Owner of Longtime Noho Cajun Restaurant Great Jones Cafe Dies

Jim Moffett, the owner of the 35-year-old Noho Cajun restaurant Great Jones Cafe, died last week, according to EV Grieve. Moffet’s brother announced the news on Facebook, writing that his brother died on Tuesday, July 10.

Moffett, who was 59, became a regular of the lively restaurant shortly after it opened in 1983. He bought it in 1989 and co-owned the restaurant with general manager Bill Judkins. Eater senior critic Robert Sietsema once praised the restaurant as an icon in the neighborhood, writing: “Yet Great Jones Café remains, as much a clubhouse providing reasonably priced meals for the artists, writers, and rock musicians who have lived and labored in the vicinity as it is a place that employs them when the royalty checks dry up.”

The restaurant, located at 54 Great Jones St A, has not been open since the end of service on July 10, and its fate remains uncertain. Last summer, the restaurant closed for a week before bouncing back after permanent closure rumors turned out to be false. A health issue of Moffett’s was cited as the reason for that temporary closure.

Eater NY has reached out for more information.

• RIP Jim Moffett, owner of the Great Jones Cafe [EV Grieve]