Lots of new restaurants may be opening on the Upper West Side, but there have also been some recent closings.
Hey Mambo, the French/Italian/American restaurant and bar, closed a couple of weeks ago, less than a year after it opened on Amsterdam between 83rd and 84th. The place got generally good reviews, and people raved about the drinks and the back patio. So why did it close? We don’t know for sure. Call it the Curse of the Blue Donkey, the notorious bar that Hey Mambo replaced.
Lite Delights, the juice bar and deli on Columbus between 85th and 86th street, also closed recently. It was a good place for a quick to-go meal on the healthier side, and had been open for at least a decade.
Concon Cafe, on 88th street and Columbus, has been closed twice in the past month by health inspectors, and there’s no record of a third inspection that would allow it to legally reopen. It could still open its doors again, but the odds aren’t looking great. This is what was found during the last inspection:
1) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.
2) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
3) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
4) Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding.
5) Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
6) Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.
7) Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.
8) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
9) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.
10) Toilet facility not maintained and provided with toilet paper, waste receptacle and self-closing door.
11) Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.
12) Proper sanitization not provided for utensil ware washing operation.
Not sure why Hey Mambo closed but I tried to go for brunch with friends once at 11:30 on a Sunday and not only where they not open yet (even though we called and they told us they would be), they also had a grand total of ZERO high chairs.
A place on the UWS that isn’t open for 11:30 brunch and isn’t kid friendly??? Gotta be tough to survive I think.
Homer’s, the burger joint that for some unknown reason was transformed into the Blue Donkey, had plenty of high chairs and (as I recall) was open brunchtime. Although it thrived for years, in the long run even high chairs couldn’t save it.
Frankly, I never tried “Hey Mambo” because I couldn’t figure out what kind of place it wanted to be. What kind of name for a restaurant is “Hey Mambo”? Is it a dance hall? A street yell? You mean they have food too?
Will the owners’ next venture be called “Yo, Ralphie”?
Seriously, the semiotics were just wrong. I really wonder whether that kept people from trying the place.
Besides, maybe now we can finally get the Duane Reade on Amsterdam Avenue we’ve desperately needed for so long.
There is a Duane Reade on Amsterdam, it’s on 79th Street.
That’s FOUR BLOCKS AWAY!! Might as well be in another city. Doesn’t count.
HAHA… only in nyc 🙂
All you boring suburbanites invading Manhattan with your children. Worried about wether a restaurant has highchairs and hamburgers. No wonder restaurants continue to close nothing of interest happening. No innovation. Pizza and smoothies. Thank you Mayor Bloomberg for destroying the formally exciting NYC.
Sounds like you do not live on UWS because if you did you would know how many families WITH KIDS live there
I agree 101% with PRL and Cato.
Blame a good mayor (okay, he’s NOT warm-and-huggable like Ed Koch) for restaurants closing and/or for “suburbanites invading Manhattan” ?!?!?!
Oh, I geddit! EVERYTHING IS BLOOMBERG’S FAULT BECAUSE HE’S SUPER-WEALTHY, RIGHT? IN FACT, PROBABLY HURRICANE SANDY WAS HIS FAULT ALSO, RIGHT?
Ahhh, good old cockeyed populism and class-resentment…that’ll give us a certain former Public Advocate for mayor who has no real platform except to ride on the current zeitgeist of class-resentment… oh, and his bi-racial family, which proves … ?????
Sounds a bit like Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” except this time it’s the lefties bleating: ‘Rich Man Bad! Poverty-Stricken Good! Bahhhhhhhh!’
Oh, and B/T/W: it’s not “formally exciting” it’s FORMERLY exciting.
I’ve heard a lot of misguided lamenting in my day, but blaming Mayor Bloomberg for destroying NYC with boring, children-laden suburbanites? Really?
I’m with Julie. If you can’t afford to live in Manhattan AND pay for a babysitter then perhaps you need to consider the suburbs. Not everyone thinks they’re as cute as you do. Especially at dinner time.
I’m with Cato. If you don’t want to be around children, I’m sure there is an over 55 community somewhere you may find to your liking.
It’s ironic that if a person were to post comments here about their dislike of the homeless facilities in this neighborhood, there would be those who would accuse them of being heartless. Yet, people feel they can post negative comments about children, and somehow they are justified??
Huh? Only “boring suburbanites” have children??
Julie, baby, I was born and raised in this City — as were my children. No “invaders” here. My kids sat in high chairs when they ate hamburgers — but also when they ate Chinese, Japanese, Italian and anything else to which we could introduce them. They could probably now introduce you to some cuisines with which even you are not too familiar. And they’ve never lived a day in the suburbs.
Now, if you don’t like having kids around, maybe it’s time you considered one of those “adults only” retirement-type communities. And you know where *those* are located, right??
Hey Mambo was horrible, glad they shuttered. The service was way below par.
What an appropriate name for such a loser of a restaurant – “Concon”. I guess they had you conned if you ate there.
UGH!! I hope this place never reopens. You have to wonder with places like that. Even if they clean up their act and passed the inspection — how soon will they be back to their old unsanitary bad habits?
Hey Mambo had a major identity crisis which made me think that if they don’t know what they do with the decor then they probably don’t know what to do with food. I ended up trying it out and the food was pretty good. But not good enough to keep me coming back.