An Honor Roll Of Restaurants Past…
August 13, 2014 by missheather
Filed under: 11101, 11211, 11222, 11249, Affluenza, East Village, East Village Manhattan, Gentrification, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Greenwich Village, Greenwich Village Manhattan, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens, Manhattan, New York City, West Village, West Village Manhattan, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
Filed under: 11101, 11211, 11222, 11249, Affluenza, East Village, East Village Manhattan, Gentrification, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Greenwich Village, Greenwich Village Manhattan, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens, Manhattan, New York City, West Village, West Village Manhattan, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
Last night I had one helluva time falling asleep. Instead of counting sheep I decided to recount restaurants I liked in this city that are no more. Let’s just say it has been on the brain of late.* Here’s a partial list:
- Bleu Drawes: Jamaican food in Greenpoint? Yes, once there was! This was on Commercial Street, now the space is occupied by Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.
- Oznot’s Dish: Berry Street, replaced by Silent h
- Silent h: (see above) , replaced by a French bistro. This was the place which really got me into Vietnamese food.
- Barossa: Graham Avenue, replaced by Gwinnett Street whose menu is mildly upscale “artsy” food. (I do not recall the latest name for this establishment, but I imagine part of the reason for the name change was one of the owners being charged with handling narcotics. you can’t make this shit up, folks.).
- Kenny’s Trattoria: Havemeyer Street, razed for residential development.
- Taco Bite: South 4 Street at Rodney, replaced by a short-lived vegetarian/health food restaurant.
- Grand Sichuan: Canal Street, razed so as to build a hotel.
- Conos al Pescatore: Graham Avenue. Replaced by Sage an upscale Asian fusion establishment (which I will admit serves pretty good food— but still).
- La Vuelta: 45th Road, replaced by a barbecue joint.
- Village Mingala: Burmese restaurant whose East 5 Street location is now a Michelin recommended bistro. ASIDE: this leaves one Burmese restaurant in New York City.
- El Paso: Houston Street, new tenant TBD
- Casa Mon Amour: Franklin Street. They served Dominican food. Now the space is occupied by Vamos al Tequila (which is a fairly good replacement). The folks at Vamos al Tequila have my business for life for simply having the temerity to post the sign gracing the beginning of this post. I can only imagine what necessitated its creation.
- Driggs Pizzeria: Driggs Avenue (duh), replaced by Two Boots. This one infuriates me as much as Village Mingala’s closure (READ: A LOT).
- Monsignor’s: Bedford Avenue, now Lokal
- Rocco’s Ristaurante: Thompson Street, taken over by these guys.
- L.A. Ristorante: Manhattan Avenue, now a magazine/cigar store. To their credit, they did retain some semblance of a restaurant— but it really isn’t the same.
- Bean: North 8 Street. A nice little Mexican restaurant; now it is Pop’s.
Is it just me or is there an overall trend here? Anyone care to add?
*Thankfully it would appear John’s of East 12 Street has dodged becoming statistic. At least for now, anyway…
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