Second City, Chicago’s Famed Comedy Venue, Is Opening in Williamsburg With a Restaurant

Chicago-based comedy venue Second City, which launched the careers of giants like Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Stephen Colbert, among others, is opening in Williamsburg in 2023, according to the New York Times. The 11,900 square foot venue will include a main stage for performances, a student stage, classrooms, and a full-service restaurant run by Chicago-based Fifty/50 restaurant group, which operates restaurants like Fifty/50, Berkshire Room, Roots Pizza, and West Town Bakery in its collection of spots.

Second City, which first opened in Chicago in 1959, has locations in Toronto and Hollywood, and opened and shuttered Detroit and Las Vegas venues. It takes its name for the Chicago reference from a series of New Yorker articles from A.J. Liebling in 1952.

A proposed aid program for Coney Island businesses

Advocate Craig Hammerman and Michael Quinn, owner of Feltman’s of Coney Island have proposed that revenue collected from boardwalk tenants and amusement parks that received a ten-year lease extension and rent relief from the New York City Development Corporation should be directed into community aid programs and neighborhood projects, Brownstoner reports; it’s awaiting approval from the Borough board.

Essex Pearl has a month-long noodle soup pop-up

Chef Daniel Le of Essex Pearl in the Market Line, at 88 Essex Street between Broome and Delancey streets, is rolling out four less common renditions of Vietnamese soups for $16 takeout on Mondays, starting October 10. The first is Central Vietnamese bun bo Hue, a lemongrass beef and pork soup, while week two features, pho bo chin, made with beef and chicken feet for richness. The third week features bun rieu, with pork and crab meatballs and braised tomatoes, while the last week is a soup from northern Vietnam, mi vit tiem, with hoisin confit duck leg, grilled mushrooms, and Chinese broccoli. Customers can order soups by Instagram direct message to @chefdaniel.le or @essexpearl.

Chef and sommelier Colin Alevras has died

Colin Alevras, an early proponent of farmers market cooking, has died at the age of 51 from a type of brain cancer, the New York Times reports. A chef and sommelier, he opened the Tasting Room in 1999, where he cooked and his wife, Renee Alevras, who worked front of the house. The 25-seat restaurant had no gas line and he cooked primarily via induction burners and his own version of low-temperature cooking via sous vide, the Times reported. After he closed the restaurant (which had relocated) in 2008, he worked with his friend, founder of Red Hook Winery, Mark Snyder, “and never left.”