Redd's Roster of Restaurants of the Old Weird New York

Sorry, 6th and Broome

6th and Watts!

Lol. I walked by there a month ago, on my way to Alidoro, which not only is still going but has another location now in midtown and was also surprised to see it was still there. Took my a while to figure out that the line of tourists waiting hours in the hot sun across the street were going to some trendy craft beer joint.

Not quite in the spirit of this thread but placed here for reference The Most Important Restaurants in Forty Years

Article about How Brooklyn Became Foodie Heaven. Cites Cucina as the pioneer, mentions Al Di La and Noodle Pudding.

Of course parallel to the blossoming of Fifth Ave. in Park Slope there was the Smith St. restaurant explosion (late '90s), which we've alluded to upthread - Patois being the pioneer. Here's a pessimistic take on Smith St. today:

http://www.bkmag.com/2016/03/22/the-rise-and-fall-of-smith-street/

Thanks for that article, Josefa. Did a little Redd's Roster research tonight, not sure when I will be able to post the results.

Referred to some information on this thread this evening. Very handy, thanks everybody for your hard work. I think I had a few more crumbs to add but nothing major.

http://whalebonemag.com/meet-married-couple-photographing-disappearing-face-new-york/

Lanza's is apparently closed for good. Had a 114-year run.

And on the more fancy-pants tip, Da Silvano is out of business too after 41 years.

Missed this thread. When I lived in Cobble Hill Patois was the only "new" restaurant on Smith Street. Court St had Harvest which was the brunch spot. They turned it into Lobo for some reason which I remember being bad, which had a satellite on 5th ave that may still be there?

Lansky Lounge took over the space that was Ratners, they had the big restaurant and the "speakeasy" with the entrance on Norfolk across from Tonic. I only went to Ratners once but that was great old Jewish NY.

Lobo on 5th Ave. is history. Never quite saw the appeal of it.

Lansky Lounge was fun, I wonder where they went wrong because the concept seemed good

Lobo was always trash; Patois was good, Robin Des Bois was dry, Tabac is the true heir

Is Sal's Pizza still on Court St? I lived a few doors down and would go there w/ a bunch of friends for special occasions. The waiters were surly and I couldn't believe the place wasn't better known as a classic pizza joint. Further down the street there was Lombardo's which I only went to once not long before it closed and it was fantastic. The gentrifiers didn't discover it in time because it closed and became a Dunkin Donuts I think.

Sal's or Sam's?

I don't remember, maybe it's Sam's? That sounds right. On Court near kane or baltic a block or two north of Cobble Hill Cinemas?

That's Sam's, which is still in biz

...and awesome

I used to get chicken parm heroes to go and you'd go into the back to pick up the order and they had this big Smith and Wesson poster.

There is also a Sal's, which is on Court and Degraw.

If I can go deep for a second, when I was a kid my mom would bring the family to a place called Betty Brown's Broadway Diner that is definitely in the top 10 memories of my childhood visiting the city. I remember it being HUGE and they served coffee in soup bowl sized coffee cups and I'd get sliders and french fries. I loved that place.

I'm going to get an egg cream from gem spa next time i'm in the area

I'm at Ferdinano's as we speak

cup & Saucer closing

fwiw French Roast closing

https://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2017/07/french-roast-downtown.html

that's wild, i walk by there every single morning and it's always busy

Just ate at Gene's, just on the other side of 11th Street from French Roast, for the first time. It's been in business since 1919! And it was good.

Know that place. Have some friends that love it. When I walked by French Roast for the first time in ages a year ago was surprised it was still open.

But came to post about Great Jones Café.

Hadn't been to Great Jones in >15 yrs, but still, that's an end of an era.

Gene's is good Italian (had Caesar, filet of sole francese, spaghetti on side) but I would go back just for the bar, which looks amazing with people sort of on top of each other like it's a little party. I like bars like that that are seemingly set up for cross-talk.

Come to think of it Gene's kind of reminds me of Dan Tana's in West Hollywood

Totally agree and have myself participated in such conversations whilst waiting for my party to arrive

hmmm, ridiculous

http://evgrieve.com/2017/07/after-34-years-off-bowery-great-jones.html

Great Jones Café not closing after all, reopening today at 5pm

wha? wow

This interview with the owner explains everything:

http://gothamist.com/2017/08/02/great_jones_cafe.php

The Riviera Cafe

REALLY?

Spike of Smalls, which, as you know, is across the street, posted a link on Facebook.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2017/08/02/greed-destroying-greenwich-village-as-famed-eatery-the-riviera-set-to-close-after-48-years

I watched that insane Texas-Toronto inning in the 2015 playoffs there

Haven't gone in there in decades, but was always glad to pass by and see it was still a going concern.

Shit i worked there for a bit more than a year! End of an era.

End of half a century

as prev reported

https://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2017/08/last-supper-at-riviera.html

Noho Star :(
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-noho-star-temple-bar.html

All that talk of Aggie's reminded me of Augie's, where I somehow got served, age 19, two martinis straight up with an olive, and watched an amazing jazz trio play about two feet from me. It remains one of the most magical nights of music ever.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/28/nyregion/neighborhood-report-upper-west-side-free-music-cheap-beer-couldn-t-keep-jazz.html

v pleased that apparently its spirit lives on in the same location:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_(jazz_club)

the "weird new york" cut-off should probably be the smoking ban

tho some folks would argue that by the time they might be giants had moved to williamsburg in the early 90s it was all over

Vaya con dios, El Quijote is closing down - to be redone or replaced by... something? All staff received notice.

This just seems like a stupid idea.

oh no :(

shortly after moving to nyc i ate a massive lobster dinner there with friends. in my memory it was just plate after plate of stuff. of course we were smoking cigarettes. the waiters all in little hotel vests. we never wanted to leave.