••• JCP’s pop-up shop is now online.

••• Per a tweet from @TibiTaylor: “USPS moving from Peck Slip to 114 John St on June 4.” The old USPS building at Peck Slip will become a school.

••• From New Amsterdam Market: “Please join us this Sunday for our second Gathering of Fisheries, which will bring together local fishmongers, shellfish vendors, chefs, and other supporters of a revived Fulton Fish Market site for a day of celebrating our coasts and the bounty they provide. [...] In addition to the fisheries, nearly 40 regular New Amsterdam Market vendors will be present—including Flying Fox, making her season debut with fresh-picked strawberries from Maryland—so check out the full list on our website.”

••• A note in the window of Seaport restaurant SamSara says it’s reopening soon with a new chef and a new menu.

••• From local art furniture designers Cmmnwlth: “A furniture show of ours (for ICFF, with three other U.S. designers) opens at Mondo Cane tonight 6–9 p.m. The exhibit is called “No Frontier”: and it’s co-curated by Volume Gallery of Chicago. We’ll be presenting the entire Seltanica series consisting of a family of lights, a wall mounted hook and an umbrella stand.”

••• The uptown Kaffe 1668 is now serving lunch (primarily sandwiches and soups).

••• Downtown Florist (on Church between Warren and Murray) is indeed moving around the corner, next to Takahachi Bakery on Murray.

••• Business guru Seth Godin will be at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center on May 16.

••• Details about the Public Art Fund‘s next exhibit at City Hall Park have been announced. It’s called “Common Ground” (May 24–Nov. 30) and here’s the description: “Traditional public monuments and statues had a clear civic purpose, many having been commissioned to commemorate an important event, notable individual, or significant group. The artists featured in this show—Elmgreen & Dragset, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Roger Hiorns, Jenny Holzer, Matthew Day Jackson, Justin Matherly, Paul McCarthy, Amalia Pica, and Thomas Schütte—have taken this tradition of civic sculpture and expanded upon it.”

••• From the Downtown Alliance: “Battery Park City Parks Conservancy starts removing lawn fencing this week. Lawns should be open by Wednesday.”

••• The name of the fitness facility coming to the northern half of the Truffles Tribeca storefront is Superstar Gym. Which might be this? (The southern half will be a Fika café.)

••• From a press release: “Tamid: The Downtown Synagogue will open in the Fall 2012 with the mission to create Jewish opportunities for prayer, learning, and service for families, individuals and youth living in Lower Manhattan. Tamid will be led by three Reform rabbis, Darren Levine, Darcie Crystal, and Michael Mellen, all New York City residents and friends and colleagues dating back to rabbinical school in the late 1990’s. [...] For Shabbat and High Holy Days, Tamid will meet at St. Paul’s Chapel.”

••• Brite Buy Wines & Spirits has opened on Franklin between Church Franklin Place and Broadway. The new space is much roomier than the one on Sixth (which is being torn down). I should’ve taken a photo inside because this one didn’t really come out.

••• From Poets House: “Starting this Friday, April 6 and continuing until Tuesday, April 10, you can support Poets House by making a purchase at Barnes & Noble, Tribeca (97 Warren Street) or online at bn.com by providing the code 10734879 at checkout. A percentage of each purchase will benefit Poets House and will help support our general operations, ensuring that our 50,000-volume poetry library and literary center continues to thrive.” I always want to know what the percentage is, but I guess anything is net positive.

••• Is Citibank not moving into the old Bouley Bakery & Market space after all? (I mean the one on the southwest corner of W. Broadway and Duane.) There’s been very little activity, and I’ve heard rumors of prospective tenants checking out the space.

••• Bloom, the florist on Goldman Alley, has opened.

••• The FiDi bar/café Demi Monde says it’ll be opening sometime in April.

••• Let’s take a moment to pay our respects to the old “151″ that was on Hubert outside of 151 Hudson; when a new sidewalk was poured, it was removed.

Previously:
••• Eight New Enthusiasms: April 2011
••• Eight New Enthusiasms: July 2011
••• Eight New Enthusiasms: December 2011

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Ever since I fell for the full-page ad in the New York Times touting honeybells, a citrus fruit that did not justify the shipping cost, I’ve been wary of fruit hype. But I’ve also been disenchanted with clementines this winter—the boxes are too big, the fruit too often flavorless. So I took a risk and bought a Sumo at Whole Foods. It was described as a cross between an orange and a tangerine, but with easy-to-peel skin. And seedless! It was awesome—supersweet, but also exquisitely tangy. I bought three more, and I grew concerned that Whole Foods wouldn’t restock—but it did, and I bought five more. Then I bought three more. I’d tell you where exactly they are, but we all know how Whole Foods likes to play hide the fruit.

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I don’t like chocolate and fruit together, so I almost didn’t try the Mad for Martha’s chocolate cherry cookie (that’s the full name) at Café Clementine. But I do have a thing for dried cherries…. I ended up buying the cookie three days in a row, and I would’ve gone for four if Clementine were open on weekends. The cookie used to be a special, but now it’s offered daily. Poking around online led me to conclude that the Martha in question is Martha Stewart.

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In December, when I asked Yasmine Karrenberg of Flowers by Yasmine to make me a centerpiece for Christmas dinner, I gave her what might have been maddeningly little direction. All I said was that we have a blue dining room table, so it’d be nice if she’d avoid orange. I’m not sure my photo does it justice, but it was so pretty. I stopped by Tribeca Treats after picking it up, and two people asked me where I bought it. Even Adam liked it, and his nickname is Fuss.

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We’re about five degrees from my seasonal switch from jeans to Grown & Sewn chinos; I liked them so much I bought a second pair in the same color. So I was excited to learn that Grown & Sewn has introduced a slimmer version; I thought the old ones fit perfectly, but maybe you’ve noticed that younger people seem to like tighter-fitting pants, and I’m young enough to want to pass for young-ish. I bought them in gray (a special color for this summer only) and they’re perfect.

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Among the homemade sodas at Kutsher’s Tribeca is a cel-ray one that is delicious (but then I have oddly strong feelings for celery). The most recent time I ordered it, I found it a bit too sweet; I’m assuming that was an aberration.

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I wanted to make plans at North End Grill for a Saturday night in March, so I went on OpenTable, and there was a table for 8 p.m. As I clicked to reserve it, and as the next page was loading, I convinced myself that I there was a 7:30 p.m. slot, so I clicked the “back” arrow. Consequently, OpenTable said there were no tables available between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Figuring that the site was holding the 8 p.m. slot for me, I called the restaurant, hoping I could just make a reservation that way. As the reservationist was looking up the date, I explained what I had done. She agreed that OpenTable was probably holding the slot for me, and she said it takes a couple of minutes to clear. Then she said—and this is the jaw-dropping part: “Why don’t I wait for it to clear, and when it does, I’ll make the reservation for you. If you’ll give me your name and number, I’ll call you when it’s reserved.” And she did! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what people are talking about when they talk about Danny Meyer–level of service. P.S.: I believe her name was Leslie. P.P.S. I’m still a fan of the restaurant, but am I the only one who thinks that at those prices the dinner menu could be a tad more adventurous?

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The Greenwich Hotel has excellent cardboard coasters (that’s Robert De Niro Sr.’s “Reclining Male Nude, 1962″), as does the Dutch (the rooster). Locanda Verde used to, but when I went to see if they still use them, I was told they haven’t in a long time. Too bad: Their ye olde map of Tribeca was a treat (if possibly confusing for tourists, since it’s pre–Independence Plaza). Why don’t more restaurants make an effort on this stuff? Especially with matchbooks going the way of the dodo, coasters are a cheap, easy souvenir.

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The eighth enthusiasm this go-round? Brevity.

••• Tomorrow (Tuesday) is Macaron Day—stop by François Payard Bakery to get a free one. And “a portion of macaron sales benefit City Harvest.”

••• The TV show “Gotham” is filming on Warren tomorrow and Wednesday. According to IMDB: “Revolves around a female cop who discovers a magical world that exists within New York City that is unseen by normal humans and reinvents popular landmarks in a magical otherworldly manner.”

••• AIRE Ancient Baths,  the bathhouse on Franklin, is now said to be opening in mid-April.

••• Maybe it happened a while ago, but I only noticed it today: Utrecht art supplies opened at Lafayette and Howard.

••• From @NYCdowntowndiva: ” Looking to rent a bike in FiDi? A bike rental place opened up on corner of John and South street.”

••• You may recall that bicyclists are no longer encouraged to dismount and walk their bikes through City Hall Park. (At night, meanwhile, many have strobe-y lights that blind anyone in their way.) I just got this response six months after emailing the DOT about it: “Thank you for your September 15, 2011 email regarding the bike route through City Hall Park. Please excuse the delay in response. The City Hall Park eastbound bike route serves cyclists approaching the Brooklyn Bridge, which has seen a significant growth in cycling in recent years. This connection is needed to meet the mayoral goal of making cycling a viable transportation choice in New York City. In addition cyclists are not expected to overwhelm the space. The high pedestrian to cyclist ratio makes cyclists ‘guests’ in a formal pedestrian space, and this segment is so short there is little benefit to cycling fast. Thank you again for your interest in cyclist and pedestrian safety in New York City.” All of that is nice, except cyclists do ride quickly there; they don’t just go eastbound; they do overwhelm the space (especially after work); and  it’s not a formal pedestrian space anymore, thanks to the bike-path signage all over. I’m not sure someone from the DOT’s Bicycle Program was the best person to respond. Do they even have a pedestrian program?

••• I guess I’ll skip this: “Join Manhattan Community Board 1, and local residents and business owners at a roundtable planning workshop to help decide how bike share should work and where stations should go in Lower Manhattan. [...] The Workshop will take place at the Pace Student Union (entrance at 3 Spruce St. between Park Row and Gold St.). Sessions will begin at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.”

••• Potbelly Sandwich Shop is getting ready to open. The company tweeted this: “Oven-Warming party at Reade/Broadway Mon/Tues 4 lunch! Email ovenwarming@potbelly.com w/ preferred day to get an invite!”

••• From a press release: “Anthony W. Crowell, Counselor to New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Public Library, has been named the 16th Dean and President of New York Law School.”

••• Reader D. asks, ” What about a list of, or reviews of, some of the dog walking & overnight dog hotel services in the neighborhood?” I pointed out that reviews are tough, since it’s hard to know how the services do since you’re not there. (Not that I don’t ask my dog anyway.) And dog walkers tend to operate by word of mouth. So I said I’d pass the question along. (Any dogwalkers or sitters might want to consider running a classified ad on the site.)

••• And here’s another question, from T.: “I moved to the neighborhood a few months ago (Church and Murray) and don’t see any fruit stands around. Where I used to live uptown had one on every corner. Is there a reason for this, or am I just looking for them in the wrong places?” I replied that there are stands (if memory serves) at Broadway and Warren, Church and Chambers, and Greenwich and Warren Chambers [thanks, David], but I have no idea if any are particularly recommendable. That’s where you come in.

••• I love Seamless because it’s so easy, but I always figured that using the site to tip (on your credit card) made it likely that the delivery folks wouldn’t get all of the money. Sure enough, when I ordered in a couple of weeks ago, the deliveryman thanked me for the cash: “I really appreciate this,” he said, waving the money. “A lot of people don’t, and the owner keeps some of it.” I’d name the restaurant but I don’t want to get the deliveryman in trouble (which is why I’ve waited to post this).

••• From Bubby’s: “Bubby’s new Japan outpost opening in the Akasaka district of Tokyo in 2 days! This is the first of two locations opening in Tokyo in 2012.”

••• I was disappointed to see that the signs requesting cyclists to walk their bikes through the northern path in City Hall Park have been taken down, even though the construction that inspired them is ongoing. A cyclist flew right by me at 6:30 last night, when the path was packed with people heading to the subway.

The 2,200-square-foot space is generally airy: There are 16 chairs, but Murray says only eight stylists will be working on the busiest days. The salon is an unofficial offshoot of John Masters Salon in Soho, which closed its salon to focus on organic products. “Four of us come from John Masters, and a bunch are coming from Aveda,” says Murray.

Besides keeping the brick walls exposed, Murray used repurposed materials for everything he could. That means the floor is made from wood from 200-year-old barn walls, the dividing panels come from a 19th-century rectory, and the closet doors are from a Tastykake factory in Philadelphia. (The front desk, it bears mentioning, is a piano.) As for why Murray chose Tribeca, he says he sees the salon as a bit more of a destination, so it didn’t need to be someplace like Soho: “I was looking, and I thought Tribeca was super, super expensive. And it is! But I liked the feeling of the neighborhood—it’s very community-oriented. Even before the sign went up, people have been stopping in to say hello and make appointments.”

Hale welcomes women (expectant mothers are a specialty, given the non-toxic emphasis), men, and even children.

Hale Organic Salon is at 91 Franklin (between Church and Broadway), 646-221-9115; halesalon.com.

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