Seen & Heard: Siring Asian Grill Appears Closed

DOT art project on Franklin••• Ugh. Meanwhile, have you driven on Worth Street lately? If I were the DOT, I’d spend my money on fixing the roads.

••• Distilled is serving brunch as of Saturday, which is good, because that loading dock is begging for it. The menu is pictured at right.

••• Ellen Robbins’s modern dance classes are now being held at the Gelsey Kirkland Academy on Broadway. Loved this testimonial from a girl named Ming I came across on Ellen’s website: “Thank you for another leaping, prancing, jumping, swirling, running, laughing, bending, rushing, walking, turning, tipping, bouncing, DANCING YEAR!”

••• The sign on the door of 315 Broadway says an application has been filed for a retail liquor license under the name Broadway Spirits. It’s next door to the newly announced La Belleza pizzeria.

••• The fast-casual Siring Asian Grill restaurant at 325 Broadway appears to have gone out of business—it was closed today and the phone number no longer works.

••• The northwest corner of Broadway and Franklin is once again going to be a temporary Spirit Halloween costume store. I felt terrible for them last year—Halloween was a near-total washout because of Hurricane Sandy….

••• Nice to see that Churrascaria Tribeca has its White Street façade back.

••• Years ago, I bought a piggy bank at that World Journal store at Broadway and White—it has indeed closed, by the way—and I started socking away change. Every six months or so, I’d take it to the machine at TD Bank, but once the bank started charging 6% or whatever for the service, I’ve been less excited about that. So I’ve been forcing myself to put huge amounts of change in my pocket when I go out—and I’ve learned that businesses don’t mind change, because it turns out that banks charge them for getting it. (Or at least that’s what one clerk told me.) And I’ve been tipping in change, too. Where I draw the line, as payment or tipping, is pennies (unless the amount of my purchase requires them). Consequently, I have a big bowl of pennies that I don’t know what to do with. Today, I got to wondering if I was the only person with such a stockpile, and if so, maybe we should consider a penny drive—perhaps TD Bank would waive the fee if it knew that all the proceeds were going to, say, ACE. Bottom line: Do you have a lot of pennies?

••• Went to the Trading Post for lunch yesterday—it’s that new Seaport restaurant, and it was much more handsome than I expected (and rather busy). The homemade potato chips were addictive.

 

8 Comments

  1. LOVE The Trading Post! Brunch is excellent as well!

  2. When I was a kid (way back when) we used to collect pennies for Unicef when out Trick or Treating. I have a small bowl of pennies that I would contribute to a good cause.

  3. Hi Erik,

    Not to undermine the pennydrive, but another option for youself is Coinstar.
    Those Coinstar machines (you see them at supermarkets) now give full value gift cards for places such as amazon.com. I’m pretty sure there is a Coinstar machine at the Food Emoprium on Greenwich Street. Its not as good as cash, but a full value amazon.com gift card is a lot better than 94%.

  4. @Josh: That is interesting and useful, although it takes all my dignity (and strength) to carry my change next door to the TD Bank, so I’m not sure I can make it to the Food Emporium…. And I still like the idea of doing a good deed!

  5. There is indeed a Coinstar at the Food Emporium on Greenwhich and Coinstar already gives you the option to donate the proceeds to one of a half-dozen deserving charities

  6. FYI – If you’re willing to park $100 in their no-fee checking account for the indefinite future, you can open a TD Bank account that you will never use and cash in your coins without paying the fee. Our local TD Bank actually suggested we do that after we lugged many months worth of coins there and were facing a hefty fee. (You can always still donate the proceeds from the coin exchange — I’m not trying to discourage charitable impulses.)

  7. I still like the idea of a collective good deed to help a LOCAL charity (can’t do that with Coinstar).

    Hudson River Park??? (JUST KIDDING).

  8. Every November/December my girls’ school does a penny drive for charity – the drive was initiated by Dalton and a lot of the private schools take part. So if you can bear looking at your pennies for another four months, my girls will take them off your hands. They’ll come to you or to all do-gooders, come drop them at Mulberry & Vine. And BTW, if you are a customer at the bank you are requesting change from, they don’t charge you. At least, Chase doesn’t.