nine years, the brand has attracted attention

from high-profile clients like Juelz Santana, Chris Brown and Swizz Beatz. In Japanese, “sabit” refers to the hook, or catchiest part, of a song; the clothing brand keeps that in mind with its playful, bold designs. The Clinton Street store is its second in New York and was sched-uled to open in late August. Store hours are tentatively set for 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Sunday, but are subject to change.

Accepting 6th grade students for the 2014-15 school year.Accepting 6th grade students for the 2014-15 school year.

Address: One Monroe Street, New York, NY 10002Phone: Diane at (212) 233-5152 Website: www.greatoakscharter.org


transportation

health care

neighborhood news

real estate

As the March 2015 groundbreaking for the enormous Essex Crossing development ap-pears on the horizon, commercial and resi-dential tenants in doomed buildings are be-ing forced to vacate. This summer, commercial tenants closed their doors in buildings that are soon to be demolished. This fall, the last five fami-lies living on the former urban renewal site, in a tenement building at 400 Grand St., will also be required to relocate. A 90-day eviction notice dis-seminated last month set an Oct. 27 deadline. The residents have been fighting the city’s housing de-partment for relocation rights for four years, but the process has been contentious. Tenant advo-cates say some residents were offered housing far from the Lower East Side, in the Far Rockaways. Other residents had been offered apartments in public housing developments. In two cases, Sec-tion 8 rent vouchers were offered. One family ac-cepted a new apartment in the community. City

edited by Jennifer Strom

Plans for a 15,000-square-foot park in the Essex Crossing development are nearing comple-tion. The park, which will stretch along Broome Street between Suffolk and Clinton streets, will be one of the first projects to break ground in the giant development, as well as its only ground-level green space. After gathering community feedback on initial designs earlier this year, landscape architects West 8 appeared before a Community Board 3 subcommittee in July with the latest drawings. The park is expected to begin construction in March 2015 and be completed in two years. Plans calls for a “re-laxing neighborhood amenity with passive uses” that offers a “green oasis in the city.” The linear park will be 35 percent planted with native species of trees, shrubs and bedding plants, creating individual “coves” that can be used for multiple purposes. One area will offer a play space designed especially for children 2 to 5 years old, while another will be anchored by a large, fixed communal table. In addition to the large table, there will be smaller, portable tables and chairs, as well as benches along the perimeter. Another fixed component of the park will be a kiosk with rotating exhibits and information about the neighborhood. The park will occupy the northern end of the block bounded by Grand, Suffolk, Broome and Clinton streets, known as Site No. 5. The rest of that block will hold a new commercial building in the southeastern corner, while the southwestern corner has been reserved by the city as a potential future public school.

parks and recreation

There may soon be some improvement in the Wild West atmosphere of inter-city buses flooding the streets of the Lower East Side and Chinatown. Prompt-ed by outcry from residents, including a new group called Save LES Streets, local elected officials this summer called on the city’s De-partment of Transportation and the NYPD to begin enforcing New York’s two-year-old intercity bus law. On Aug. 15, spokespersons for State Sen. Daniel Squadron, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Coun-cilmember Margaret Chin and Borough President Gale Brewer declared that enforcement had begun. “With the enforcement of the permit system starting today, intercity bus companies should no longer be able to operate outside of the law with impunity,” the group wrote. “Effective enforcement is key to understanding the challenge facing our communities and to improving quality of life.” On its website, ourstreetsnewyork.org, the new neighborhood or-ganization is tracking bus companies roaming the streets, espe-cially those operating without a license. As of the end of July, its data showed 81 total operators, of which only 18 were licensed by the city’s Department of Transportation, according to the group’s observations.

Rivington House, the 20-year-old nursing home for AIDS pa-tients at 45 Riv-ington St., will close in Novem-ber. Occupancy of the 206-bed facility, housed

in a 19th-century school building, has been dropping over the last three years, accord-ing to spokesman Rob Goldman of Village Care, the parent organization. Goldman said the priority now is helping about 230 staff members find new jobs and relocating about 100 remaining residents. As for the build-ing, no decisions have been made, Goldman said. The prospect that it could be sold to a private developer for condos or a hotel will obviously be a source of anxiety for some local residents. The beautiful Romanesque Revival-style building sits alongside Sara D. Roosevelt Park and would be a hot commod-ity on the open real estate market.

transportation

A section of Delancey Street is now co-named Dashane Santana Way, assuring that the 12-year-old victim of a tragic traffic accident in January 2012 will never be forgotten. Loved ones, friends and community leaders gathered Aug. 3 on the north side of the Delancey and Clinton in-tersection for an emotional ceremony. Dashane’s death finally forced the city to improve the danger-ous thoroughfare, adding wider pedestrian areas and lengthening traffic signals. The Department of Trans-portation had ignored numerous calls for safety im-provements, in spite of a series of deaths and serious accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists. Two and a half years after Dashane’s death, the emotions are still raw for family members. Shamika Benjamin, her mother, wiped away tears as she told those gathered alongside the Williamsburg Bridge that her daugh-ter is “gone but not forgotten.” Teresa Pedroza, her grandmother, led the co-naming campaign. “We love her and miss her,” Pedroza said. “She was a special little girl.”

officials say they are doing their best. “We are working with the families as well as our local sponsors to help identify perma-nent housing op-tions that meet the specific needs and requests of each household,” a hous-ing spokesperson said. “While it has been chal-lenging, we are committed to doing everything we can to help these families find permanent housing.” The city has agreed to give the tenants priority for the new affordable apartments at Es-sex Crossing, but there remains the question of where they would live during the three-year con-struction period.

A rendering depicts the park that will be part of the Essex Crossing development along Broome Street.

400 Grand St.

Rivington House


While destination brunching has become a competitive weekend sport on the Lower East Side, the neighborhood hasn’t traditionally offered a large selection of midday meals during the work week.Unlike a lot of other Lower Manhattan neigh-borhoods that host an abundance of office space and tourist hotels—guaranteeing restaurateurs captive audiences and steady foot traffic—the LES has never been known for its lunch scene.

“Very few restaurants are open during lunch in this area, and yet there is a large community of bartenders, restaurateurs and small business owners that need to be fed,” says Boulton & Watt owner Darin Rubell, who launched a lunch menu at his gastropub in July.

Pockets of lunch spots have cropped up around attractions like the Tenement Museum, and iconic places like Katz’s don’t want for custom-ers. Of course, there’s always a dollar slice, a bode-ga sandwich or a clamshell of Chinese dumplings if you’re in a rush. But sometimes, the hunt for a more substantial sit-down meal with co-worker or a client can drag up and down several blocks.

That’s changing, slowly, as new restaurants open and incorporate lunch into their plans from

the start, and others that have been around a while expand their hours and their menus. Given the im-pending Essex Crossing development, with about a quarter-million square feet of business incuba-tor and office space, and the flood of hotel rooms coming onto the market across the neighborhood, it seems a trend that will continue.

Here are a few of the new spots to try; see the next page for updates on the Comfort Diner and Seoul Chicken, which are scheduled to open this month and will both offer lunch as well.

Sweet Chick, 178 Ludlow St., sweetchicknyc.com: The Williamsburg fried chicken and waffles joint opened its LES outpost in early June, and launched “weekday brunch” service a couple of weeks later. The menu includes the restaurant’s signature chicken and waffles ($16), kale BLT salad ($12), fried chicken sandwich with pickled red on-ions and fries ($12) and waffles with spiced honey, seasonal fruit and whipped ricotta ($12). Specials in September include shrimp and cheddar grits with poached egg, short ribs and eggs with house-made barbecue sauce, and a turkey pastrami hash. For those indulging in spirits midday, there’s a spicy bacon bloody mary.

Paulaner, 265 Bowery, paulanernyc.com: After a big reboot earlier this year, the German brewery added a lunch menu in June. Served from 11:30 a.m to 3 p.m. weekdays, the menu includes bratwurst burgers with sauerkraut on a pretzel roll, pork weiner schnitzel and potato pancakes. For an extra-hearty meal, there’s a prix-fixe option for two courses (appetizer and main) and a beer for $24.

Cochinita Dos, 49 Canal St., tacoscochinita.com: The casual Cal-Mex eatery that launched in May offers late breakfast and lunch beginning at 11:30 a.m. daily. Egg dishes such as huevos ran-cheros and breakfast burritos are available until 3 p.m., in addition to the regular menu of tacos, bur-ritos and combo plates with sides. Fillings include pork, chicken and beef, as well as several vegetar-ian and vegan options. Beverages include house-made limeade and horchata, as well as bottled Mexican beer and made-from-scratch margaritas (which are $5 all day).

Boulton & Watt, 5 Ave. A, boultonand-wattnyc.com: A selection of bar snacks, pickles in mason jars, salads and entrees make up the lunch menu at this gastropub on the corner of Houston Street and Avenue A. The burrata is made in-house

By Jennifer StromLO-DINETHE

New Options Abound for Weekday Lunch

and is almost a meal in itself; the burger comes with a generous heap of shoestring fries for $14. On the lighter side, there’s a refreshing baby aru-gula, date and orange salad with lime vinaigrette, toasted pistachio and ricotta salata ($12), soft scrambled eggs with a side of avocado toast and watercress ($10) and an heirloom tomato sandwich ($10). A “hangover” sandwich of two fried eggs, cheddar, avocado, bacon, chipotle aioli on seven grain bread ($12) purports to cure what ails you after a hard night. Weekday lunch service starts at noon, and the full bar includes a nice selection of craft beers on tap.

Ivan Ramen, 25 Clinton St., ivanramen.com: After much advance hype and long delays, Jap-anese noodle guru Ivan Orkin finally opened his eponymous shop in May. Dinner service at the popular spot often means a wait, but you can now slurp your share of broth at lunchtime without de-lay. The lunch menu, which is served noon to 3:30 p.m. daily, is an abbreviated version of the evening one, but it still contains seven varieties of ramen bowls ($13-$17) as well as the most popular of the non-noodle dishes, like the 1,000-year-old deviled eggs ($3.50).

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The fried chicken sandwich at Sweet Chick on Ludlow Street, one of many new lunch spots popping up in the neighborhood. Photo courtesy of the restaurant.


July and August might be considered the slow months for Manhattan’s restaurant business, but you couldn’t prove it by the Lower East Side this summer. A rush of new bars and eateries debuted over the last couple of months, while several RWKHUV�SXW� WKH�ÞQLVKLQJ� WRXFKHV�RQ�GLQ-ing rooms and menus in preparation for opening this month. Here are a few of the notable newcomers.

LO-DINETHE

New Restaurants and Bars for Fallby Jennifer Strom

coming soonComfort Diner

399 Grand St. | comfortdiner.com

Owner Ira Freehof was aiming for a Labor Day opening, but as of press time his homestyle restaurant in the Seward Park Co-op’s commercial strip was scheduled to debut by the end of September. A revamp of the former’s Noah’s Ark space added a bar/lounge area in the rear, more booth seating in the main dining room and a sidewalk cafe. The decor and the menu will be similar to, but not exact duplicates of, the original Comfort Diner in Midtown, which Freehof opened 18 years ago. Look for traditional diner fare like omelettes, big juicy burgers accompanied by real kosher pickles and sturdy fries, strong coffee in large mugs and plenty of kid-friendly items, along with house specials like lemon ricotta pancakes. The restau-rant will seat a total of 64 diners, and offer both takeout and delivery service. A liquor license is pending.

(continued)

now open

Balvanera 152 Stanton St. | balvaneranyc.com

Replacing Azul Bistro, which shuttered after 13 years, this solo project from Buenos Aires-born chef Fernando Navas offers Argentinian fare that’s not just beef. Seafood and veggie options abound, along with pastas like ricotta cavatelli.

Navas, who has done stints at El Bulli and Nobu, most recently came from Sushi Samba, bringing a worldly view of his native cuisine. Beverages include traditional herbal teas, a thoughtful selec-tion of beer and wine and some low-alcohol mixed drinks such as sherry-based cocktails and sangria.

Roman’s Italian Delicatessen157 Allen St. | (no website yet)

This small storefront serves as both a deli and a gro-cery, serving cold sandwiches and a variety of dry goods and prepared foods, including cured meats, housemade breads, fresh pastas and sauces. Hours are Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Max Fish ��2UFKDUG�6W��_��PD[ÞVK�FRP

Last year, fans of the beloved Ludlow Street bar were mourning its demise. Last month, it was reborn just a couple of blocks away in larger digs, and so far, has drawn hearty and enthusiastic crowds. Owner Ulli Rimkus and her bartenders (now part-owners) did all the work themselves. The place is very much reminiscent of the original, although there are new design twists. Rimkus said she wasn’t aiming to recreate it exactly. Some people have asked why Rimkus and company decided to keep the name. Her response: “Max Fish is a brand.” The trick over the the next few months and years will be ensuring the brand evolves. There will be art shows featuring new artists and musical performances once a week or so. Rimkus said they’ll let things develop naturally and see what feels right.

Khushboo6 Clinton St. | khushboonyc.com

Lower East Side fans of Indian food can stop short of trekking to the East Village’s Little India district with the addition of this new spot near Houston Street. It’s a straight-up classic Indian joint, serving lunch, dinner, happy hour and late-night eats, as well as take-out and delivery. Try the vegetable samosas and the lamb rogen josh with a side of onion naan for dipping; the rice pudding is delicious, too. Hours are noon to 11 p.m. daily, and include lunch specials.

100 Montaditos 177 Ludlow St. | us.100montaditos.com

A franchise of the Spanish fast-food chain opened its second Manhattan location in the former home of health food store Earthmatters in late August. (The first is on Bleecker Street.) The eatery offers a huge menu centered around its namesake dish, a traditional Spanish tapas-sized sandwich featuring a split roll filled with a wide variety of toppings: meat, seafood, vegetables and even sweets for the dessert course served on chocolate bread. Sides like salads and other dishes like calamari round out the menu.

Seoul Chicken71 Clinton St. | seoul-chicken.com

Chef Chaz Brown, formerly of Fatty Crab, is bringing his version of a “wing bar” to the spot vacated by San Marzano pizzeria earlier this year. Seoul Chicken will emphasize two types of wings: East Asian and American southern, served either Korean-fried (Seoul style) or “naked,” the latter of which is gluten-free. Sauce options include gochujang buffalo, palm sugar and kalamansi, sriracha and honey, habanero kimchi and szechuan peppercorn and sea salt. Chickens are also available by the half or whole, with the same sauce choices, along with snacks and sides like kimchi fries with miso aioli and Singsing Rock Shrimp with honey, chili and kewpie mayo. There’s a full bar with cocktails, beer and wine. The restaurant will serve lunch and dinner seven days a week, and offer takeout and delivery as well.

Copper and Oak 157 Allen St. | (no website yet)

Next door to Roman’s, a new bar specializing in brown li-quor, with an emphasis on sin-gle-grain scotch and Japanese whiskeys, debuted in July. An outpost of Tribeca’s Brandy Library, the bar numbers its bottles above 600 and plays “upbeat ’80s rock.” Hours are 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Photos by Miguel Castilla, courtesy of the restaurant

Photo by Chaz Brown, courtesy of the restaurant

Top: The interior at Balvanera. Bottom: Balvanera's mollejas (soft & crispy sweetbreads with grape mustard, arugula and oranges).


It’s the flaming orange-red hair you see first. Then the eyes, outlined in sparkly baby blue kohl eyeliner. Long, thin legs are propped up on a desk, her lithe frame folded into a chair. Poodles Puti and Sultana hover nearby. In the cavernous basement office of her eponymous shop at 306 Bowery, Patri-cia Field is quiet, but her mind is hardly idle.

“I’d love to see my online business grow big,” she says after a drag on an American Spirit.

A small army of young employees toils nearby, attending to Field’s vigorous web presence that in-cludes her thriving online store. Two set up a photo shoot in a corner of the office. Others style man-nequins with quirky leopard prints, patent leather and pink boas; they tag shoes, check order statuses and wait on customers upstairs. Field, 73, keeps an eye on the shoot, occasionally offering suggestions.

A prolific stylist and designer, whose creative vi-sion earned her an Oscar nomination for The Devil

Wears Prada, multiple Emmy nominations and a win for costume design for her work on the TV se-ries Sex and the City, Field is writing a new chapter on the Lower East Side.

Until two years ago, Field lived in an annex of the building that houses her boutique on the Bow-ery. She transformed it into an exotic Shangri-la, throwing numerous backyard barbecues and par-ties. The house featured a bathroom with an indoor garden. “I loved it because it was totally private.” She stayed there for eight years. But when she had the chance to buy the property that borders hers, Field decided to make a change in order to create more retail space. “My business comes first,” she says of her now more than 3,000-square-foot shop.

However, the decision meant she needed to move. “And I’m like, OK, where am I going? What is my life? What can I do that I haven’t done before to get me excited?” She didn’t end up going very

arts watch

Grit and Glamour: Designer Patricia Field’s Lower East Side

far, migrating below Delancey Street to the Seward Park Co-op after hearing from a friend whose father had lived there. She downsized to a gut-renovated one-bedroom apartment on Grand Street that fac-es the East River and couldn’t be happier. She’s fre-quently spotted strolling around the neighborhood with her dogs, picking up groceries at Fine Fare on Clinton Street.

“I travel a lot and live in a lot of hotels so I wanted a hotel suite-type space,” Field says. She created what she calls a “hotel suite in the sky.” When she leaves the city for a break, she goes to her apartment in South Beach, Fla., or to visit family and friends in Greece.

Of the neighborhood she says, “I love every-thing about it… the view of the river, the quiet and peace. I can walk to work and I can walk home. I love walking outside and seeing birds and squirrels and trees.”

Field has been a quintessential downtown girl since the ’60s. A New Yorker, she was born in Man-hattan’s Yorkville neighborhood to a Greek mother who ran a dry cleaning business, and an Armenian father. Raised largely in Whitestone, Queens, her Greek grandmother lived in Astoria and was a ma-jor influence—her dog Sultana is named after her.

Ironically, Field’s quirky downtown aesthetic

runs counter to films she’s designed costumes for —The Devil Wears Prada and Confessions of a

Shopaholic, for example—and TV shows like Ugly

Betty and Hope and Faith. Field describes her own fashion persona as “sporty chic, modern with a soft edge.” Her everyday style is jeans and a T-shirt with a twist, but, she says: “I can doll up. I doll up good.”

Field’s work in film and TV began in the mid-1980s on a thriller called Lady Beware starring Diane Lane. The association that would catapult her into global recognition didn’t occur until 1994 when she met Sarah Jessica Parker, who was on a movie called Miami Rhapsody at the time. Her friendship with Parker led her to Sex and the City creator Darren Star in 1998.

“It was just something that happened to me kind of at the perfect time and I loved it. I had the store and this was a job where I would go and dress a few people, and they pay you really good money. Money that I wasn’t used to making. And I was like ‘Wow, I like this,’ but I never wanted to give up my store.”

Sex and the City, known in some circles as the most fashionable show in television history, remains the TV and film franchise that Field is most associated with. To this day, Field says when she’s

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What’s your favorite spot on the LES and why?The East River Park is easily my favorite place on the LES in all but the very worst weather. I usually bike across Delancey and then down the river, sometimes all the way over to Battery Park, but part of the fun is choosing alternate routes through the neighborhood. The quickest and easiest way is to ride straight down Allen Street, but if I have time to stop and paint or enjoy a picnic, I like the lawn at Corlears Hook, near the old amphitheater. There’s a great view in either direction, and the little point of land there gener-ally catches whatever breeze may be available.

Favorite cheap eats?For pizza I definitely have to see my friend Salva-tore Bartolomeo at Rosario’s at Stanton and Or-chard. The pizza is awesome, and there’s no substi-tute for Salvatore’s cheerful greeting. When I first moved to the neighborhood, Sal and his father had their shop on Houston Street. It was just a sliver of a place with fluorescent lights overhead and a tiny television mounted in the back. They moved to Stanton when Ray’s opened up on Hous-ton. For dumplings and sesame pancake sand-wiches I like Vanessa’s on Eldridge. I also love El Castillo de Jagua on Rivington for its life-saving breakfast, including the best hash browns I’ve ever had, and the amazing arroz con pollo. Sou-vlaki GR on Stanton combines savory, inexpen-sive food with the charming illusion that it is lo-cated on a Greek island. During the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, when the neighborhood went without power for almost a week, the owners served hot fries from their food truck and let every-one charge up their phones. That showed real class.

Favorite place for a special night?I don’t eat out that often, and when I do, it’s usu-ally a quick nosh rather than a full-on fine dining experience. I’m much more likely to go out late, to hear music or play a gig myself. The other night, I checked out a great band from Vienna, Nancy Transit, at Pianos. The night before, I had a few late-night drinks with friends in the bar at Arlene’s Grocery, where they were spinning pop hits from the ’80s into the wee hours. Another favored place on the LES is The Back Room, for a bit of swing music and a sip of bathtub gin.

How have you seen the neighborhood change?

Delancey Street. I’ve been appearing there weekly since the restaurant opened in February. It’s always a party, and it’s as much fun for a big group as it is for a date. The music from Ellen Kaye, Ethan Fein, Ben Brown and others is first-rate. I also create an ongoing series of mixed-media installations there; the most recent one celebrates the history of the Lower East Side (up to the traditional boundary of 14th Street) from the 18th century to the present day.

Tell us about your apartment — the good, the bad and the ugly.The good news is location, location, location. The bad news is, it’s a tiny top-floor apartment that I sometimes tell people is one of the exhibits at the Tenement Museum. It’s surprising how often they believe me.

How long have you lived on the Lower East Side? I moved to Ludlow Street in 1984. I got my place when a friend from college recommended me to the super in her building. It was an out-of-the-way, kind of sketchy street at the time. Being here was living on the edge; it was a frontier. I liked that. Most cab drivers had never even heard of Ludlow Street. You had to ask if they knew where to find Katz’s Deli.

What do you do?I’m a singer/songwriter and artist. I’m currently in residency at Moscow 57, the Russian restaurant on

Laura FOULKE

For our regular feature spotlighting the people who live and work on the Lower East Side, we talked with long-time LES resident, performer and artist Laura Foulke.

When I first moved to the neighborhood, you couldn’t buy Tampax below Houston Street. There was nowhere to buy fresh produce—other than maybe a lime or a spongy tomato—between Houston Street and Chinatown. Arlene’s Grocery was a real bodega. There were several abandoned buildings being used as shooting galleries, and there was a line out in front of my building every day at 3 p.m of people “waiting for the man”—waiting to score heroin. You could always get a cab going up First Avenue because there was virtually no competition. Laundry lines criss-crossed the street on the upper floors. On Chinese New Year, a lot of the streets would be ankle-deep in pink cher-ry bomb wrappers for about a week, as kids set off string after string. It was fantastic! Today, safety comes first, I suppose—but there was a lot of fun to be had from living in a marginalized area.

What do you miss from the old LES?The old Lower East Side was filled with every kind of person, from Jewish men selling party goods to Cubans and Puerto Ricans who blasted salsa on Sunday mornings. Rents were low, and kids who

(continued on page 27)

Photo by Alex M. Smith


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depressed, she does something women do the world over, she locks herself into a room for a SATC marathon.

“It’s like a global club of a billion women that sing the same song,” she says.

But her true passion is her boutique, a fashion landmark for nearly 50 years that now includes clothing from her own label.

Field says her greatest achievement came in 1966 when, at 24, she opened her first store. “That was a highlight for me. Because at the time, that was an accomplishment—it had a scariness about it because you never know,” she recalls. The store, on Washington Place on the New York University campus, became a hit. After five years, she moved the store to 10 E. Eighth St. where it thrived for 30 years. Field lived in the loft atop the store. There was also a location in Soho in the 1990s. Field moved to her current Bowery location, just above Houston, in 2003, working and living there after adding onto the back of the building. “My home became part of my store enlargement.” Shortly af-ter she bought the front part of the building, it was designated as a landmark.

Field has observed enormous changes on the Bowery: “I really don’t know what’s going on. I see stores open and close, open and close. I see fancy stores trying to anchor here and I don’t know what’s going on.”

Of the changes in her “new” LES neighbor-hood, she says she’s “happy sad”: ”You’re not go-ing to stop progress so you may as well latch onto the positive side of it and let the past go. That’s the ‘sad’ because I love the neighborhood, I love that it’s a mix of people. It’s what I call a real New York mix. I really don’t care to live in a building with all old-fashioned people or artsy people. I don’t like that. I like normal. I’m a New York person, I come from a middle-class world and I’m comfortable in that environment.”

Clearly, Field isn’t planning on slowing down anytime soon. Along with creating buzz for her store and shopping events she’s working as costume consultant on Darren Star’s latest sitcom, Younger, which got picked up and debuted in August on TV Land. The show stars Sutton Foster as a recently divorced 40-year-old mom struggling to find a job; she stages a makeover to age down to her mid-20s and lands a gig as an assistant. Yet another ideal mashup and more fertile ground for Field’s hyperactive imagination, where visionary curation and design takes on a life of its own.

(continued from page 23) (continued from page 25)

came up here often stayed in the neighborhood.There were virtually no chain stores or restaurant franchises, hardly any banks and certainly no ho-tels. The neighborhood was full of artists and musi-cians, Wigstock was in its inception and nobody had ever even considered corporate sponsor-ship—for anything. The old-school management style of LES landlords ranged from laissez-faire to Wild Wild West, and there were some epic parties. My neighbors set up an above-ground pool in the backyard for one Fourth of July. Another celebra-tion featured tenants on both sides of the street strafing each other with bottle rockets through open windows. I also miss the friends we have lost along the way—to drugs, to AIDS, to suicide, to other towns and other ways of life. They made the Lower East Side what it was, and I still see them in all the old familiar places.

Is there a new arrival you love?I recently had a great evening with friends at Sel Rrose on Delancey St., which is named for Marcel Duchamp’s alter ego, Rrose Selavy. The “Fountain” cocktail is accurately named—it’s enormous, thirst-quenching and delicious—and the oyster happy hour is one of the best in the neighborhood.

What drives you crazy about the neigh-borhood?I don’t seriously mind the clubs, the noise or the fratty congestion of “Hell Square,” but I really dis-like the bloodcurdling screams at 4 a.m. which al-ways wake me up in a panic, thinking that someone is being murdered. I also miss having a wide choice of great bars and live music venues in the neigh-borhood. It feels as though almost every place I liked has closed or moved to Brooklyn. Things are always changing in New York, but it seems as though the past year has been particularly devas-tating for local businesses.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen on the LES?A lot of my LES stories are NSGA (not suitable for general audiences) but recently I was hanging out with my friend Peter Chance when a guy walked down Delancey playing the accordion in a suit and tie, high heels and a unicorn mask. That was a mag-ical moment.

Who’s the best neighborhood character you’ve met and why?My former neighbor, the late poet and Andy War-

hol star Taylor Mead, who lived across the hall from me for many years, was—in a crowded market—easily the most infamous local character the Lower East Side had to offer. Taylor had a star’s sixth sense for media manipulation, and very few personal boundaries, meaning that he was delighted to ap-pear on the cover of New York magazine as the proud occupant of the so-called worst apartment in New York—which it very possibly was. Taylor was well known for his iconoclastic and occasionally vi-tuperative public persona, but he was a great neighbor, friendly and chatty, and a genuine origi-nal of the old school. I was very sorry when he told me last spring that he was leaving the city to live with his niece, and of course truly sad to hear of his death shortly thereafter.

Tell us your best LES memory.I’ve had a lot of fun over the years—cramming friends into my tiny apartment for dinner parties, painting up on the roof, playing with my band at the Ludlow Cafe, appearing at Angel Orensanz in the first New York Fringe Festival, drinking at Max Fish. They say if you can remember it, you weren’t there, and I guess that’s kind of how I feel about the great old times on the Lower East Side.

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