Freewheeling Tapas Spot Toro NYC Has Shuttered Permanently

Rollicking Chelsea tapas restaurant Toro NYC — owned by Boston’s award-winning JK Food Group — has permanently shut its doors due to the pandemic.

The restaurant posted a message on its Facebook and Instagram channels in March, after the city banned dining in at restaurants and bars, that read in part, “Toro NYC has come to then end of our journey, and the staff will not have a restaurant home to come back to when this pandemic ends.”

Separately, an Eater tipster who did business with the restaurant received a message from the company in March that said, “as of Sunday, March 15th, Toro NYC closed its doors permanently, and will not be reopening once this passes.”

Chefs Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer, who own JK Food Group, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Toro NYC landed in the city in 2013 as an expansion of the successful, original Toro restaurant located in Boston. The Manhattan offshoot was bigger and pricier, operating out of a high-ceilinged space on 11th Avenue, between W. 15th and 16th Streets. The menu was extensive, with over 60 dishes that spanned traditional Spanish tapas offerings and more innovative takes on the shared plates.

In Boston, the original Toro is still offering takeout and delivery amid the pandemic. The chefs also run an international version of the restaurant, Toro Dubai, that launched in 2017. JK Food Group runs several other Boston restaurants, including trendy neighborhood spot Little Donkey and Italian restaurant Coppa, and Bissonnette and Oringer were recently named as finalists for a 2020 James Beard award for Outstanding Restaurateur.

Toro NYC is the latest in a string of permanent restaurant casualties to hit the city due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis.