Gotham Bar & Grill, the longest-running high-end dining establishment in the neighborhood, is done.
According to Eater.com…
After 36 years — and one major, recent chef change — fine dining trailblazer Gotham Bar & Grill is closing. Saturday, March 14 will be its last night of service, according to an email sent to customers.
Restaurants across the city are closing temporarily as new measures to curb the coronavirus outbreak have led to declines in sales, but Gotham will not be reopening.
The closure follows a brief tenure from its new chef Victoria Blamey, who started leading the kitchen only last year — and was a significant change for the longtime regulars of the storied American fine dining restaurant. The previous chef, Alfred Portale, ran the kitchen for more than three decades and through its many accolades, including Michelin stars and James Beard Awards. He left to open his first solo restaurant, Portale, in Chelsea.
Blamey did not come into an easy situation. Much of the staff and the clientele were intensely loyal to Portale, who created dishes that became icons, like a riff on tuna tartare. He’d also been there for most of the restaurant’s tenure. Gotham opened in Greenwich Village in 1984, and he took over the large, white tablecloth establishment a year later.
Moreover, Gotham is a fine dining legend; its menu shaped what American fine dining looks like in New York. The pressure was on for Blamey, who was expected to bring a younger crowd to the restaurant. And under her, Gotham retained its three stars in the New York Times, with Pete Wells delighting in her additions to the menu.
The Union Square Partnership (which is our business improvement district) has come up with a sweeping five-point plan to help the neighborhood bounce back after COVID. Check it out.
Posters have announced that the successor to Le Midi restaurant at 9 East 13th St. will be Reyna, a middle-eastern bar/restaurant that currently has two locations in Toronto. From the menus and pictures (see photo of a Toronto location below), it seems fairly high-end and, one can hope, not too noisy or crazy. As part of a “good neighbor” effort, the bar will host an introductory Zoom call on OCTOBER 26 at 6PM. Here’s the link.
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86012416505?pwd=dGI0cEZ3eHRudWJ0TnJhTzVkSWFVZz09
Sal Anthony’s Italian restaurant, which recently took over the space of that unremarkable Mexican spot on East 13th St. (which used to be the original Crunch gym), has closed.
Can the Union Square area ever achieve zero waste? Many people and businesses are trying to make it happen.
Read about it here.
The Center for Jewish Society, at 15 East 16th St., will be presenting a very special exhibit, beginning on January 27th.
For the first time in history, the Anne Frank House will present a pioneering experience outside of Amsterdam to immerse visitors in a full-scale recreation of the Annex, where Anne Frank, her parents and sister, and four other Jewish inhabitants spent two years hiding to evade Nazi capture.
Anne Frank The Exhibition gives visitors of all ages the chance to learn about Anne Frank, not as a victim but through the multifaceted lens of her life—as a girl, a writer, and a symbol of resilience and strength. More than 100 original collection items from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, including several never-before-exhibited artifacts, help to convey the context that shaped Anne’s life, death and posthumous fame. Her diary is one of the most translated books in the world.
