The space has been stale for months, but it appears that The Simple Kitchen, a newcomer offering healthy prepared meals, will soon open at 361 West 17th Street across the street from the in-construction Dream Downtown Hotel and the Maritime. According to the company's website, the rustic cafe will serve up food and beverage "made with a short list of recognizable ingredients...all natural and organic packaged and freshly prepared food to take away."
A peek inside revealed a look we'd call Pain Quotidien lite, and they're already stocking sparkling organic grapefruit juice in the cooler. Shouldn't be too much longer before side dishes of broccoli rabe hit, but until then you can always go across the street to Chelsea Market.
· The Simple Kitchen [Official Site]
The holdup on construction at the Trader Joe's Brooklyn site may have been due to red tape. Brownstoner reports that "TJ’s original application to make minor tweaks to the old Independence Bank building was incomplete, but the store submitted additional documentation a few days ago and the LPC [Landmarks Preservation Commission] green-lighted the application..." Exciting! [Brownstoner]
Rejoice, Dumbo residents: in June, you'll have your very own greenmarket. "The market will take place on Sundays at the corner of Main and Plymouth streets at the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park, according to a well-placed sourced. The first season will run through a November." [Brownstoner]
It's been a while since we checked in on the rising Tribeca Whole Foods, under construction on Greenwich Street between Murray and Warren Streets. How the hell, we ask you, is this outpost going to top the most recently opened Whole Foods on Bowery, what with its sushi conveyor belt, pie station, second-floor skywalk and pommes frites bar?! Well, a Whole Foods spokesperson assured us that this one will be just as good, if not better. Like the Bowery location, it will feature a Fromegerie and second floor eating area. No confirmation on an auxillary beer room or Il Laboratorio gelato station...yet.
The Gowanus Whole Foods store is a go! Well, kind of a go. "The DOB approved the grocer's plans for foundation work on the site yesterday, marking a huge symbolic moment in the project's—and neighborhood's—history. It's been a long time coming: Whole Foods held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the 68,000-square-foot store way back in '06, and it was supposed to open this spring...It's probably too early to break out the champagne though: The application for the new building was disapproved yesterday." [Brownstoner]
[The Trader Joe's Brooklyn site, 01/27/2008; click to enlarge]
Everyone's getting all up in arms about the lack of progress at the Trader Joe's site in Brooklyn. It's now been six months since plans for the grocery store were announced to the community (You may remember the steel drum band and the parade? It was kind of a big deal.) and other than a quick gutting, the former Independence Bank building doesn't resemble a supermarket any more now than it did in July.
Could Long Island City, long-starved for a good grocery store, be about to get two? In addition to the Amish Market, there's a rumor that Fairway may open an outpost in the nabe. The following tip was just sent into blog liQcity: 'I am a private chef in the city. I do my shopping everyday at Fairway on Broadway. There is a constant buzz in the store about the new Fairway that is going to open in LIC. I have been hearing this from the employees and managers of the store.' Sounds...improbable. [liQcity]
High-end grocery mini-chain Union Market opened the doors to its new South Slope location on Wednesday. A report from a reader: "The new Union Market on 7th Ave and 13th Street opened quietly yesterday (Wed). Surely much needed by South Slopers who feel like the poor cousins of the Real Park Slope. I stopped in briefly for a few things, lots of MILFs on hand including a few with baby carriages that were WAY too big for the rather small aisles. Still it remains to be seen if the South Slope demographic can afford the 'line-caught' Chilean Sea Bass at $22 per pound (considerably more expensive than the north Slope competition, I might add)." The next neighborhood to get UM'd is Fort Greene, which can look forward to the upscale offerings this summer; no doubt other nearby neighborhoods will follow suite. But Union Market Bushwick? Well, that's much, much less likely.
· Union Market [Official Site]
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