••• David G. Imber did a little investigating online about Prime Essentials, the new drugstore coming to 88 Leonard, and here’s what he wrote in his comment: “Just found the site for Prime Essentials […]: penyc.com. Basically clip art (at this point). Tracked to the proprietor’s LinkedIn profile, which does not seem to indicate a long and deeply held interest in health or quality-of-living concerns: linkedin.com/company/prime-essentials-llc. Looks like another business along that stretch that will fade into anonymity until the v.c.’s that made it decide to store their cash somewhere else. Hope I’m wrong.” I like your initiative! Perhaps I’m just optimistic today, but I prefer to think of those as placeholders while the proprietors focus on opening the business. My hunch is that someone wants to outclass Duane Reade, so at least for a while, the “flagship store” might get some attention. Also worth noting: The store’s logo includes a shopping cart—odd for a mere drugstore?—and the website promises “a complete one-stop shopping experience, from Grocery, Health and Beauty Care to over 16 other departments including Pharmacy, Electronics, Kitchenware and Photo Printing.” (Photo printing? LOL.) My point is that if they do that non-drugstore stuff even remotely well, they prove useful in a part of town that has several drugstores but not a lot of grocery/houseware services.

••• Beginning Feb. 8, Tribeca Grill will host a Baby + Me lunch every Tuesday: “Calling all moms with babies 1 year old and under! Unwind every Tuesday from 1:30–3 p.m. It’s your chance to have some fun, meet up with other moms or just relax and have lunch. Choose any entrée from Chef Stephen Lewandowski’s Baby + Me lunch menu [PDF] and have a glass of our house wine for only $15!”

••• Birdbath is now selling City Bakery hot chocolate (with accompanying marshmallows). I went to my familiar rant about how I wished one could buy just an espresso cup of hot chocolate, and the clerk said you can! It’s called a shot, and it’s $3—which still sounds like a lot to me but is better than $5 for a big cup I can never finish.

••• Went to Weather Up Tribeca again last night and was once again impressed. The host offered the two of us a booth even though the rest of our party had yet to arrive. I ordered a lower-octane Manhattan—as I had done at Compose to much success—and if the request threw the bartender a bit (I think “dialogue-based cocktails” work better when you’re sitting at the bar), I ended up with a tasty drink that I think was called an Old Hat. Meanwhile, my better other half’s Americano (a Negroni with seltzer instead of gin) was superb, and it came in a tall glass with a long ice cube—more of an ice rod, I suppose. We didn’t eat there, but the menu was a bit more extensive that it was before, with at least two sandwiches. We were there from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., so while the bar wasn’t crowded, it probably ended up that way. There’s been come kvetching online that Weather Up Tribeca isn’t as good as the Brooklyn one, but as someone who will probably never go to the Brooklyn one, I find that irrelevant.

••• McNeill Art Group‘s Tribeca Project Space is having an opening reception for its new group show, “Chromesthesia,” on Feb. 16 (6–9 p.m.). If you’ve ever wanted to see the lobby of Artisan Lofts (143 Reade), this is your best shot.

••• Someone emailed asking if I knew that Bowlmor’s new Times Square bowling alley has a nightclub called Tribeca Loft. Of course I did. (Kidding! Please always do email anything you think I might find worth covering.) For a few minutes I convinced myself I needed to go there and check it out, and then I came to my senses. A nightclub? In a bowling alley? In Times Square? Three strikes! I did dig up a photo, which I actually think is very Tribeca—if more Tribeca Basement than Tribeca Loft—but I’d need to see the books on the shelves to decide for sure. If anyone ever goes and finds out that they’ve pushed the Tribeca theme onto, say, the cocktail menu, please take lots of photos/notes.