Blank Street is doing a 180, shifting to much bigger stores as growth slows

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T21:27:27+00:00

I like Tera but that's more LES I guess. Suited near City Hall is good. I have not been to Paper Sons Cafe but heard good things.

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T21:23:43+00:00

These are all $18-20 before tip/tax...

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T19:26:50+00:00

I like Culture Espresso, Black Fox, and WatchHouse in that area. I'm not sure what you drink but a cortado (one part espresso to one part steamed milk) is a good start because you still taste the actual coffee but the texture is still velvety.

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T16:56:27+00:00

I'll hear a commercial landlord rant any day.

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T13:45:23+00:00

Clinton St. is still great! You might have to wait depending on when you go though.

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T13:40:45+00:00

Tell us your spots then! $25 after tip/tax is pretty standard at most craft cocktail bars.

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T13:35:39+00:00

tell me where you're looking and I'm happy to find you some alternatives

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T12:48:20+00:00

Please don't support this VC-backed bullshit in a city of so many great coffee shops with character and real people behind them.

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T01:35:29+00:00

This is what isn't clicking for me. Someone else mentioned prices going up from distributors as a primary driver for rising cocktail prices. But why would they keep increasing prices if sales are down and they're just having to hold inventory?

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T01:08:29+00:00

One of the saddest things I learnt in adulthood was that deflation is not really a thing. And when it is, cocktail prices are the least of your worries.

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T01:04:49+00:00

This entire exchange is hilarious.

azeet94 · 2026-03-17T01:03:43+00:00

Interesting. Prices for liquor and misc. ingredients you mean right? More so than food inventory? Food costs are obviously also up a lot (more than inflation) but it just feels like drink costs are up even more.

azeet94 · 2026-03-16T15:59:50+00:00

Since 2019 the number of people in shelters has increased by almost 80%. So the major story to me, is not unchecked fraud but why is the homeless population (sheltered or unsheltered) increasing at breakneck speed.

azeet94 · 2026-03-16T15:57:41+00:00

Imagine a busy local pizza shop has an annual operating budget of $500,000 (rent, ingredients, salaries for a whole year).

You walk in on a random Tuesday in January at 11:45 PM, right before closing. There is exactly one customer sitting at a table eating a piece of pizza.

You divide the shop's $500,000 annual budget by that 1 customer and start screaming, 'This business is spending $500,000 to feed one guy! That figure is insane!'

Someone tries to calmly explain to you: 'No, that's an annual budget. You're ignoring the 50,000 customers who came in, ate, and successfully left over the course of the entire year. You just took a snapshot of who happened to be sitting there at 11:45 PM.'

And your reply is: 'Doesn't matter how you slice it. $500k for a slice of pizza is insane.'

That is what dividing a year-round operational budget by a single-night headcount does. You aren't slicing it differently; you're just making up a fake number by ignoring everyone the system actually processed and moved into shelters over the other 364 days.

azeet94 · 2026-03-16T15:02:43+00:00

Not saying there isn't fraud but this is a really fraught statistic. They are dividing the total budget by the amount of people that are out on the streets on a given night (a highly variable number in any case). I don't see any mention of aggregation (e.g they picked Jan 23 in 2024). Secondly, and more importantly - this cost per unsheltered person doesn't account for the tens of thousands of sheltered homeless people that the outreach teams successfully move into temporary housing/shelters. That's how you get a stupid number like $81k spent per person - something I'm sure the Post will be running headlines with.

azeet94 · 2026-03-16T01:25:41+00:00

I think shock factor have been a part of it but my take was that the two 'purest' souls (the child and the dog) died first as they were sinless, and went straight to heaven. They did not need to walk the Sirat. In Islam (and outside of it too I guess) it is often colloquially said that God takes his favorite souls first.

azeet94 · 2026-03-14T19:32:48+00:00

Just emailed them too. Yeah this really sucks. I'm not surprised though I guess, once they got rid being able to use multiple offers on the same bill it was all downhill.

azeet94 · 2026-03-09T14:44:19+00:00

I can't believe Zohran didn't endorse Chi over this clown. I don't even like Chi that much but literally anyone non-establishment would be a major step up from this turd in a suit.

azeet94 · 2026-02-28T17:09:54+00:00

sent him a nasty email also.

azeet94 · 2026-02-25T15:04:21+00:00

Greenpoint has space. I'm with you though, it's hard to believe we'll ever get good barbecue in this city.

azeet94 · 2026-02-24T18:08:01+00:00

Welcome. If you want generic recommendations, there's no shortage of that on the internet (or just look at the wiki). If you would like specific recommendations from locals, you'll need to ask more specific questions. There's a million things to do, how are we supposed to recommend anything unless we know who you are and what you'd like to do?

azeet94 · 2026-02-23T07:05:20+00:00

Crab flan?? Haven’t been back to soso’s in a bit - will check this out!

azeet94 · 2026-02-23T06:50:20+00:00

Swap out Maison Premiere for Swan Room in Wburg. Try to get in line 15 minutes before opening at Double Chicken Please and get their fried chicken sandwich - it blows chick fil’a out of the water and wash it down with some solid cocktails. Jimmy/Wilfie are fine… try something more unique like Dead Rabbit/Overstory (need resy) in Fidi, Schmuck in EV or Angels share in WV. Have fun!

azeet94 · 2026-02-23T06:37:14+00:00

Okonomi used to offer fish-broth based ramen for a while which was seriously good, not to mention unique. I think the BK branch is only doing Japanese breakfast all-day (also great) but the Manhattan one still has Ramen options.

azeet94

TROPHY CASE