Venerable Meat Purveyor Struck by FireIn a city already starved for first-class steak, there’s going to be a lot less of it to go around, at least for a little while: Master Purveyors in the Bronx, one of the city’s top meat suppliers and a little piece of its history, suffered extensive damage from a fire at its Hunts Point building last night. Masters, as it was called, was a family business that had been supplying the city’s top steakhouses for generations, and it can’t be easily replaced: It’s the meat equivalent to Russ & Daughters burning down, or the Strand being evicted and replaced with a Virgin Megastore. Along with Pat La Frieda, the Piccinini Brothers, and DeBragga and Spitler, Master Purveyors are the last of the city’s great old-guard meat purveyors. Adam Perry Lang of Daisy May and (formerly) Robert’s Steakhouse, one of Masters’ most devoted clients, says, “This is a tragedy, but I know they’ll bounce back. They’re survivors … they’re the real deal and they have so much integrity.” Whether they will bounce back is still unclear. We hope to have more information tomorrow.
Fire Damages Big Market in the Bronx [NYT]
neighborhood watch
Mail, Dates Tough to Get in Brooklyn• East Village: Landlord sues tenants for not letting loud, dust-covered construction workers tromp through his apartment and build an overpriced penthouse. [amNY]
• Fort Greene: We must all sacrifice imported dates in this time of war. [Brooklyn Record]
• Hunts Point: Why go to Rikers when you can go to your neighborhood jail? [NYDN]
• Ozone Park: Plan to make Aqueduct Racetrack even more depressing is deterred by the delay of video slot machines. [amNY]
• Prospect Heights: The substitute mail carrier won’t even ring once. [Brooklynian via Daily Heights]
• Upper East Side: A New York City public high school gets its act together, so it must be time to relocate. [Gotham Gazette]
• Upper East Side: Woody Allen doesn’t have any problems with performances spaces; he’d just prefer that they not be in his neighborhood. [NYS]
