Brooklyn’s Legendary Totonno’s Pizzeria Appears to Reopen After Three-Year Slumber

Coney Island’s famed Totonno’s pizzeria appears to be back open after closing due to the pandemic some three years ago. “You cannot go inside. You cannot use cash. You cannot select a size,” local Dick Zigun posted on Twitter over the weekend. Zigun, once called Coney Island’s “unelected mayor,” claims that the coal-oven pizzeria is now open on Saturdays and Sundays starting at noon — and accepting payment by credit card. (The shop has been cash-only for almost a century.) Google, which previously marked the venue as temporarily closed, now lists Totonno’s hours as Friday to Sunday, from 12 to 7 p.m.

An acclaimed vegan Chinese restaurant is closing

Fat Choy, a popular vegan spot on the Lower East Side, will close after two years on December 23. (Owners Justin and Katie Lee announced the news over Instagram this weekend without further details.) In its two-year run, the restaurant propelled vegan Chinese food “into a delicious new era,” serving mushroom “sloppy joes” and other fare that doesn’t rely on Impossible Beef and other manufactured meat substitutes.

A massive seafood restaurant opens in Times Square

The Mermaid Inn touches down in Times Square this week, a few months ahead of schedule. Originally slated to open next spring, the massive seafood restaurant will now open at 127 West 43rd Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, on December 13, according to Crain’s New York Business. It counts 550 seats in total, spread across a bar, an oyster bar, and a central dining room.