This Week Killed 3 Longtime NYC Restaurants and Bars

2018’s restaurant massacre continues with the closure of three longtime places and a brand-new one: Red Hook dive bar Red Hook Bait and Tackle, West Village restaurant Hudson Diner, Upper West Side seafood spot Ed’s Chowder House, and West Village newcomer Icelandic Fish & Chips have all shuttered.

Red Hook is down a beloved dive bar with the closure of 14-year-old Bait and Tackle, which locals celebrated Sunday night. Even after police came, the party continued until 6 a.m. with a chili cook-off, concert, dancing, and lots of drinking. Owner Barry O’Meara pointed to the neighborhood’s “different financial demographics” as the reason for the shutter.

The West Village’s 23-year-old Hudson Diner cleared out its space this week, and the interior is already demolished. Diners are a rapidly endangered dining genre in New York City; the last couple of years have seen the closure of a handful of these old-school establishments.

Nine years is the limit for the Upper West Side’s Ed’s Chowder House, which opened in 2009 in the Empire Hotel with a varied menu of seafood. Owners gave no reason for the closure, simply posting a note on the website.

Further south, brand-new Iceland import Icelandic Fish & Chips lasted just six months on Seventh Avenue South before calling it quits. Eater critic Robert Sietsema was skeptical of the food when it opened.

2018 has already seen a high number of shutters, many for rent issues.