The 'old' on this East Village block would be two mainstays, both Italian, that are side-by-side near 1st Avenue: Veniero's, a pasticceria and cafe; and Russo's Mozzarella & Pasta. First let's see Veniero's, which has separate bakery and cafe areas.
As you can see, Veniero's goes back to 1894. It was started by Antonio Veniero and remains owned and run by the Veniero family.
They're well-known for having delicious pastries, which is always a good reputation for a bakery to have. You have to figure there's a reason they've been around since 1894: if the pastries weren't good, that would be kind of shady.
The bakery has a long counter to check out and survey all the goods. Here's a very small section of the counter near the front:
The top right of the photo is a strawberry shortcake pastry, which I tried, along with a vanilla cannoli. First the bag for suspense:
Then the box:
Maybe that was too much suspense. Okay it's magic time:
I don't have to tell you how good they were. Or maybe I do: they were really good. Russo's is just to the left of the Veniero's Cafe area.
It goes back to 1908. They have hanging meats inside the store which is always a classic touch. I didn't sample any of their food but reviewers seemed to generally say that it's authentic and delicious, which again is to be expected since they've been around for over a century. There are many shops on the block that would qualify as 'new,' especially compared to Veniero's and Russo's, including not one but two bakery challenges to Veniero's! That is rather bold, but perhaps there are enough sweet tooths-- sweet teeth?-- to keep everyone in business. Both of the newer bakeries are small shops. Tu-Lu's Gluten-Free Bakery is just 2 doors down from Veniero's. Bold indeed!
I have tried Tu-Lu's in the past and it is quite good.
It's nice that there's a fully gluten-free bakery for people with health issues. By the way, Veniero's can adapt with the times: they offer gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, and low-carb options.
The other bakery is Insomnia Cookies and is further up the block closer to 2nd Avenue.
I haven't tasted their products but my sister said she knew them from another of their locations and that they're really good. It's cool that they deliver until 3AM. And they are also keeping up with the times:
Next to Insomnia is this image:
This refers to the Chinese restaurant Plump Dumpling on the 2nd Avenue corner. It also seems to share an address with Mamak, which has Malaysian, Thai, and Vietnamese food.
Here are some more looks at the block close to 2nd Avenue, facing west:
And looking back east:
On the other corner at 2nd Avenue is Liquiteria, a juice shop that has several locations in the city. Here's a shot from the corner, looking down 2nd Avenue:
Across the street is St. Mark's Church-In-The-Bowery, which was featured in my post on East 10th Street between 2nd and 3rd.
I don't often drink juice but I went into the Liquiteria to see if anything looked appealing. The place was busy and felt healthy, with employees behind the counter seemingly making fresh juice on the spot. When I looked at the bottled juices in a fridge near the entrance and saw prices of $8.75, I felt it wasn't for me. I'm sure all the juice is delicious, though.
Back closer to 1st Avenue, between Veniero's and Tu-Lu's, is The Village Veterinarian, and a few doors down from that is a coffee place called Honey House.
There are several clothing stores on the block, including 2 thrift shops next to each other:
Tokyo Joe was very small but had some interesting stuff, while Buffalo Exchange was bigger and had more to choose from in many sizes. There was another thrift shop across the corner on 1st Avenue:
However I didn't go in there. I can only handle so much thrift.
There is a sad note to this block, indicated in a memorial street sign at 1st Avenue:
Jodie Lane was a 30-year-old doctoral psychology student who was killed at 11th Street and 1st Avenue, in January 2004, by stray voltage electrocution from a Con Ed junction box. She lived in the area and was walking her dogs near Veniero's.
Lane's family reached a multi-million dollar settlement with Con Ed, which led to a scholarship program and helped the Jodie S. Lane Public Safety Foundation push Con Ed and the New York State Public Service Commission to have better safety standards when it comes to stray voltage in the city. The improved safety measures are good but maybe if they had been in place before, this tragedy could have been prevented. On the side of the block opposite Veniero's and Russo's is P.S. 19.
It goes from the 1st Avenue corner until about midway up the block.
Now we come to the quirky part of the block, which is a rubber stamp store called Casey Rubber Stamps.
A rubber stamp store is quirky enough in itself, but this one has some interesting signs in the front, including the notice of keeping 'East Village artistic hours':
And a message on the table in front of the store, which notes that the stamps there are not just for free use:
Well then, I'll just take my business to another rubber stamp store, even though this is the only one I've ever seen (actually there's a shop in the West Village called The Ink Pad).
I had lunch with my sister at the place on the 1st Avenue corner called Schnitz, which serves various manner of schnitzel. Their website explains: "For those who didn't get the memo,
schnitzel is a thin cutlet, dipped in crunchy breadcrumbs and fried to
golden, delicious perfection."
We each tried a different sandwich and were happy with the results. Here's a look at mine, including separate lemon in a neat little container, and a shadow from my hand.
We ate in the small Abe Lebewohl Park just in front of the St. Mark's Church. It was a Saturday afternoon and while we were there a group started setting up for a kids' drumming performance. They turned out to be from Cobu, which describes itself "as a Live Rhythm Performing Arts
Group." It was created by a member of the show STOMP.
This performance in the park was to raise money for earthquake relief. They handed out these papers:
And here's a look at the performance:
The kids were really good, not only drumming together in rhythm but also occasionally doing coordinated moves and spins. I captured some of it on video:
It was nice to have a cool performance like that pop up in front of us, and especially for a good cause.
I think that's about all for this post, although here's one bonus piece of street art: just a couple of blocks away, on 8th Street and 3rd Avenue, is a work by Keith Haring that's worth stopping by to check out:
I would have said that this block is in SoHo, but Google Maps says it's in Nolita, and who am I to argue? The term 'Nolita' comes from North of Little Italy, by the way. Couldn't it have its own name instead of being compared to something nearby? It shouldn't have to be the West Virginia of neighborhoods.
Unfortunately the most noticeable thing right away on the block is a big advertisement. I guess the ad people did a good job. When ad people succeed, however, the rest of us lose. Here's a big building at the northeast edge of the block, with grand columns and an interesting shape:
Oh yeah, and a Duane Reade. I have a feeling that building wasn't originally a Duane Reade on the ground floor. Just a guess.
I tried a pizza joint on Cleveland Place called Champion Pizza SoHo. The sign says they have award-winning pizza, so I guess the name holds up.
At the counter they have many varieties of pizza and novelty license plates:
If I'm trying a new pizza place and judging its quality, I have to go with a regular slice.
That's a good-looking slice. The verdict: delicious. Highly recommend. And a slice is only $2.00, which is a bargain for quality pizza around these parts. The place itself is small and has a nice atmosphere, with wood and brick walls and plenty of small tables. On the walls are framed articles and photos of famous people who have eaten there.
Just next door to the pizza place, and sharing with it the ground floor of a nice-looking building, is Eileen's Special Cheesecake.
This shop is even smaller than the pizza place, with the back area full of employees working on making more treats.
It was very crowded and seemed to be mostly full of tourists, but that doesn't mean New Yorkers can't go there. They let me in, at least. Fortunately the line moved fast so it wasn't a long wait. I got a cannoli and cherry tart. Here's the box it came in!
Ah, nothing like a bakery box, tied with that special string in that special way. Good stuff. Oh yeah, and here are the actual pastries:
Both were really, really good. Especially the cannoli, though that may just be my personal taste preferences talking. Also on Cleveland Place is The Henley Vaporium.
Are you wondering what a vaporium is? Dude, get with it. It's a place for e-cigarettes. Where have you been?
On Kenmare Street is the Corner Deli, which actually serves Mexican food.
It is also called La Esquina, which means The Corner. Hmm, makes sense. I do find the name "Corner Deli" confusing in terms of what food to expect there. I didn't eat there but it has good online reviews and I would guess it is in the city's top ten for "delis" that serve Mexican food. Since I can't imagine that there are ten such places here, I would put it in the top ten even if it had bad food. But apparently it doesn't.
By the way, see that rather majestic, domed building a couple of blocks down the street? It's just an apartment building. Actually, from 1909-1973 it was the New York City Police Headquarters, but now it's full of condominiums. So there you go. At least they didn't tear down the nice building.
It is fitting for the former police headquarters to be so nearby, because at the center of this block is a park named after an heroic lieutenant, Joseph Petrosino.
Below is a plaque with more information on Lieutenant Petrosino. I recommend reading it, he sounds like a great man:
Next to the plaque was an article that included a photo of the Lieutenant and a photo collection of 17 criminals whom he had locked up.
The park itself is small with a calm vibe, and a nice open space in the middle of a rather busy area of lower Manhattan.
I'm sorry to say it, but here are some rather ugly buildings in the area:
Along the Lafayette Street side of the block there are several restaurants that seem very nice, though I didn't go to any. One of them is Ed's Lobster Bar, which is probably the one with the big lobster on its sign.
I like the colorful art on the right side of that photo.
That about wraps it up from a nice block, named after a noble man and with good food options. Here's one more look at the pastries, just because:
