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

(The) Coffee Shop, 29 Union Square West, closed last October.

Marion's was cool, though I spent way more time at their sister restaurant-bar, M & R, on Elizabeth St. in Nolita. That closed in 2003.

Marion, the person, they say, was involved with JFK at some point in time.

Was it really closed that long ago? /Time flies, I’m old etc.

Yeah I think it closed just days after the smoking ban took effect

Seems like original Elizabeth location closed around then, but at some point it was revived on Bowery for a while next to Marion’s

That's right. That second version was kind of... dull I guess, so I never frequented it

The original location was frequented by Little Italy characters and old Soho-type art people and you-never-knew-who mixed in with random tourists. Big gay clientele too. Second location seemed like more of a generic place for the NYU crowd.

Coffee Shop was one of the first bars I ever went to in New York. i was totally overwhelmed. it was so loud, and so busy, and so apparently cool, and everyone was ordering different types of caipirinhas, which i had never heard of before. I eventually came to look down on it somewhat, as a kind of entry-level aspect of New York nightlife, but i don't know if that's just because of my experience or what.

I wouldn’t think of it just like that. To me it was more like some kind of rough equivalent of a place in Paris where everybody could go but famous or hip people didn’t shun, like La Coupole, maybe.

ohhh I didn't realize Cafe Loup permanently closed after they had the tax issue.

I think they had agreed to a plan to pay the back taxes and put a “White Knight” customer in charge for a bit but that didn’t work out so well.

https://ny.eater.com/platform/amp/2019/3/8/18256016/cafe-loup-closure-west-village-tax-department
http://www.grubstreet.com/amp/2019/03/nyc-literary-haunt-caf-loup-closes-again.html

Don't know how I didn't know that owners of Sur also owned Caffe Novecento, 343 W Broadway -still there!

Its neighbor, Diva, at 341 W. Broadway, is also closed, although can't remember ever actually going in that place, just looking in the window and hearing about it.

i have many happy memories, and a few shameful ones, of dancing upstairs at novocento. great atmosphere, great house music.

Pastis is back open. I was excited and then I realized I got it confused with Florent.

Should be noted here that Lucien Bahaj of the East Village French bistro Lucien passed away recently. Apparently his son Zac will keep the restaurant going. Lucien has been in business since 1998 and still has an "old, weird" clientele.

Think I went there at least once maybe four or five years ago, although sometimes I confuse Lucien with Jules

Teresas :(

https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2020/01/10/brooklyn-heights-mourns-as-teresas-restaurant-closes-its-doors-after-31-years/

Teresa’s

Never went there!

Then you’re banned from Redd’s Roster!

Sorry, j/k

Lol

But you will need to call ahead for a reservation.

Lucky Strike for real this time:
https://ny.eater.com/2020/4/15/21222837/lucky-strike-soho-restaurant-closed-nyc-coronavirus

RIP Gem Spa

RIP

I liked Gem Spa better when they sold tons of magazines, but still, legendary. Looking at recent photos it appears they were selling hats... and luggage (?!)

Judging by the last one I had there, the egg creams died long ago.

Eggs creams never lived up to their billing no matter where or when I had them, to be honest.

I only trust homemade.

Aquagrill

Robert Sietsema's tribute to the East Village's Odessa:

https://ny.eater.com/2020/7/14/21322961/odessa-closure-east-village-robert-sietsema-lookback

I have many fond memories of stuffed cabbages consumed there.

And his tribute to La Caridad 78, along with a historical discussion of the NYC Cuban-Chinese restaurant phenomenon:

https://ny.eater.com/2020/8/3/21349711/la-caridad-78-closing-cuban-chinese-restaurants-upper-west-side

I don’t know if it’s old enough or weird enough, but I used to eat at both locations of the wrap place mentioned here at #3 all the time: https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/02/arts/eating-out-making-it-to-go.html

Mentioned here too, with a link to a relevant New York Magazine spot about its opening: https://ny.eater.com/2013/6/10/6422987/this-month-in-new-york-city-dining-1997

I used to get lunch at the #11 place on that Times list when I worked downtown: Tokyo Lunch. The chicken katsu-don was my go-to order.

Barely now why I ended up at this roundup just posting it here now as a memory jog:

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/24/arts/diner-s-journal.html

Barely know, I guess I meant to to type.

But came to type Jazz Standard/Blue Smoke Flatiron.

Cafe Steinhof in Park Slope has closed for good. I remember when it opened, circa 2000, as a more casual spinoff of Max & Moritz a block away. In the end it became a beloved neighborhood joint with a popular goulash night and film screenings and lasted far longer than its parent restaurant (though I still miss Max & Moritz).

In other Park Slope news, Rose Water closed back in November of last year. That was possibly my favorite restaurant in the neighborhood. It's where I once eavesdropped on Paul Auster, Siri Hustvedt, and Salman Rushdie dining at the table next to me. Still coming to grips with that loss. Was not a business issue, the owner simply wanted to move on to a different phase in his life. I know Mr. Fine Wine used to eat there sometimes.

I've been to Manhattan about four times since Covid. I have the suspicion that when I next walk the streets of it all my favorite old restaurants will be gone, like ghosts, and my memories put in the trash bin.

Le Veau d'Or on E. 60th St., which was supposed to reopen under new management pre-pandemic, never did and I assume never will. So that's an 82-year operation gone for good.

Did you ever eat at that place with Mr. Fine Wine, Josefa?

No. But the owner was friends with him. The owner was somehow involved in the soul music scene & was good friends with the late Warren Lee of Subway Soul Club.

Empire State Soul Club, I mean

Of course. I knew what you meant.

Feel like the pandemic is redefining what Old Weird New York means.

Like the closing of the brick and mortar locations of Otto’s Tacos, does that belong on this thread? Nowadays I might say maybe.

Totally. Everything pre-pandemic seems a little old and weird now. It's like when the asteroid hit and killed off the dinosaurs. Something will survive but we don't know what.

But came to type Jazz Standard/Blue Smoke Flatiron.

― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, December 5, 2020 5:16 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Hard to think of this place as in any way old or weird, but still long enough running and significant enough to be an NYC institution, crazy to hear this