Co-op Food & Drink | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side

Moldy Fig, Rob Shamlian, Co-Op Food & Drink, Patate Fellow

After several delays, jazz joint and cafe Moldy Fig at 178 Stanton St. had a soft opening over the weekend. Beer, wine, live jazz and shuffleboard are operational; official opening is July 4, and the full kitchen comes online sometime next month as well. The Alex Hoffman Quartet performs tonight at 8 p.m.
Goodbye LES, hello Brooklyn: Rob Shamlian says enough already with the Lower East Side. Next project? His new beer garden in Greenpoint, where things are “happier.”
Early reviews of Co-Op Food & Drink: The prices are high, the service is slow and there might be cocaine on the bathroom floor.
Patate Fellow is gone from 71 Clinton Street, but proprietor Toshi Cappuccino has opened a Japanese joint called Hachember.
How much is a good review worth? Grub Street puts the money where the critics’ mouths are.
Eater declares the death of 10 NYC food trends; among them, Painkiller’s tiki trendiness and most banh mi sandwiches, excepting, of course, BaoHaus.
Good Samaritans at Schiller’s rat out a bike vandal.

Big Gay Ice Cream, Masala Wala, Co-op Food & Drink, Souvlaki GR, Bluebird Coffee

Photo by SeriousEats.com

The mid-week neighborhood food news:

The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck plans to open a brick-and-mortar shop on East 7th Street next month. The ice cream entrepreneurs also have a recipe book due out next year.
Masala Wala will bring the Indian street-food trend to Essex Street.
Co-op Food & Drink, the new restaurant at The Hotel on Rivington, has “just the right amount of crazy,” according to the Urban Daddy blog.
The NYT does a mini review of Souvlaki GR, accompanied by a slideshow.
The new Bluebird Coffee Shop is (pretty much) the same as the old Bluebird Coffee Shop.
Keith McNally (Pulino’s, Schiller’s) sat down with Martha Stewart on air last night.

Prune, Co-op Food & Drink, Cup and Saucer, Cocoron

Soba spot Cocoron got some love from The New York Times this week.

Gabrielle Hamilton, the chef at Prune and author of a recent memoir, took home the Best Chef in New York award at Monday night’s James Beard Foundation Awards, raising some eyebrows with her acceptance speech. Time magazine, particularly, was unimpressed.
NYT’s Diner’s Journal details the plan for Co-op Food & Drink at The Hotel on Rivington, whose imminent opening we first reported last week.
DJ also has some news about David Chang’s former Milk Bar space this week.
Cup and Saucer Luncheonette’s building is for sale, raising questions about the quaint spot’s future.
Delancey Street’s tiny soba shop, Cocoron, gets the once-over from the NYT.
The Village Voice likes the new fried egg sandwich at Prosperity Dumpling.

Co-op Food & Drink Opening “Soon-ish” at THOR

The Hotel on Rivington has been talking up its new restaurant, and today’s inbox brings news of Co-op Food & Drink, scheduled to open sometime this month, or “soon-ish,” according to an email announcement.

“You know what the right thing is, but are you going to do it? FEED YOUR IMAGINATION. INDULGE YOUR SOUL,” urges the group behind the restaurant, the Guerrilla Culinary Brigade in a somewhat cryptic but upbeat piece of prose. This is the group’s first permanent restaurant; up until now its been known for pop-up restaurants The Feast and The Hunger.

According to the folks at THOR, the swanky Rivington Street hotel that will house the new venture, Co-op Food & Drink will be “a modern urban brasserie serving globally inspired cuisine that is locally sourced and meant to be shared.”