{"id":198089,"date":"2026-04-15T14:29:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/198089\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:29:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:29:28","slug":"from-dirty-disaster-to-dessert-destination-bluestreet-cafe-opens-on-9th-avenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/198089\/","title":{"rendered":"From \u2018Dirty Disaster\u2019 to Dessert Destination \u2014 Bluestreet Caf\u00e9 Opens on 9th Avenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

The troubled storefront at 696 9th Avenue near the corner of W48th Street \u2014 long associated with the rise and fall of illegal weed shop Lunchbox Exotics \u2014 is getting a fresh start, this time as a late-night dessert and coffee spot.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bluestreet Dessert Caf\u00e9 is owned by Recep Rasci (right) and his business partner Mehmet Sarihan. Photo: Steve Hill<\/p>\n

Bluestreet Dessert Caf\u00e9 has quietly opened its doors, with owner Recep Tasci and business partner Mehmet Sarihan aiming to bring something they felt the neighborhood was missing: a place for crepes, waffles and coffee that runs from morning through to midnight.<\/p>\n

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Steve Hill shoots New York the way most of us actually experience it \u2014 messy, layered, a little contradictory, and rarely postcard-perfect. His photos skip the clich\u00e9s and lean into the in-between moments: the faces in passing, the grit under the gloss, the small flashes that make the city feel human.<\/p>\n

Before picking up the camera full time, Hill spent two decades in some of New York\u2019s top kitchens after training at the \u00c9cole Culinaire du Cordon Bleu in Paris \u2014 a background that shows up in the patience and precision of his work. His images have appeared everywhere from The New York Times to New York Magazine, but the focus stays local: real people, real streets, real moments.<\/p>\n

He lives and works right here in Hell\u2019s Kitchen.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tMore by Steve Hill\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The troubled storefront at 696 9th Avenue near the corner of W48th Street \u2014 long associated with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,1886,63],"class_list":["post-198089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newcomers","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}