Tom Colicchio’s Craftbar Quietly Closed This Weekend

Pour one out for Craftbar, chef Tom Colicchio’s now-shuttered, 15-year-old American restaurant in Flatiron. Colicchio announced he would have to close the more casual counterpart to Craft in February, telling Eater that his landlord “jacked up the rent 50 percent” to $60,000 a month.

Dinner on April 29 quietly marked Craftbar’s last night, though Colicchio did say he’d “eventually” want another location in order to keep a casual restaurant in his group. That would be the second relocation for the restaurant, which opened in 2002 and then moved three years later to its now-vacant current location. Craftbar isn’t the only restaurant this has happened to recently, with Union Square Cafe’s relocation and Po’s closure last week, both due to high rent hikes.

Colicchio is no stranger to shutters, with this departure coming just eight months after Coliccio & Sons’. However, Craft, Riverpark, and the well-received Fowler and Wells all remain open, with a newly renegotiated lease for Craft and “no worries” about the other two.

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