“With a heavy heart and butterflies in our stomach, Moomah Cafe in Tribeca will be closing its doors on April 1, 2012 to pursue a new venture. Stay tuned at moomah.com for the announcement of an exciting new non-profit organization that will take the best of Moomah and broaden it’s scope and reach. Moomah.com will continue and even expand as a resource for creative parenting and Do-It-Together art projects for parents and kids. Being part of this neighborhood has been so fulfilling and enjoyable. Please join us often over the next couple months as we celebrate what has been a truly incredible experience.”

I’ve put a call in to see if I can squeeze any more details out of her. Stay tuned….

UPDATE: No call back. I stopped by to get a coffee, and I did learn that Moomah isn’t giving up the space.

••• North End Grill has its liquor license; Scotch is a priority.

••• J&R Jr. is opening February 5 in the J&R Building #1 (at Ann St.).

THROUGH FEBRUARY 18
“Kansas is pleased to present ‘Cheat Chains and Telephone,’ a group exhibition featuring new works by Fabienne Lasserre, Elisa Lendvay, John Newman and B. Wurtz. Opening January 14, the exhibition runs through February 18. By obscuring material hierarchy and challenging the codification of an art object, the artists in ‘Cheat Chains and Telephone’ expose the pluralism of sculptural assemblage.”

JANUARY 18
“The Annual MothSHOP All-Star Review” is at City Winery.

JANUARY 19–FEBRUARY 2
“Frontrunner Gallery is proud to present the paintings of Bryn McConnell in her first New York City solo exhibition! These paintings struggle, with grace, to combine the sometime conflicting worlds of the individual’s exterior and interior. The Form vs. The Formless. The Conscious vs. The Unconscious. The Seen vs. The Unseen. The Identity vs. The Spirit. It’s a battle with the self, in varying degrees of pretty brutality.”

JANUARY 22
At Space on White: “Join Mario the Magician [left] for an uplifting, inventive, and highly interactive magical performance for the young and young-at-heart! Part retro, part rock and roll, Mario is an artist and inventor who creates his own props. Mario’s old world looks and physical comedy style are reminiscent of his heroes, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, but he puts a thoroughly modern spin on everything he does.”

FEBRUARY 7–8
Two more Howie Day shows have been added at City Winery.

FEBRUARY 11
A production of “Clifford the Big Red Dog” is at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center.

FEBRUARY 14
Richard Thompson plays an all-request show at City Winery.

APRIL 6–8
Anoushka Shankar plays City Winery.

••• Blue Smoke is on track to open “in some capacity” this week, “but may not be serving food at that time.” (That means it’ll be serving drinks and bar snacks.) Actually, for all I know, it opened yesterday. If you walk by and see anything, let me know at tribecacitizen@gmail.com. North End Grill, meanwhile, should follow in a week or two. UPDATE: Reader Hudson River popped by and reports that Blue Smoke isn’t open yet, but Beans and Greens is, next to the movie theater: “It’s one of those salad bars where they do it for you, with some muffins and pastries. Very nice, cheery interior.”

••• Ed “Burnsie” Burns’s latest film, Newlyweds, is now available on DVD and as a download. Judging from the trailer—I haven’t grown comfortable with paying $15 for a download yet—it’s possibly the Tribeckiest movie ever made.

JANUARY 5–FEBRUARY 18
“Steven Katzman: Human Abstract” is at Masters & Pelavin: “This will be the artist’s first exhibition at the gallery and in NYC. Steven Katzman is a self-taught photographer who has combined, over the years, his long-time interest in political science with his professional photographic journey. His work combines the conceptual ‘straight’ photographic style of Andres Serrano; the grotesque, yet, beautiful ‘staged’ photographic style of Joel-Peter Witken and the intimate ‘street’ photographic style of Diane Arbus.” That’s his photo above.

JANUARY 10
“At the Pen Parentis Literary Salon’s Robert Burns Celebration, join poets Marie Howe, Evan and Joanna Smith Rakoff, Martin MacKinnon, and Tina Chang at the Libertine at Gild Hall (a Thompson Hotel at 15 Gold Street) as they read some of Burns’ poems and some of their own and discuss the means of balancing a literary life with an active family. We hear there may be whiskey in addition to the usual wine bar. [...] Admission is free. 7pm start. [...] Only 21+ please.”

JANUARY 19–FEBRUARY 12
These Seven Sicknesses is at the Flea: “In These Seven Sicknesses, Sophocles’ seven surviving plays—Oedipus, In Trachis, Philoktetes, In Colonus, Ajax, Elektra & Antigone—combine to create a stunning portrait of the human condition, where the intermingling of chance & fate yields disquieting results. Standout Tribeca dining destination Macao Trading Co. will provide a complimentary Asian fusion feast at all performances”

FEBRUARY 18–MARCH 25
Adapted from the book by Mo Willems, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical is at Manhattan Children’s Theatre: “Trixie, Daddy, and Knuffle Bunny take a trip to the neighborhood Laundromat. But the exciting adventure takes a dramatic turn when Trixie realizes somebunny was left behind…. This hilariously brilliant and moving musical tells a true-to-life tale about what happens when Daddy’s in charge and things go terribly, hilariously wrong.”

MARCH 29–30
Mason Jennings plays City Winery.

MARCH 31–APRIL 28
The Lonely Phone Booth, adapted from the book by Peter Ackerman, has its world premiere at Manhattan Children’s Theatre: “The story of one of the last remaining phone booths in New York City, on the corner of West End Avenue and 100th Street. Everyone used it from ballerinas and Girl Scouts, zookeepers and birthday clowns, to cellists and even secret agents! The Phone Booth was so beloved that people would sometimes wait in line to use it—until the day a businessman strode by talking into a shiny silver object.”

••• Downtown Alliance tweeted that “Manhattan Sailing Club’s Holiday Train Garden open 5-8 p.m. through Dec. 24 at floating clubhouse Honorable William Wall, North Cove, BPC.”

••• Kutsher’s Tribeca tweeted that the restaurant its “Jewish-Chinese Supper starts on Christmas Eve and is available all day on Christmas (3 p.m. to 10.p.m.) and then every Sunday night!”

••• Grant Wahlquist tweeted wrote on Tribeca Citizen’s Facebook page: “Anybody got a recommendation for a dog-friendly housecleaning service that will come to Tribeca?” Answer him here or there.

••• The paper came off the windows at the storefront on the southwest corner of Harrison and Staple today, and the windows were washed. Is it finally turning into something?

••• From Torly Kid: “Calling all Torly girls ages 7-10: The folks at HBO just stopped in to post about a casting call on Sunday 10–5 p.m. at Shelter Studios for an HBO television pilot based on the book The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. Need more info? Email us or pop into store for a flyer.”

••• My friendly little survey is very close to having the number of recipients I was aiming for—so if you haven’t filled it out, please do, so I can stop pestering everyone about it.

••• I went to Greenwich Grill for lunch today—its $12 three-course prix-fixe lunch (for pasta as the main; meat costs you $18) is an amazing deal, even if they swap out cloth napkins for paper. I’m a snob! You knew that! But what I was most charmed by was the frequent luncher card: Buy 10 lunches over $10 and you get one prix-fixe lunch free.

••• From 83 Franklin’s Facebook page: “Tune in tonight to Selling New York/HGTV at 10:30 E/P. The show follows Doron Zwickel during a three month period as he prepares for the launch of 83 Franklin.” If you see a weird guy skulking around an open-house party, it was me.

••• Two updates on the coat-drive question: “Janovic on Spring and 6th participates in a coat drive every year,” says Anna. And this from Kellee: “Just walked by the 1st Precinct police station (Beach & Varick) and they are doing a coat drive. Drop off right inside.”

••• “Do you know if the fine folks collecting compost will be continuing to operate through the winter at the Saturday Greenmarket?” asked reader Heather Church. “It would be a shame to lose them.” The word is that compost will continue through February: “It’s all based on donations and funding so the date keeps getting pushed forward,” says the Greenmarket rep. (Heather also had this to say: “Tribeca has not been a big contributor. Consider urban composting. Drop off is at the north end of the Saturday Greenmarket.”)

••• It turns out that Super Linda may not be opening till January (with a few private events before then).

••• From reader Hudson River: “About 10 a.m., a large group of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators moved into the Winter Garden and began a loud protest, dancing, drumming and chanting, unfurling their banner from the south balcony. (Sorry I don’t have any pix of that; I considered finishing my hot chocolate to be of greater importance and was too close to get any good pix.) [A reporter after my own heart!] After 10 minutes or so, they started moving out of the Winter Garden and I took the escalator to the balcony, where I could see people being handcuffed, some of them after being wrestled to the floor. Then the police came along and told everyone to leave the balcony so I walked around past the staircase. The police were congregating at the foot of the staircase and eventually they told everyone to leave that area too.” Here are Hudson River’s pix, taken after the crowd had dispersed but as the police were making arrests:

Also, as in previous years, the pop-up has many events scheduled—crafts workshops, cookie swaps, and more. Here’s the schedule.

••• From Eddie’s Pizza: “This Friday we will be closing our Tribeca and Upper West Side Carts for the winter. They will re open this spring. Thank you for all the love. We will be bringing our truck to those locations throughout the winter to continue to serve the area. Hope to see you all there.”

••• I came across this upcoming sample sale of children’s fashion on Twitter. It’s Wednesday, Nov. 16, at Church Street School. Click to enlarge.

••• The NYC Dads Group’s New Dad Boot Camp is happening this weekend—Saturday, Nov. 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tribeca Parenting.

••• Tribeca Greenmarket report: “Produce at Wednesday market: Apples—ambrosia, pippin, honey crisp, stayman, mcintosh, cortland, macoun, golden delicious, red delicious; bosc pears, quince, winter squash, pumpkins, broccoli, kale, collard greens, bok choy, escarole, radishes, fennel, beets, carrots, lettuces, brussel sprouts, heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, shallots, cabbage and more. Produce at Saturday market: Apples—honey crisp, stayman, mcintosh, cortland, macoun, golden delicious, braeburn; bosc pears, bartlett pears, winter squash, pumpkins kale, collard greens, lettuce, brussel sprouts, heirloom tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco, eggplant, potatoes, bok choy, sweet potatoes, edamame, radishes, fennel, beets, carrots, kohlrabi, cabbage and more.”