|
 Yunnan Kitchen. Our friends at Yunnan Kitchen are excited to be back open as of noon today. They write: We will be open this weekend! We will have a special LUNCH service for this weekend only- starting Saturday at 12PM and will stay open through dinner til 9PM. We plan to resume normal business hours next week. Please stop by for a comforting bowl of fried rice.
Also opening back up this evening: Alias, on Clinton Street, with a limited “post-Sandy menu,” beginning at 6pm, and the Clinton Street Baking Company will be back to serving pancakes and burgers.
 The sun goes down, but the lights do not come up over Lower Manhattan. The weekend has arrived and another night of lighting candles and lugging a flashlight around lies before us. Where can you grab a drink or a bite in the dark? Our list is below. And remember: when the power comes back on (supposedly by tomorrow night), all of our reopening local restaurants, bars, bodegas, stores and businesses are going to need our support, so eat, drink and shop local! In the meantime, there are plenty of options here in our new neighborhood, SoPo (South of Power).
Here’s what’s open:
- Pig & Khao
- Fatta Cuckoo
- forgtmenot
- Fontana’s Bar
- Sons of Essex
- Verlaine
- CultureFix
- Lolita Bar
 A small grocery store on Clinton St. just north of Delancey had plenty of fruit and vegetables this afternoon. City, state and federal relief efforts are starting to take effect on the Lower East Side this afternoon. The National Guard, NYC Service and the Salvation Army are beginning to knock on doors in blacked-out high rises to help home-bound residents. Meanwhile, local businesses continue to rise to the challenge of being powerless for four days straight, including Lower East Side icons Russ & Daughters and Katz’s. Here’s what we know this afternoon about water, food and provisions, as well as local restaurants and bars that are welcoming diners.
- Beginning at 3 p.m. today, food and water distribution sites will open at the following locations: 10th Street between Avenues C and D, Catherine Street between Monroe and Cherry streets (Smith Houses playground), Pitt and East Houston streets (Hamilton Fish Park), Grand and Clinton streets (water only), Bowery and Division Street (Confucius Plaza).
- Con Edison began distributing dry ice in Union Square Park at 14th Street and Union Square West at noon today; until supplies last.
- Russ & Daughters, 179 E. Houston St., is open until 5 p.m. today.
- Katz’s, 205 E. Houston St., is open until 4 p.m. today and will be open tomorrow and every day until the power returns, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. They can cook with gas and have most of their menu, including pastrami and hot dogs. Yes, there are tourists there, but it’s not too crowded at the moment.
 Not too surprising but, another unfortunate cancellation has been sent our way — our friends at the LES BID have just written to say that Pickle Day, previously re-scheduled last Sunday to this Sunday, has been officially cancelled.
They write: (We are) reaching out now to let you know that after much back and forth we have decided that we have been left with no choice but to cancel Pickle Day. As you know and have lived through, our area was hit very hard… We all know how difficult it would be to try and pull an event together without guarantees of power and with all this spotty cell phone service. Coming to this decision has been extremely difficult for us as we’ve had to weigh out all possible scenarios and outcomes (not to mention how sad we are about having to do this!).
At the Eastside Kosher grocery at 504 Grand Street candles and batteries are going fast — and sales people of all ages are pitching in.
 Forgtmenot co-owner Abby Sierros was serving up candlelight, cold draft beer and steak frites last night. The streets were dark and quiet last night, as most Lower East Side residents huddled in their homes or fled to friends and relatives, but for those who ventured out post-superstorm Sandy, food, drink and comaraderie were on tap at several bars and restaurants. Just as many locally owned coffee shops were functioning while Starbucks all over town remained locked up tight, the establishments that opened their doors to their neighbors last night were generally the ones owned by the neighbors. There were no honking taxis or stretch limos dropping off stiletto-clad visitors from outside the LES, no DJs on the scene, just locals chilling out with each other and killing time until life gets back to normal.
 169 Bar on East Broadway ran a small generator and a big party. At 169 bar on East Broadway shortly after 7 p.m., the beer-and-a-shot $3 happy hour special was flowing freely to patrons relieved to get out of the house for a while, and pleasantly surprised to find generator-powered lights, plenty of company and even a little food. At Forgetmenot on Division Street, co-owners Abbie and Paul Sierros had a system. Abbie was behind the candelabra-lit bar, cheerfully offering to cook anything from the remaining contents of her refrigerator: steak, french fries and eggs. Meanwhile, Paul kept the power coming via a long extension cord plugged into an electrical inverter in a van parked out front.
Cowboy Pizza at 201 Clinton Street is still open. They have a generator. The place is jammed. You can even add your name to a waiting list to have your phone charged.
169 Bar on East Broadway is going strong tonight. The place is pretty full. There’s a small generator here.
Cowboy Pizza at 201 Clinton Street has fired up its gas ovens and is serving up warm scones and chocolate chip cookies. No coffee yet but they’re working on it.
We received word from Fine Fare that they will be closing today at 5 p.m. Co-owner David Vargas tells us they will do their best to open back up early tomorrow, but it will depend on the bridges (and the storm damage done by Hurricane Sandy).
 Pushcart Coffee at 221 E. Broadway, along with several other locally owned java joints, is open today. Lower East Siders don’t let a little stormy weather keep them from their morning coffee routines. Around the neighborhood today, many locally owned coffee shops were not only open, but doing robust business and planning to keep serving as long as they had power to brew and customers to imbibe.
“We’ve seen all our regular customers, and a lot of other people’s regular customers, too,” said Wally Corrales, who opened 12 Corners coffee shop at 155 E. Broadway in August. Corrales and his partner Mary Colgan, who live nearby at Hester and Mott streets, plan to stay open as late as possible today and will try to open tomorrow as well. They are stocked with coffee supplies and baked goods, though they were unable to get bagels this morning because Kossar’s was closed.
Fine Fare stayed open throughout Hurrican Irene last year, as well – photo by Jenna Rice We’re taking inventory and seeing who’s still open this morning as Hurricane Sandy continues her approach.
- The Rite Aid on Grand Street is open.
- Fine Fare on Clinton Street is open and busy. There is still plenty of bottled water and they are re-stocking bread right now.
- Pushcart Coffee on East Broadway is open and serving your morning coffee, if you happen to be one of the few heading to work.
- Cowboy Pizza on Clinton will open at 11:30am and plans to stay open until 11pm, or as long as possible.
- Cafe Petisco on East Broadway is open.
- Wing Shoon Chinese restaurant is open.
- 12 Corners Coffee on East Broadway is open.
- Lost Weekend on Orchard Street is open and serving your morning coffee, as well.
- Sugar Sweet Sunshine is open.
- Flowers Cafe at Essex and Grand streets is open.
- C Town on Pearl Street is open.
- Cozy Food on Jackson is open.
- Fine Fare on Jackson is open – we hear that the cookie supply is limited.
- Moishes Bakery on Grand Street is open.
- The East Side Kosher Dairy on Grand Street is open.
- The Meatball Shop is open.
-
 Lower Manhattan, from Essex Street, as Hurricane Sandy approaches. It’s Sunday night and only hours until the super-mega-Frankenstorm Hurricane Sandy descends upon the Lower East Side. It’s a little windy and might rain, but it may be the last time you go out for a while, so by all means — go out!
We’ve got a little guidance to offer, however. We’re gathering information about closings, cancellations and delays due to the storm, and here’s what we know as of this minute.
|
|
Comments closed 
