Last night was so hot and humid that we couldn’t bear to stand over a stove so we opted to walk over to Cocoron on Kenmare and have cold soba for dinner: one bowl of their ikura (salmon roe) oroshi soba and another of their buta (pork) shabby soba, plus two orders of their incredibly juicy, perfectly fried karaage (Japanese fried chicken) appetizers. All in all, it was a perfect neighborhood dinner on a summer night.
Reminder: tonight is the third (and likely final) public hearing for the SoHo/Noho Working Group. The meeting is scheduled from 6:30 to 9:30 at the P.S 130 Hernando De Soto auditorium (143 Baxter St); register online if you’re planning to attend in person or click here at 6:30 to view it online.
Well, it sure looks like Eric Adams is going to be the next mayor of New York City as he just won the Democratic primary by the thinnest of margins; with just one point separating him and Kathryn Garcia. (City Limits)
Here’s the best tweet in response to the news:
I’m happy for Eric Adams – I remember how excited I was when I got a new job and got to move to New York City.
— Jack (@GayLaVie) July 6, 2021
Oh well, at least we’re getting the most diverse, most progressive New York City Council of all time, and probably a slim female majority to boot. Per Gothamist, our new council will seat the “first Muslim woman, the first South Asian members, the first openly gay Black woman, [and] seven foreign-born New Yorkers,” which means a council that comes close to representing what this city is actually like for the first time ever. (Gothamist)
Eater NY‘s senior critic Robert Sietsema (whom many of you read for many decades during his tenure at the Village Voice) waxes rhapsodic about the Sicilian slices served at Famous Ben’s Pizza on Spring St, especially the Palermo slice, which is topped with browned bread crumbs instead of cheese. If you need cheese on your pizza, we prefer their traditional tomato sauce and cheese Sicilian. (Eater NY)
While to-go alcohol seems destined to remain a pleasant dream of the recent past, Governor Cuomo signed legislation sponsored by State Sen. Roxanne Persaud (D–Brooklyn) and Assembly Member Pat Fahy (D–Albany) last night to extend sidewalk and road bed restaurant dining for at least another year. Meanwhile the NYC Department of Transportation is still working on plans to turn the pandemic-necessitated emergency Open Restaurants Program into a permanent one; the DOT expects legal work to take place this fall, and to start accepting applications in the winter for a program launch next year. (AMNY)
The dating app Bumble has been looking to open a café in our area for quite a while, and they’ve finally settled on the former Spring Natural space on Kenmare. (Bowery Boogie)
