Last month’s devastating East Village fire shut down local businesses for several weeks, and many of them are struggling to get back on their feet. One of the establishments affected was beloved craft beer bar and local food landmark Jimmy’s No. 43, which was forced to close for two weeks and suffered significant damage. Owner Jimmy Carbone has provided space and support for myriad meetups and artist groups (including our own!), and it’s time to rally around him.
Nina Meijers of Food + Tech Connect and Holley Atkinson of Making Food Work have both benefited from Jimmy’s generosity (Food+Tech Meetup held their very first meetup in the back room), and they’re hosting a fund-raiser party at his place next Wednesday, April 29, from 7 to 10 p.m. “The walls at Jimmy’s are resonating with start-ups and good food organizations,” Meijers says. “This is about bringing everyone together to celebrate an amazing food hero, someone who really deserves to be thanked for all the years of supporting the community and asking nothing in return.” Tickets, available here, cost $30, and 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to Jimmy’s.
Highlights include egg creams from Brooklyn Farmacy (another Jimmy’s loyalist) and beer and wine from Brooklyn Brewery and Brooklyn Winery. Quinciple, food360 and Made by Lukas will be providing food, and Jimmy will be on hand to share his experience and accept adulation. Countless food start-ups owe their inception to the back room at Jimmy’s, and it’s time to say thank you to the man who provides precious communal space to underfunded idealists. “There’s not enough you can say about what a resource it is. … If you don’t have a place like Jimmy’s, you can’t experiment,” Atkinson admits, and she’s right: without him, the New York food community would be nowhere near what it is today.
Support Jimmy, drink an egg cream and raise a glass to getting the bar back on its feet.
