Monday, September 14, 2026 · No. 33
New week, and the ledger opens with turnover on Second Avenue: an Italian standby is fitting out a second dining room near 83rd — this time with game-day ambitions. Elsewhere: a Henderson Place townhouse is on the market at $7.1 million, a free movie night lands at John Jay Park on Thursday, and we owe you one correction from the weekend. Here's your Monday.
The Lead
Buon Gusto is doubling up — and putting the game on
Caffe Buon Gusto owner Nando Ghorchian is converting his former Osteria Nando space at 1589 Second Avenue, between East 82nd and 83rd, into a second Caffe Buon Gusto — with a twist, per East Side Feed: a sports-bar-and-grill side to the menu (steaks, burgers, short rib, sea bass) alongside the house pastas, with vegetarian and vegan options in the mix. What Now NY and Hoodline both corroborate the plan; East Side Feed reports the owner is aiming for a mid-September opening; no opening date is confirmed.
via East Side Feed
Around the Neighborhood
Listing of note: a Henderson Place townhouse, dressed for company at $7.1 million
148 East End Avenue, an 1899 townhouse in the landmarked Henderson Place Historic District, is asking $7.1 million, per its Corcoran listing — a fully renovated five-bedroom, five-bath spread of 3,072 square feet on an 18-by-35-foot lot. CityRealty and the Coldwell Banker syndication carry the same particulars for the curious.
via Corcoran
This Week
A free movie under the stars at John Jay Park on Thursday
Community Board 8's calendar lists a Movies Under the Stars screening at John Jay Park — just south of our line, at East 77th and Cherokee Place — on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m., presented by Council Member Julie Menin with NYC Parks and the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment. The listing doesn't name the film, so bring a chair and a sense of adventure — and check the posting before you head over.
via Community Board 8
Corrections
For the record
In Sunday's edition (#32), as first published, the history corner placed the two Lou Gehrig birthplace plaques — the Yankees' 1990 marker at 309 East 94th Street and the 2005 marker at 1994 Second Avenue near East 103rd — 'a mile apart.' The two are about half a mile, nine blocks, apart. The error was live on the site before a same-morning fix. We regret the error.
via The Yorkville Ledger
Yorkville, Remembered
The tiny island off 96th Street that nearly became a billboard
Mill Rock, roughly 1,000 feet off East 96th Street where the East River meets the Harlem River near Hell Gate, started out as two separate islets that merchant William Hallet bought from local Native Americans in 1664; a tidal mill built around 1701 gave the rock its name. The War Department fortified Great Mill Rock with a two-cannon blockhouse during the War of 1812, part of a chain of defenses with Hallett's Point and Horn's Hook - today's Gracie Mansion site - guarding the passage into Long Island Sound. The blockhouse burned in 1821, squatters occupied the island for decades afterward, and the Army Corps of Engineers later used it to test the explosives behind the 1885 demolition of nearby Flood Rock. In 1953 the federal government sold Mill Rock to NYC Parks for $25,000; Commissioner Robert Moses had pushed for the sale rather than a public auction, worried a commercial buyer would put up billboards.
source: NYC Parks
Monday, then: a second dining room takes shape on Second Avenue, a movie screen goes up by the river later this week, and somewhere off 96th Street a small island keeps minding its own business. Have a good week — we'll keep the notebook open.