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Zito’s Sandwich Shoppe Eyes Spot in New Coney Island

Posted in Food, tagged Coney Island, Italian food, Jones Walk, Luna Park, Marcello Bucca, sandwich, Zamperla, Zito's Sandwich Shoppe on April 22, 2012| 1 Comment »

Coming to Coney Island this Summer? 'Best traditional Eggplant Hero on the street' as quoted by a very satisfied patron via email. Photo and caption via Zito's Sandwich Shoppe, Park Slope, Brooklyn

On Sunday Zito’s Sandwich Shoppe tweeted to their followers that they were “working on a Coney Island Luna Park collaboration-more to come-looking to be part of the New Coney Island.” When we phoned to get the scoop, co-owner Marcello Bucca confirmed it was true but declined to say more until the lease is signed. ATZ is delighted by the possibility of having an Italian-American sandwich shop in Coney Island’s amusement area. During the summer, tourists often ask where they can buy the delicious sandwich we’re eating. We have to say, uh, you can’t. We brought it from home.

Zito’s menu features 13 different sandwiches including chicken parm, eggplant parm, pork bracciole, and for all of you vegetarians–meatless with grilled portobello, roasted peppers, broccoli rabe and homemade artichoke spread. Meats are from Salumeria Beillese of Hell’s Kitchen and Applegate Farms Organic Meats. All sandwiches are made on bread from Bensonhurst’s Il Fornaretto Bakery, one of Brooklyn’s best for Italian bread. Bucca and co-owner Enzo Conigliaro are Bensonhurst natives influenced by an old country philosophy and the slow food movement, according to an article posted in the Park Slope Patch when the sandwich shop opened last August.

As for their Coney Island location, our best guess is that Zito’s is eyeing one or more of the soon-to-be-rehabbed stands on the east side of Jones Walk, which Zamperla is leasing from the City. While the majority of the booths are expected to be game concessions run by Zamperla, the rest were being offered a few weeks ago to select food vendors. The Walk would be the most likely spot for a sandwich shop since French food giant Sodexo has an exclusive contract to provide food service within Zamperla’s Luna Park.

In November, the City’s Economic Development Corporation issued an RFP (Request for Proposals) for the booths on the east side of Jones Walk, a 1,650 square foot space that was purchased along with a larger parcel in 2008. The RFP required renovating or completely rebuilding the existing booths, some of which are in poor condition. The leases of longtime tenants in City-owned booths on the Walk, including water race games and other games of skill, windows featuring the mechanical doll “Miss Coney Island” and animated toy rides, and a Pina Colada stand were not renewed. The majority of tenants were able to relocate to other City-owned or private property in Coney Island.

UPDATE April 27, 2012:

Yay! @ZitosSandwichSh says "Vegetarians will be fully supported at the Coney outpost- Even I can't eat pork bracciole every day #vegetarian"
— Amusing the Zillion (@AmusingZillion) April 27, 2012

UPDATE July 2, 2012:

Zito’s Marcello Bucca tells ATZ that Zito’s will not be opening in Coney Island this season: “Word on the street is correct,” he said. “They were not ready for us.” He said that Zamperla received financing at the end of June, later than they expected, thus delaying construction. The rehabbed Jones Walk stalls were originally slated to open on Memorial Day. Asked if Zito’s Sandwich Shoppe planned to open a location in Coney Island next season, Marcello said he hoped so, because so many people have been calling to ask about the new Coney Island location. “Ideally we’ll see what opens up. Right now it’s a no-go for this year.”
“Coney Island Update: New Arcade, No-Go for Zito’s, Tom’s Construction Saga,” ATZ, July 2, 2012

Coney Island Murals by Street Artists Await Their Fate

Posted in art, Food, Redevelopment, tagged Coney Island, mural, ND'A, NO Longer Empty, OverUnder, Plaza Mexico Dona Zita, restaurant, street art, Thor Equities on March 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Last summer, street artists OverUnder and ND’A painted murals for the restaurant Plaza Mexico Doña Zita on the Bowery and Henderson Walk in Coney Island. Giant tropical flowers blossomed on a fence on the Henderson side of Thor Equities’ construction site and brought a garden of street art to Doña Zita’s. Unlike some of its neighbors, this popular little eatery has managed to survive the upheaval brought about by Coney Island’s rezoning and redevelopment. Yet Doña Zita’s proximity to Thor’s empty lots made the seating area less than scenic. Then the murals appeared, almost miraculously, and transformed the view.

Since construction on Thor’s building is completed and the fencing was taken down, the Doña Zita murals have been piled up in the lot across the street, awaiting their fate. Murals from the Bowery, Surf and Stillwell sides of the building, which were painted by OverUnder, ND’A, Veng, Radical and Ephameron for a project curated by Keith Schweitzer for No Longer Empty, have already disappeared. Last month, some panels were spotted in a botched reassembly at another Thor construction site in Bensonhurst.

Do street artists have a tough skin when it comes to the fate of their work? ATZ contacted the No Longer Empty muralists to find out.

The artist known as OverUnder told ATZ: “Although it is saddening to see the handling of one’s public work by people, critics, and the weather, it is also inherent to the work. I would take seeing the sun and rains effect on a mural over a construction workers lack of reassembly any day but beggars, errr, street artists can’t be choosers.”

At the same time, OverUnder and the other artists are sad to see colorful, handmade, authentic signage of Coney Island replaced by pre-fab or generic signs.

“I was very pleased and honored to be able to paint something out at Coney Island,” wrote ND’A in an email. “Ever since I moved to New York the old signs and murals have always stopped me in my tracks. I think in our line of work it is a hope, not an expectation, that things will be a fixture and not ephemeral.”

“That being said,” ND’A added, “If the construction site remains unable or unwilling to put everything back to its original state I know we are all generally chomping at the bit to paint big outdoor projects. If you know of any spots where we could do more murals I’d love to put more work out there.”

Coney Island mural O V E R U N D E R with ND'A

Thor Equities new building remains vacant and is now encased in plywood except for the side on Henderson Walk, which is the back of the building and has no windows. “I see a blank canvas for No Longer Empty,” wrote one of the commenters on our recent post about the building. We’d like to see more murals too, but Thor is already throwing up advertisements. This week, signs touting “CONEY ISLAND – The RETAIL RIDE of a LIFETIME – for leasing contact..” went up on the Stillwell side. Thor debuted the odious slogan last May.

Doña Zita’s is located on Coney Island’s Bowery at Henderson Walk, one of the few historic “walks” remaining in Coney. We love her food and so did the artists. The restaurant also gets high marks on Yelp, Serious Eats (“Tacos plus sandy feet and the smell of the ocean equals the perfect summer combination”) and Time Out (“the finest quesadilla this side of Sunset Park”).

Food Truck Festival Under Consideration for Coney Island

Posted in Food, Food & Drink, tagged Coney Island, DevourNYC, food truck, food truck festival, restaurant on February 16, 2012| 3 Comments »

3D Models of Paper Taco Trucks. Art © Goopymart via flickr

South Street Seaport, Governors Island and Staten Island’s Midland Beach are some of the New York City destinations that have hosted food truck festivals–gatherings of 10 to 30 trucks– since the trend started four years ago. The above photo shows paper taco trucks, but real, live food trucks could roll into Coney Island this summer if a Brooklyn food blogger’s pitch to Community Board 13 is successful. On Monday, DevourNYC (“food blogging to the masses”) tweeted…

http://twitter.com/#!/devourNYC/status/169082073880080384

DevourNYC aka David Opancha followed up with tweets saying “the CB loved the idea and has it going through the channels. I’ll keep you updated” and “Sometime in the Summer. Trying to work out details. maybe during the mermaid day parade”

Does this mean King Neptune will get to savor Luke’s lobster rolls and Feed Your Hole’s grass-fed beef burgers? When ATZ contacted Community Board 13 District Manager Chuck Reichenthal, he confirmed that he liked the idea but stressed that the proposal was brand-new and would have to be discussed and approved by the Community Board.

The location? “Not in the amusement area, not abutting others selling the same food,” Reichenthal said. “It’s a question of finding the right spot and the right time where it would be good for the trucks and the community.” He noted that renting one of Coney Island’s empty lots even for a one-day festival would be prohibitively expensive,

Reichenthal had the idea of proposing to bring the food truck festival to one of Borough President Marty Markowitz’s Seaside Summer Concerts. Last summer’s free concerts featuring Joan Jett, Aretha Franklin and Cheap Trick were moved from Asser Levy Park to a new location at Surf Avenue and West 21st Street.

While food trucks have become popular in New York City and across the country, they often face opposition from owners of brick-and-mortar eateries who say they cut into their profits. What will restaurant operators on the Boardwalk and Surf Avenue, who rely on sunny weather and busy days like the Mermaid Parade to make the season a profitable one, think of a food truck festival coming in?

”That would be terrible for us and I can’t believe they would allow that,” one veteran restaurateur who wishes to remain anon told ATZ. “I’m not sure they can do that, I don’t think it’s allowed.”

The City’s website does have a list of streets where mobile food vending is restricted. In Coney Island, Stillwell Avenue from Neptune Avenue to the Boardwalk as well as Surf Avenue and both sides of the Boardwalk from West 5th to West 20th Streets are prohibited 24 hours a day from May 1 to Labor Day, and 7 am to midnight during the rest of the year. The lot where the concert series is held is adjacent to 21st Street, which is just outside the restricted area.

Would a Food Truck Festival draw ginormous crowds who will spend money on Coney’s rides, games and still more food? Then all is good. But this year is a critical one for Coney’s eateries and a decision to bring in additional food vendors could be controversial.

Ruby’s Bar, Paul’s Daughter, Nathan’s and Tom’s are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring City-owned buildings up to code with gut rehabs and on rent. Cha Cha’s, Popeye’s and Steve’s Grill House have the high cost of relocating their evicted businesses. The majority are diversifying their menus. At the same time, there will be competition from the huge new Nathan’s on the Boardwalk as well as the food trucks and concession stands at Stillwell Avenue’s BK Festival, who undercut the brick-and-mortar restaurants’ prices while they don’t share the same costs. For example, all of the businesses on the Boardwalk are required to pay into the fireworks fund and for keeping the City’s restrooms open at night. And you thought it was free?

Community Board 13 meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm.

UPDATE March 11, 2012:

The Coney Island Food Truck Festival is a no-go for 2012. Yesterday, DevourNYC tweeted:
http://twitter.com/#!/devourNYC/status/178589731427328000

Sadly most of the lots that are empty in Coney are worth millions and thus too damned pricey to rent, we tweeted back.

“That was the problem and being that I wasn’t making a penny off of anything I wasn’t going to take money out of my pocket,” replied DevourNYC aka David Opancha via twitter. “I’m in contact with food truck association so I am going to let them know about big events going on.”

We wouldn’t be surprised to see his idea pop up in some way, shape or form in the future. Maybe food trucks without the festival?