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With the quick turnover rate of New York City’s dining scene, high-end restaurants are suffering from the same problem smaller restaurants have experienced for years. Rent increases and shifts in neighborhood dynamics have forced beloved eateries to shut down their kitchens that were once neighborhood staples.
From elegant restaurants like The Four Seasons to more humble spots like The Cup & Saucer, here’s a look back at 11 New York City restaurants that we’ve had to say goodbye to in recent years:
Carnegie Deli. Photo by James & Karla Murray from their book NEW YORK NIGHTS
After its appearance in Woody Allen’s 1984 film, Broadway Danny Rose
, Carnegie Deli became a classic stop for tourists who wanted to experience a classic New York deli. Known for playing host to famous guests and oversized sandwiches, the deli closed at the end of 2016 after a 79 year run.
The deli suffered from a rough couple of years leading up to its closing, including the discovery of an illegal natural gas hookup, a messy divorce between the owners, and a dispute about low wages. The Carnegie Deli found itself in trouble when it started raising food prices and losing customers. While it remained a popular tourist destination, New Yorkers stopped going there in search of more authentic deli spots for lower prices. But for those who still want to experience what made this restaurant a staple in the New York deli scene for almost 80 years, you’re in luck. The restaurant still offers a wholesale distribution service and one other store located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also, read about 10 of New York City’s best under the radar delis.
After over 50 years, Manhattan’s famous Four Seasons restaurant closed its home at the Seagram Building in Midtown. Four Seasons — which has long been known as a celebrity hotspot that offered a fine dining experience — closed after a long-standing conflict with the building’s co-owner and investor, Aby Rosen. Rosen regarded Four Seasons as part of the past and chose not to renew the restaurant’s lease when it ended in 2016.
The first restaurant of its kind to have a seasonally changing menu, Four Seasons has since opened a new location within walking distance of its previous location. Taking over its former home is a seafood restaurant called The Pool, which maintains a contemporary and elegant design, keeping the marble pool as the centerpiece in the room. You can see photos of The Pool here.
In July of last year, the city said goodbye to Cup & Saucer — a diner that served as a mainstay for many New Yorkers for nearly 70 years. Previously located at 89 Canal Street on the border between Chinatown and the Lower East Side, it was considered one of the best diners in New York City, and prided itself on serving all-American food at affordable prices.
The Cup & Saucer was your traditional diner, decorated with the classic high-top bar and swivel bar stools. Regardless of how much the neighborhood changed, New Yorkers could always count on the eatery to serve them classic pancakes, eggs and bacon, and cheeseburger deluxes. Sadly, rent increases made it increasingly difficult for the diner to afford to remain open at its famed location. It closed nearly a year ago, but New Yorkers can still feel its loss whenever they pass by the old spot on Canal Street. Despite its closing, the owners plan to look for a new location where they can reopen. For more about The Cup & Saucer, click here.
After over 20 years in Union Square, beloved Pan-Asian noodle bar, Republic, closed at the end of December. Considering the restaurant’s large footprint and its ideal location in the neighborhood, it’s not entirely surprising that it would eventually face rent and tax increases. Republic was 3,800-square-feet in size, making it one of the bigger restaurants in Union Square. Additionally, it was very popular with the area’s younger demographic, offering a casual atmosphere, communal tables, modern-chic decor and great ramen for economical prices.
As Union Square became more desirable, restaurants like Republic, which helped to create the neighborhood, could no longer maintain their spaces. In 1995, Republic’s lease went for $220,000, but the taxes on the building have since gone up from $90,000 to $476,000. As such, its owner decided to end his lease three-and-a-half years early, and the new tenant is not yet known.
Like Republic, the 25-year-old Irish pub, Langan’s, closed its Midtown location on January 18 due to a rise in rent. Located near Times Square, the popular pub hosted many famous names over the years, including Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and John McCain. Inside, its walls were famously decorated with celebrity head shots and posters from Broadway shows, many of which were autographed and inscribed.
After the landlord wanted to raise the rent to $53,000 a month from $16,000, Langan’s owners tried to reach a compromise. However, the counter offers were unsuccessful and Langan’s Pub & Restaurant was forced to say goodbye to its Time Square home. While you won’t be able to visit the original pub, its owners still have two other restaurants in the city: O’Briens on 134 West 46th Street and The Pig’n’Whistle on 144 West 46th Street.
Over the past 43 years, famous French restaurant, Le Cirque, has occupied three different locations. On New Years Eve, however, it served its final dishes at the Bloomberg Tower on East 58th Street.
Le Cirque has long been known as one of the most famous restaurants in New York City for fine dining. At its prime, the restaurant hosted A-List people on a regular basis, adding to its long established legacy of being a high class restaurant. Inside, the circus-themed restaurant featured formal decor — comprised of tent shades, circus balls and monkeys — to compliment its elegant food. Despite its high priced offerings and drinks, Le Cirque reportedly shuttered due to high rent. However, the owners are currently looking to move to a fourth, smaller location, and have their eyes already set on a space in the Upper East Side on 36 East 60th Street, between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue, reports Eater NY.
Originally known as Brownie’s before becoming HiFi in 2002, this quintessential East Village bar has served as a staple for the city’s rock music scene for 28 years until its closing in October 2017. In its heyday, however, HiFi hosted modern rock acts such as Spoon, My Morning Jacket, Interpol, and the National.
Over the past decade, HiFi attempted to keep up with the gentrifying neighborhood by replacing its live music stage with a digital jukebox, one of the first digital jukeboxes in the country, that held over 50,000 songs. The restaurant scraped its stage to put in the jukebox, but kept the vintage pool tables and pinball machines. While it still remained somewhat popular up until its closing, the HiFi Bar changed significantly from its original status as a grimy, rock-n-roll hotspot. Ultimately, the owner decided to close its doors to avoid straying too far from the bar’s original vision, citing a shift in neighborhood dynamics and the new generation’s indifference to the bar as the reason.
Made famous through its appearances on Sex and the City, Sushisamba closed its iconic West Village location in December. Although it originally opened in Gramercy Park, it eventually move to its West Village location and has since become a global brand with five locations worldwide.
Aside from its history with television cameos, the Brazilian, Peruvian, and Japanese sushi bar, which served tropical cocktails and fusion dishes, became a popular dining destination due to its unique, whimsical decor, loud music and party-like ambiance. In the future, Sushisamba hopes to return to its hometown and open another New York City location sometime in the future.
After serving as a pioneer in vegetarian and vegan cuisine in New York City for 40 years, Angelica Kitchen closed last April. Before there were many dining options for vegetarians in the East Village, Angelica Kitchen attracted visitors with its vegetarian comfort food, including its signature dish: the Dragon Bowl (veggie bowl served with rice, veggies, beans, seaweed, and greens). The entree was known as “The Dragon,” because each bowl had a painted dragon on the bottom of it. The restaurant also served more contemporary, modern vegan food including butter made from carrots, ramen topped with tahini, and homemade chutney.
As other vegetarian/vegan restaurants opened with competitive prices, Angelica Kitchen struggled to maintain its customer base. Its owner cited the changing dynamic of the neighborhood and real estate market as reasons for shuttering. Prior to that, it had been struggling for the past couple of years to make the numbers work “week in and week out.”
According to amNewYork, “a piece of old Greenwich Village died with this 48-year-old sports bar when it served its last pint in August.” The 48-year-old institution, which claims to be the neighborhood’s “original outdoor cafe and sports bar,” had been serving New Yorkers since 1969. When asked why the space, formerly located on a wedge of land between 7th Avenue and West 4th and West 10th Streets, was closing, the general manager, Steve Certell, simply told Gothamist that, “”Things open, things close.”
Aside from its traditional bar, it offered an indoor restaurant, a greenhouse space and two open patio areas where friends and family can gather to enjoy the game — whether you were a soccer, golf, or college hockey fan.
In 1975, Silvano Marchetto opened his Greenwich Village Italian restaurant, specializing in Tuscan cuisine. It would eventually become one of the “most famous celebrity haunts” over the course of the last four decades, serving clients like Rihanna, Robert De Niro and Madonna.
According to EaterNY, Da Silvano closed due to operating costs, such as rising minimum wage and $41,000 a month rent. Before it shuttered, however, the restaurant was able to cultivate quite a reputation, not just for its food and clientele, but also due to the various scandals it was involved in, including a feud with neighboring restaurant Bar Pitti to harassment lawsuits against Marchetto.
Next, check out A Look Inside The Pool, A Contemporary Seafood Restaurant in NYC’s Former Four Seasons and Iconic NYC Diner “The Cup & Saucer” Closing Down After Nearly 70 Years.
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