Budget Pizza Pioneer 2 Bros Gives Up on $1 Slices at Its Original NYC Location

It’s the end of an era at 2 Bros. Pizza. The slice shop pioneer, credited with popularizing dollar slices in New York City, has called it quits on $1 pizza at its original location in the East Village. EV Grieve broke the news on Monday morning, sharing a photo of the pizzeria at 32 St. Mark’s Place, between Second and Third avenues, with a sign advertising slices for $1.50 each. Back in 2021, 2 Bros. Pizza co-owner Eli Halali told the New York Times that he was “committed to keep our plain slice at $1 where we can for as long as we can” as inflation drove up the cost of everything from flour to red chile flakes and endangered dollar slice shops across the city. At the time, the chain was still charging $1 at six of its nine locations.

A Japanese whiskey bar opens with $1,300 pours

Beatbox, a Japanese listening bar with rare whiskeys that cost as much as $1,300 a pour, will open in the back of Chinatown restaurant Kono on March 21. Crain’s New York Business has more on the exclusive space, which will apparently give priority to regulars of the restaurant and their friends. (Commoners can try shooting their shot in an Instagram message, according to Crain’s.) There’s no menu at the 100-square-foot bar; just a wall of Japanese whiskeys that are sold by the bottle and in two-ounce pours.

Street vending to be enforced by Sanitation Department

Enforcement of street vendors will soon be overseen by the Sanitation Department, the Daily News reports. (Vending is currently enforced by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, but that will change on April 1, when permit and vendor inspection moves under Sanitation.) The announcement drew backlash from City Councilmembers Sandy Nurse and Shahana Hanif, who wrote that “the Department of Sanitation’s mission is street cleanliness, not enforcing vendor licenses,” in a shared statement.

Welcome to the BjornQorn skating rink

BjornQorn, the popular bagged popcorn company based in Hudson Valley, opened the doors on a skating rink in Accord, New York, last week. Wait, what? Last December, the Times Union reported that the popcorn brand had recently purchased Skate Time 209, an abandoned skate rink with an 8,000-square-foot attached warehouse, for $2.3 million. Well, the rink is now open, complete with BjornQorn concessions and a BjornQorn crane machine, according to Curbed. The company will eventually produce its popcorn on-site.