Another No-Tipping Restaurant Calls It Quits — and More Closings

More than two years after New York’s first indoor dining shutdown, restaurants and bars continue to struggle. More than 1,000 have closed since the onset of the pandemic 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.

Below, Eater is documenting the city’s permanent restaurant closures, including a Colombian Danish cafe in Brooklyn and a home for Korean fried chicken in Queens. If a restaurant or bar has closed in your neighborhood, let us know at ny@eater.com. This post will be updated regularly.

September 30

Bed-Stuy: “All great changes are preceded by chaos.” With those words, Brooklyn’s Skål restaurant announced the end of its four-year run on Lewis Avenue. Jesus Caicedo and his partner Caroline Sølver eschewed industry norms like tipping and reservations at this daytime hangout, known for its smørrebrød, buñuelos, and other dishes from its owners’ Colombian and Danish backgrounds. Skål is selling furniture and kitchen supplies from the cafe until September 31 to raise funds for its “future home,” according to its Instagram.

East Village: Celebrity chef Matthew Kenney was forced to shut down his plant-based pasta restaurant Sestina by state officials earlier this month. The restaurant, which opened at this address in 2020, was reportedly seized over “nonpayment of taxes,” according to EV Grieve. Though Sestina maintains that the closure is temporary, its contents were sold at a public auction on September 28, according to a notice posted on the front of the restaurant.

East Village: Budget slice shop Solo Pizza is out on Avenue B, EV Grieve reports. A note on the pizzeria’s website thanks customers for 15 years of business.

Elmhurst: Korean fried chicken restaurant Boc Boc is leaving the Queens Center Mall, according to local group Send Chinatown Love. The food counter was known for its twice-fried soy garlic chicken.

Nomad: Neighborhood Italian restaurant Bread & Tulips is done after 11 years. Owner Riccardo Dardha announced the closure in an email to customers earlier this month, attributing the decision to the pandemic. “Unfortunately, the regular business never returned and we were faced with the inevitable,” he wrote.

West Village: Bantam Bagels, a Village bakery known for its small bagels stuffed with various flavors of cream cheese, appears to have closed this spring after close to a decade. The bagel shop was known for its celebrity fans in the mid-2010s — the baked goods were one of Oprah’s favorite things in 2014 — and its owner's appearance on season 6 of Shark Tank, in which a 25 percent stake of the business was sold to Lori Greiner for $275,000. A sign on the window of the bakery dated “May 2022” announced the closure.

September 23

East Village: Queen, an English pub from the owners of East Village gay bar the Boiler Room, is out on Second Avenue after a decade. The corner bar, which changed its name from Queen Vic last year, has been emptied out and a for lease sign now hangs in its front window, EV Grieve reports.

Murray Hill: Vegetarian fine dining spot Kajitsu has called it quits. The Japanese restaurant, famed for its representation of shojin ryori, a multi-course meal served at Zen Buddhist monasteries, previously announced its plans to close on September 18. Kajitsu opened in the East Village in 2009 before moving to this Murray Hill address in 2013.

Murray Hill: Ippodo Tea Co., the first international outpost of a Japanese tea company, closed on September 18. The tea shop located on the ground floor of Kajitsu is looking at opening at another space in New York City, according to a spokesperson.

September 16

Chinatown: Sprawling drinks chain Bambū — known for its lineup of Vietnamese ché, or sweet dessert drinks — has shut down its lone shop in New York City, according to an Instagram post from the business. The drinks spot maintains dozens of locations around the country, including an outpost in Long Island.

East Village: Twelve-year-old neighborhood beer shop Good Beer has sold its last cans. The well-liked store lived up to its name by sourcing beer from craft breweries around the country, and kept a rotating selection of a dozen drafts on tap for customers to order. EV Grieve reports that the business never quite recovered from lost sales due to business shutdowns during the pandemic.

Upper East Side: Coffee-slash-cocktail bar DTUT — which stands for Downtown, Uptown — has closed. The cozy, eclectic space, which was originally established in 1997, kept the lights on for a decade in its current location. “We would love to stay but it’s out of our hands,” reads a Facebook post announcing the closure.

Upper West Side: I Love the Upper West Side reports that Cafe Viva Gourmet Pizza, a reliable mainstay for gluten-free and vegan slices, has shut down after 30 years in the neighborhood.

September 9

Elmhurst: Deksen closed on August 27 after six years of serving family-style Thai dishes like chicken curry noodle soup and basil fried rice. It was the first restaurant proprietorship for spouses and longtime restaurant industry employees, Ramphai Rinnasak and Phaisat Sirimatrasit, who are closing up the shop for a new life of retirement, a representative tells Eater. Their son will keep the lights on at their second restaurant, Bangkok Degree in Park Slope.

Greenwich Village: In 2018, Toriko — from Tokyo Restaurants Factory which runs Sushi Amane and Mifune — debuted with a focus on upscale yakitori. It racked up positive reviews until it shut down in March 2020. What was supposed to be a temporary closure “to ensure the health and safety” of customers and staff, according to an Instagram post, appears to have been permanent. What Now NY is reporting that locally sourced comfort food spot Gab’s has taken over the space.

Midtown West: Friday, August 26 marked the end of Hudson West, where edamame pistachio hummus and mastiha cocktails had their fans. You can still try other Greek dishes from the Livanos Restaurant Group, which owns Oceana and Molyvos, set to open shortly after Labor Day on 43rd Street and Ninth Avenue.

Crown Heights: Wild Birds closed this week, Brooklyn Magazine reports. “I’m incredibly proud and grateful” for Wild Birds’ run, co-owner Julian Klepper says. He hadn’t elaborated on the reasons for closing besides that it was “sad and sudden.” The venue, a destination for jazz, Afrobeat, cumbia, and more, offered food such as grandma-style tray pizza from Traze during the week and Chinelos Tacos on weekends.