A Standout Caribbean Lunch Counter Says Goodbye for Now — and More Closings

Nearly two years after New York’s first indoor dining shutdown, restaurants and bars continue to close their doors. At least 1,000 have closed since March 2020 due to the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the difficulty of tracking restaurant and bar closings, experts say that number could be even higher, and will likely take months or even years to assess.

Among them are newer neighborhood spots like Jeepney and Hunky Dory, along with decades-old institutions including 21 Club, Fedora, and Frank’s Cocktail Lounge. Below, Eater is documenting the city’s permanent restaurant closures so far. If a restaurant or bar has closed in your neighborhood, let us know at tips@eater.com. This post will be updated regularly.

November 19

Arthur Avenue: Calandra Cheese, a cheese shop on a bustling stretch of the Bronx’s Arthur Avenue in the Little Italy, has shuttered. The shop’s phone line is currently down, and Eater reached out to the shop earlier this month with no luck.

Brooklyn Navy Yard: Chef Rawlston Williams has closed his famed Food Sermon restaurant at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The counter-service restaurant, which earned its following as a lunch counter in Crown Heights, had been temporarily closed since September. It’s since been replaced by Hungry House, a ghost kitchen where Williams continues to offer his Caribbean chicken and salmon bowls.

Lower East Side: Orchard Street bar Boy’s Don’t Cry, opened by Nom Wah Teahouse’s Wilson Tang back in 2018, has closed. The spot originally operated under the name Nom Wah Tu, but in less than a year, the business flipped. The bar appears to have since passed the space onto Treasure Club, a forthcoming drinks spot and cafe from Christopher Yerington, a former general manager at Black and White on East 10th Street.

Union Square: The East 14th Street location of vegan sushi chain Beyond Sushi is no more. EV Grieve first reported that the location had been removed from the company’s website.

November 12

Kips Bay: Neighborhood stalwart Waterfront Ale House has permanently shut down after more than two decades. As one of the city’s early craft beer bars, the establishment was known for its extensive beer menu championing independent brewers and solid pub fare including pulled pork sandwiches, jumbo pretzels, and hearty beef burgers.

Nomad: Will Guidara and Daniel Humm’s former Michelin-starred restaurant the NoMad, located on the ground floor of the NoMad Hotel, is gone for good. “It is with sadness that we announce that NoMad New York is permanently closed,” a message posted on the hotel’s website reads. The space originally shut down for renovations in April, but never reopened, and the ground floor space has since changed owners. The NoMad hotel group still operates other locations of the restaurant in London, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

Soho: The 25-year-old Lahore Deli, a longrunning destination in the city for cab drivers, plus anyone else seeking out an impressive cup of chai, has permanently closed. A sign was posted in the window at the shop breaking the news and thanking customers for decades of business.

November 5

Crown Heights: Community-driven bar and restaurant Hunky Dory closed its doors for good on October 31. Owner Claire Sprouse made the decision to shut down the three-year-old neighborhood spot because of how challenging it has been to keep the small businesses afloat, she explained in a post announcing the closure. But Sprouse isn’t leaving the industry altogether. Next up, she’s opening a bar in San Francisco called Buddy with three other business partners.

Long Island City: The 200-seat beer hall Bierocracy has permanently shut down after six years, LIC Post reports. The Czech-style bar was known for its extensive lineup of central European beers, sold alongside burgers and schnitzels. “Bierocracy survived Covid but not the landlord!” a message posted to Bierocracy’s Instagram account reads.

Upper West Side: Celebrated Chinese restaurant Yu Kitchen — which highlighted regional fare in part from the country’s northern provinces — has closed, according to the West Side Rag. The restaurant has been emptied out and a for rent sign has been pasted in the front window, to the chagrin of local residents. Eater critic Robert Sietsema dubbed Yu Kitchen’s Wulong steamed pork with sticky rice one of his top meals of the year in 2019, and praised the restaurant for putting forth “one of the most far flung and fascinating menus of regional Chinese dishes the city has yet seen.”