Add Max Brennan to the long list of East Village business owners who have opened outposts in Williamsburg. Gothamist reports that Mr. Brennan, an owner of Lit Lounge, will open a new “swinging 60s-type jazz club” called The Flat on the other side of the East River later this month. Mr. Brennan, whose fellow Lit-owners celebrated the bar’s 10-year anniversary last week, will join familiar East Village eateries like Max, Crif Dogs, Mama’s and Cafe Mogador that have followed the L train east.
What says romance better than hot dogs? Crif Dogs just unveiled over Twitter a new line of condoms featuring a variety of puns on the wrapping that The Local need not reprint. (You can probably guess.) The condoms will be available for free at the Williamsburg location of Crif Dogs on V-Day. What, no love for St. Marks?
The Day | Crif Dogs Turns 10: $1 Dogs!
It seems Bob Arihood (the above tribute to whom was painted by Chico yesterday) wasn’t the only one to tend after injured squirrels. On East Seventh Street near Second Avenue, we spotted a sign explaining that an orphaned baby squirrel has gone missing, and must be returned to a “federally licensed wildlife rehabilitator” because it is too young to crack nutshells for itself.
If IHOP’s new sidewalk canopy leaves you cold, and you’re more a fan of the “Eat Me” sign above Crif Dogs, take note: In honor of the hot dog spot’s 10th anniversary, everything is $1 today, and, according to its Facebook page, there’ll be a party with free rum shots tonight.
I Love EV spotted Kim and Kourtney Kardashian exiting the Healthfully Organic Market on East 4th Street earlier today, with a phalanx of paparazzi outside to greet them. Apparently the sidewalks were also clogged over at the not-so-healthful Crif Dogs this afternoon, where Gothamist heard about “a line out the door.” No celebs involved, though: customers have been cashing in a Scoutmob coupon for a free hot dog today.
Last week tech giant Google rolled out its daily deal service in New York, launching with two East Village businesses: Pommes Frites and Crif Dogs.
Despite the less-than-healthy picks, Google’s entry into this fast-growing business could be significant as it can bring search, e-mail and its new social network Google+ to bear on consumers. It had been trialing its Google Offers service in Portland, Ore., expanding the test run last week to New York and the San Francisco Bay area.
Mr. Shebairo explained that he thinks Google has the size to make the daily deal idea successful. He added that the company created a marketing campaign for the hot dog restaurant and gave his staff Android cell phones to scan offer barcodes.
The site works along the same model as Groupon and Living Social. Users sign up to receive a daily e-mail offering a coupon for discounted goods or services. When the coupons are purchased Google sends money to the business up front and customers use them to pay in the store. Last Thursday, 1,035 coupons for Crif Dogs were sold through the site. On Wednesday, the launch, 1,198 were sold for Pommes Frites.
Ian Duncan A Google Offers tag at Crif Dogs.
Google takes a cut of each offer it sells. For example, the $5 Crif Dogs offer was good for $10 of food at the store. Google keeps half, with the rest going to the restaurant.
At Pommes Frites, staff members were tight-lipped about the offer. Manager Ivan Roque said he could not discuss the terms of the deal and owner Omer Shorshi did not respond to e-mail messages requesting comment.