EAST VILLAGE—A cookie scandal's baking in the East Village. We hear that "Birdbath" might have, for reasons unknown, discontinued their much-beloved "reverse chocolate chip cookie." A fan's diatribe, "When I read that the Build a Green Bakery/Birdbath would be baking all the product for the new West Village outpost, I was worried how this might affect the inventory at the original, First Ave. location. Little did I know what horrors awaited. Sometime last week, Birdbath ceased production of their legendary reverse chip cookies (chocolate cookie w/ white chocolate chunks). These things are far superior to the regular chocolate chip cookies, and way WAY superior to the suprisingly-kinda-shitty oatmeal raisin ones. The reverse cookies were replaced by chocolate cookies w/ dark chocolate chips. The clerk didn't know when the reverse cookies would be back, so we stopped by again Sunday night. Still no luck. When prodded for an explanation, he looked defeated and said, "I know, everyone is asking about them. I really need to sit down, think things through and get some answers." Can't begin to explain how bummed the Upper East Village is about this. It should be noted that the new cookies are good, though. But not AS good." [EaterWire]
UPPER EAST SIDE—Restaurateur Stephen Hanson is, apparently, not an animal lover. A reader writes, "What’s up with BR guest restaurants and there sidewalk seating policy? No dogs allowed? C’mon, this is a joke. My dog was urinating in the same area 2 days ago and now we can’t enjoy a drink outside. I am referring to both Atlantic grill and 3rd ave Dos Caminos. Why this ridiculous policy? An example was that my dog was in a bag not making a peep and some jerk employee from Atlantic grill ran up a said “I know you have a dog in that bag” I thought “who cares I’m sitting outside”, wrong! We were not able to sit outside so maybe you can ask someone over there “what’s there freaking deal”. Please post this on your website so animal owners are aware." A bit extreme, but in this time of rampant DOH shutdowns, we'd wager that the man's just being cautious. [EaterWire Inbox]
NOLITA—Speaking of which, we've got another rumored DOH closure. A tipster emails the following, "bahn mi so 1, the place on broome near mott, is closed ostensibly because the proprietors are on vay-kay (i don't have any photos because i assumed it was the truth, and also because i don't have a digital camera). but my friend who also frequents the place told me that they are in fact shuttered by the DOH, and have since pulled down the metal grille thinger to hide the DOH 'scarlet letter'." [EaterWire Inbox]
RED HOOK—The ballfield vendors are officially back. Chowhounders ventured down yesterday afternoon; apparently only a few vendors had shown up, though more are expected this coming weekend. [Brooklyn Record]
MIDTOWN WEST—Yet another restaurant-related lawsuit is making news: A former waiter at Times Square's B. B. King Blues Club & Grill is suing the restaurant. Apparently, Radiante, the company that owns the B. B. King as well as Heartland Brewery and City Hall, took the cost of dash-and-dine bills out of servers' paychecks. Not only illegal, but highly immoral. [Cutlets]
