The Hat to Close in December; More Artichoke Expansion

Lower East Side old-timer El Sombrero (AKA The Hat) might not close next month, after all. Longtime waitress Regina Bartkoff tells Jeremiah Moss that the restaurant will probably shutter in early December. She explains: "Everybody jumped because of the community board announcement....I walked into the restaurant and was shocked to see people there! All telling me they thought we were closing Oct 7 and all telling me they haven't been there for 15 years or so." Meanwhile, Bowery Boogie learns that the owners of Artichoke Pizza want to operate their new pizzeria in the El Sombrero space from 11 a.m. till 4 a.m. daily.

In other Artichoke news, the pizzeria chain is also expanding to Berkeley, California. A local restaurateur that's helping Francis Garcia and Sal Basille set up shop in Berkeley says that the new pizzeria should be open by the end of the month, if everything goes according to plan. The first West Coast location of Artichoke is located on Telegraph Avenue, just a few blocks away from the Cal Berkeley campus.
· El Sombrero: Vanishing [Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]
· More on the Closure of El Sombrero [BB]
· Openings?Artichoke Basille's Pizza [BerkeleySide]
· El Sombrero to Be Replaced by Artichoke Pizza [~EN~]
[Photo: Yelp]