A Beachy Thai Stand Leaves the Rockaways — And More Closings

Three years after New York’s first indoor dining shutdown, restaurants continue to close due to the lasting financial impacts of the pandemic. At least 4,500 food businesses have shuttered since March 2020. Since it’s difficult to track closings in real-time, experts say that number is likely much higher — and could take years to fully assess.

In this weekly column, Eater is documenting the city’s permanent restaurant and bar closures, a list that includes one of Manhattan’s top Indonesian cafes, a decades-old deli frequented by Broadway workers, and our only location of Ruth’s Chris Steak House. If a restaurant or bar has closed in your neighborhood, let us know at tips@eater.com.

May 26

Chelsea: The Hawthorne, a modern Irish pub in lower Manhattan, closed earlier this month. A message on the restaurant’s website thanks customers for three years of support. 505 W. 23rd Street, near 10th Avenue

Dongan Hills: A longtime bakery leaves New York this month to relocate to New Jersey. Bruno’s closed its original location on May 13, concluding a two-decade run on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island. The family-owned bakery opened a second location at 356 W. Main Street in Freehold, New Jersey, last fall that will now serve as its headquarters, per a spokesperson for the business. 1650 Hylan Boulevard, at Alter Avenue

Rockaway Beach: When beach season arrives each year, and New Yorkers take an interest in food options in Rockaway Beach, closures are always revealed: One, a Thai restaurant called Moon Lot, announced the news over social media in April. The outdoor restaurant opened at this address last summer, serving barbecued skewers and several types of larb from a colorful stall. 189 Beach 96th Street, near Rockaway Beach Boulevard

Tribeca: Bâtard, a Michelin-starred French restaurant that defied its fine dining label, closed this week after almost a decade in the neighborhood. It’s the first time its owner, the restaurateur Drew Nieporent, will not be connected to the West Broadway space since 1985, when he opened Montrachet at this address. Corton, a fine dining restaurant backed by chef Paul Liebrandt, came after, and Bâtard, which opened in 2014, was the latest pivot. The restaurant earned a Michelin star in 2015, the same year it was crowned the best new restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation. The last day was May 20. 239 West Broadway, on White Street

May 19

Cobble Hill: It’s been a tough year on the city’s pizzerias. Two fixtures in Brooklyn’s old-school pizza scene — Sal’s in Carroll Gardens and Lenny’s in Bensonhurst — closed earlier this year. Both businesses had been open since the 1950s. Caruso Pizzeria and Restaurant, a Smith Street pizza shop, recently joined them. The restaurant announced its closure with a small sign on the door earlier this month, thanking customers for 30 years of business. 150 Smith Street, near Bergen Street

West Village and Upper West Side: Brodo, a small chain of bone broth shops, has closed two locations. The restaurant shuttered its outpost in the West Village (open since 2016) and on the Upper West Side (since 2018), the website West Side Rag reports. The company continues to operate from its original location in the East Village. 496 Hudson Street, near Christopher Street; 2144 Broadway, between 75th and 76th streets

Upper West Side: The Manhattan outpost of Israel’s largest gelato company. Screme Gelato Bar, which opened at this address a decade ago, is now closed, according to West Side Rag. The phone line has been disconnected. 176 West 94th Street, at Amsterdam Avenue

May 12

East Village: Downtown Bakery, a decades-old restaurant known for its serviceable breakfast burritos, temporarily closed its doors earlier this year without notice. In February, a sign from the Department of Health offered some clue: the restaurant had been shut down for operating without a permit. The website EV Grieve has the latest this week. The owners have retired, and the business is now in the hands of brothers and longtime employees Ivan and Mario Marín, who plan to reopen the restaurant under the name Downtown Burritos Cocina Mexicana. 69 First Avenue, near East Fourth Street

East Village: A ramen shop known for its kitakata ramen, one of the most popular styles of ramen in Japan made with a soy sauce base, is out on East 14th Street after three years. Gorin Ramen is listed as permanently closed on Google and its signs have since come down, according to EV Grieve. The restaurant continues to operate from a stall at the Gotham West food hall in Hell’s Kitchen. 351 E. 14th Street, near First Avenue

Washington Heights: Buddha Beer Bar, known for its global selection of beers on tap, closed last weekend after a decade in the neighborhood. Not to be confused with Tribeca’s Asian fusion restaurant Buddha-Bar, this Washington Heights watering hole opened a decade ago by James Lee, a contestant on the seventh season of the cooking show Chopped. He’s also behind the New American restaurant 181 Cabrini on the Upper West Side. 4476 Broadway, near West 192nd Street

Williamsburg: The Brooklyn outpost of Taqueria Diana closed things out with a final night of service on Cinco de Mayo. The small chain of San Francisco-style burrito shops opened at this address in 2018, following locations in the East Village and Hell’s Kitchen. It announced the closure in an announcement on social media. The first location of Taqueria Diana opened in Manhattan, at 129 Second Avenue, near St. Marks Place, a decade ago. 367 Metropolitan Avenue, near Havemeyer Street

May 5

Hell’s Kitchen: Ñaño Ecuadorian Kitchen, a family-owned restaurant home to some of the city’s finest empanadas, has closed after a decade, the website W42ST first reported. “The pandemic affected us all in many ways,” owner Abel Castro wrote on Facebook in February. “Some of us lost a relative, a friend or an acquaintance. I myself lost my dad last year.” Castro opted not to renew the restaurant’s lease, closing things out with a final dinner service on April 30. 691 10th Avenue, between West 47th and 48th streets

Hell’s Kitchen: One of the city’s top Indonesian restaurants is calling it quits for now. Warkop, a cafe that opened on West 52nd Street last spring, is moving on from Hell’s Kitchen ahead of relocating, according to a post on social media. The small shop found fans in its one-year run, with Eater critic Robert Sietsema calling it the “best example” the city has of a warung, the small snack shops that are ubiquitous in Indonesia. The new location has yet to be announced. It closed on April 29. 366 W. 52nd Street, near Ninth Avenue

Park Slope: Blank Street Coffee is out at one of its locations in Park Slope, a 2,000-square-foot space that the chain shared with plant delivery company the Sill. The building entered foreclosure proceedings in February, court records show. The controversial coffee chain, which now has more than 40 locations in the city, opened at this address over a year ago. It’s now listed as permanently closed online. 461 Sixth Avenue, at 10th Street

Midtown: Ruth’s Chris Steak House closes its only Manhattan location after 30 years. The steakhouse chain, based in Florida and listing 150 locations, announced the closure in January. The lease was up and the parent company opted not to renew. Darden, the behemoth brand behind Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse among other chains, recently bought Ruth’s Chris in a $715 million deal. The last day was April 22. 148 W. 51st Street, near Seventh Avenue

Theater District: Starlite Deli, a fixture in Manhattan’s Theater District for almost 40 years, went out on a high note. Fans of the longstanding deli surprised owners Jung Min and Jahee Kim with a performance of Roy Rogers’s “Happy Trails” captured in a viral TikTok that’s since garnered over 2 million views. The Kims announced their plans to retire in March. “I’m sad to be closing, but happy to be retiring,” Jung Min Kim said at the time. “It’s my time.” Their business, open since 1984, had become a favorite with Broadway performers and workers, in part because of its proximity to nearby theaters the Majestic, the Broadhurst, the Hayes, and the St. James. It closed on April 29. 212 W. 44th Street, Seventh Avenue