Big Cocoa Problem on the Lower East Side?
Here you have it — a first look at the Clinton Street branch of Cocoa Bar, which will attempt to romance its new barrio with a week of free coffee after it opens on Friday night. If you’ve been to the original location in Park Slope, you’ll recognize the digs. Rest assured this outpost will also sell carryout gifts (just in time for Mother’s Day!) such as boxes of port-soaked figs; spicy candy bars; and packs of homemade marshmallows, hot chocolate, and coffee. And you know the locals will be racing to snatch up Cocoa Bar doggie shirts for their pit bulls. Be warned: The Slope location is one of the last places on earth where Dave Matthews and Counting Crows are still played without shame. So to sum up, Lower East Side — exit Sin-E and Tonic; enter “Mr. Jones.”
Cocoa Bar, 21 Clinton St., nr. Houston St.; 212-677-7417.
Neighborhood Watch
Texas Barbecue Coming to Tribeca in Limited ReleaseClinton Hill: Former Bodegas spot now in the hands of Fort Greene’s Pequeña posse. [Brooklyn Record]
Little Italy: The great-grandson of the founder of the San Gennaro Festival plans to add an Italian-American history museum to the nabe as well as high-end retailers like Armani and Gucci (a step up from those “I Heart BJs” shirts). [MetroNY]
Lower East Side: Park Slope’s Cocoa Bar set to open on Clinton Street by the end of May. [Cocoa Bar]
Tribeca: Smokin’ Joe’s True-Blue Texas Barbecue will serve lunch (sandwiches, platters, and all the fixins) at the Tribeca Tavern on Fridays and Saturdays during the Tribeca Film Festival and, let’s hope, longer. [NYT] Mai House’s late-night $10 menu kicks off tonight. [Myriad Restaurant Group]
West Village: Chumley’s will be under construction for the next few months, at least. [Eater]
Mediavore
Liebrandt (Sort of) Linked to Montrachet; First Pulitzer for a Food CriticL.A. Weekly’s Jonathan Gold is the first food writer to win a Pulitzer Prize in criticism. (Links to some of his recent reviews included.) [L.A. Weekly]
Work is going on at Montrachet, and owner Drew Nieporent is seen in public with brilliant unemployed chef Paul Liebrandt, lending some possible credence to the rumored Liebrandt-helmed relaunch of the place. [Eater]
Yeah, there’s some good food to be had in London, but the city’s still not there yet. [NYT]
Related: Has the Food Over There Really Become Edible? [NYM]
