This Downtown Nightclub Allegedly Has Been Letting New Yorkers Smoke Indoors

This NYC nightclub reportedly still allows late-night patrons to smoke indoors

The city’s smoking ban has been in effect for nearly two decades, but that hasn’t stopped at least one NYC bar from allegedly looking the other way. According to a report in AirMail, Paul’s Baby Grand, a cocktail bar and nightclub owned by nightlife fixture Paul Sevigny, located in Tribeca’s Roxy Hotel, allows customers to smoke cigarettes indoors after 2 a.m. A staff member reportedly hangs a disco ball in the main room at that time, signaling to diners that they can pull out cigarettes. The Roxy Hotel did not return AirMail’s requests for comment, and a hotel receptionist reached by phone by Eater declined to comment on the report, saying that the bar is managed by a third-party.

Update, 3:45 p.m.: Paul’s Baby Grand general manager Matthew Witte tells Eater in an email that the AirMail report is “inaccurate” and the cocktail bar does not permit smoking indoors. “We have a designated smoking section outdoors,” Witte says.

Blank Street wiggles its way into the Bowery Market

Burgeoning coffee shop empire Blank Street has added another Manhattan location at the Bowery Market, EV Grieve reports. The young company currently runs about 15 locations across NYC, and hopes to have 100 shops in the city by the end of next year.

A destination for Portuguese custard tarts is about to (re)open in the East Village

Joey Batista, otherwise known as “Bats,” has gained a hefty reputation in NYC for his warm and flaky renditions of pastel de nata, or Portuguese custard tarts. Batista used to sell the popular pastries out of a tiny cafe on the Lower East Side; now, he’s moved into a two-level space in the East Village that will feature live music and comedy shows alongside the cafe revival. While the shop isn’t open quite yet, Batista has been selling the tarts from a sidewalk table out front as of last week, according to EV Grieve.

Queens man arrested and charged with the murder of a Grubhub delivery worker

The NYPD has arrested 23-year-old Joseph Sandoval of Jamaica, Queens, and charged him with the murder of Sala Miah, a 51-year-old Grubhub delivery worker who was stabbed to death in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Sandoval allegedly stabbed Miah repeatedly and then stole his e-bike early in the morning on October 16, Gothamist reports.