Goodbye falafel, but hello booze. Check out Upper West Side openings and closings below.
Soomsoom, a make-your-own falafel place on 72nd street near Broadway, has closed after losing its lease. The store says they’ll still do catering, and to visit them at their other locations in the city. Thanks to Roger, Rachel, Linda, Berkley, Sarah and Swati.
Beer Shop NYC is now open on Amsterdam between 80th and 81st streets. Owner Nicholai Santurian and his wife have owned West Side Wine for about two years.
“Having a passion for beer and seeing a lack of craft beer in the Upper West Side we decided to open this place up to give people a chance to try the beers that the craft world is offering. We are a Craft Beer Store and Tasting Room in one. We offer Flight, Pints, bottles, cans & snacks to stay and growler fill ups & bottles and cans to go. We have 10 Taps which are constantly rotating & a bottle selections of about 180-200 beers. 70% domestic & 30% imported beer. The bottle selection will also rotate depending on availability of some beers.” A flight with four beers is $15. Each beer in the flight is 5 ounces. Or people can crack open and share beers, as long as they pay the $2 corkage fee.
A new wine store called NYC Wine & Spirits is open on Broadway between 87th and 88th streets. “With good selection, great prices, and friendly service. Ask and they will stock what you want,” writes Charles, who sent in the photo below.
Really excited to check out Beer Shop NYC! I think it will be a welcomed addition to the neighborhood, and it’s something DIFFERENT!
Is it Friday yet?? 🙂
Actually, the cuban place it replaced was something different. UWS is trash for latin food
La Dinastia
La Caridad
Flor de Mayo
Tropical Sensation
Nueva Victoria
Guantanamera
Not sure what your talking about
Actually, the cuban place it replaced was something different. UWS is trash for latin food.
Actually, the cuban place it replace was something different. UWS is trash for latin food.
I can’t believe Soomsoom is out. I loved this place!
Terrible news.
I agree. Very sad. And I won’t be going to Maoz now that they’re “Maoz Falafel & Grill”. Ugggh. Feh.
I don’t understand the comment about Maoz’s name change. Why would that matter? Isn’t it still vegetarian?
Meat good. Come on – shawar-me.
No, they serve meat now.
Also I wonder if this was motivated by the openings nearby of places like Sweetgreen that are veggie-friendly but also offer meat.
Huh, you guys are right. I guess Maoz has vegetarian and non-vegetarian restaurants with different names. I’m surprised by the switch, since Maoz Vegetarian was always very busy.
Interesting too because Soomsoom started selling meat like a year ago and faced a backlash and eventually returned to being vegetarian.
Came here to say the same thing. I will miss that place. Does anyone have an alternate recommendation for a falafel/shawarma place?
For decades, there was a liquor/wine store at Broadway between 89th and 88th Street owned and operated by an UWS local. Plus ca change….
until the building threw them out and the old west side/ritz camera store, and leased it to td bank
The people who had the liquor store on 89th St moved across the street to Broadway between 90th and 91st They have been here for years. I regret that someone comes in and takes away business from an establihed small business owner – I will not patronize them.
Beer Shop is a big Disappointment. Very narrow and physically unappealing. I’ve been in many beer shops esp. in Calif. and beer bars in NYC, etc. Some tall tables greeted me as I walked in the door. Then beyond those tables there was like the beer counter at the Duane Reade near W. 72. In the back, up some stairs, I saw a tall cooler containing some beers. I won’t be back. The Pioneer supermarket on Columbus is MUCH BETTER when it comes to a large beer selection. The UWS needs a really spacious, attractive beer hall, with a great amount of draft and bottle beers, like those found in areas of the city.
agreed. quite disappointed
Try West End Hall on Broadway and 105th. They have a nice big room, and a back yard.
Yes, agreed. Also very expensive for what you get. The same 6 pack I was looking at was 6-8 dollars cheaper on Fresh Direct.
I’ll be impressed if the new place — and any UWS sports bar — carries several gluten-free beers. I feel so bad for friends with celiac disease who just want a beer at the local Irish pub. Surely in the selection of 180-200 beers, they can offer 3 or 4 gluten-free BEERs at a time. Response?
They have plenty of ciders which are gluten free and gluten free beer so your friends should be just fine finding something to drink
Considering celiac disease affects 1% of the population, ie 1 in 100 people, that’s a pretty high hit rate for your circle of friends.
Don’t want to be the UWS prude, but aren’t there enough bars and available alcoholic the hood. Do we really need another one? There isn’t enough rowdy behavior already along Amsterdam and Columbus. As someone mentioned Pioneer has a hell of a selection for the beer/cider aficionado. Another reasonably priced decent place to eat would have been my preference.
“10% off 6 / 15% off 12”
makes no sense! If buying 12, just by 6 and then 6 again, get 20% off…
#stupid.
And if you buy 6 bottles 10 times, you get 100% off! Free!
#common_core
So funny 🙂
If you buy 6 and then another 6, you will get 10 percent off each 6 or 10 percent off for the 12. If you buy 12 at once, you will get 15 percent off the 12.
Being “that person” I hope you are joking bc your math doesn’t work…this is the UWS after all.
Just in case. Each item costs $10.
6 items = $60 before discount = $54 after 10 % discount
12 items = $120 before discount = $102 after 15% discount
Buy 12 items as two purchases of six = $60+60 = $120 before discount = $54+ $54 = $108 after discount
In my day we bought beer at a deli.
and a rare roast beef sandwich. Now that is living.
A Korean restaurant, Mokja, has gone in where Warique was on Amsterdam between 101 and 102. The entire block currently smells like vinegar and cabbage. I hope it’s only temporary.
Of course it’s only temporary. In a year or two, the landlord will quadruple the rent and the Korean place will close.
Not to worry.
Many changes on 72nd Street in last few months. Long time tenants Off Broadway, Blades, SoomSoon, City Pie all went out.
Also I wonder if anyone knows whats going on with the former Hurley’s bar space. It’s been empty for 2+ years and I heard a rumor they are trying to sell building as a development site.
I went to Beer Shop last night and sadly I probably won’t be back. They claim they charge retail prices, not bar prices, for the beers which is why they charge a $2 fee if you want to drink the beer in house. I paid $14.50 for a bottle beer that you can get for $8.99 at Whole Foods so I don’t know how “they’re only charging retail”.
Additionally, 64oz growler fill ups are $30! Go to Duane Reade 72nd or 76th and you’ll get just as high quality beers for $9.99!
I’m not one to complain over price but when I’m paying 2-3x what the neighborhood offers its hard to accept.
Soomsoom was good, but way too expensive, both before, when they had meat, and in 2015, when they switched to vegetarian. You can’t charge $5 for a few falafel balls, no matter how good they are (and not allowing to buy just one or two falafel balls is not nice). Buh-bye.
I too am totally unimpressed with the Beer Shop and fail to see its’ purpose. Why would I pay a corkage fee to drink beer? The prices are already inflated, now I’m supposed to pay even more for the pleaseure to drink it in your store? Seriously?!