Dumplings are coming, dumplings are coming! That and more Upper West Side openings and closings are below.
La Salle Dumpling Room is planning to open at 35 West End Avenue (61st Street), the former home of Mah Jong Chinese Kitchen. There’s another La Salle Dumpling Room in Morningside Heights that serves soup dumplings and gets mixed reviews. Thanks to Phyllis for the photo.
Crocs on Columbus between 72nd and 73rd has now closed.
Zucker’s Bagels said in October that it would be opening on Columbus between 72nd and 73rd this month. A sign outside promises hand-rolled bagels, smoked fish and Colombe coffee and indicates the opening is near, but the company hasn’t gotten back to us with specifics yet. Thanks to Talya for the photo.
BRGR, the burger joint at 2233 Broadway between 79th and 80th has closed. A sign on the door urged people to check out their other two locations in the city and said “We appreciate everything the community has done for us. :)” Thanks to Julie Rose for the tip.
Maje clothing store closed a few weeks ago ayt Columbus and 71st.
Maharaja Palace at 931 Amsterdam Avenue closed more than a month ago. The phone now rings at its West Harlem location.
Espresso Matto on 95th and Broadway is now planning to hold a bankruptcy auction for its four locations, after suddenly closing in September. Thanks to Ernie Fritz for the photo.
Send all openings and closings tips to westsiderag at gmail dot com.
I spoke to a manager at another Zucker’s location many weeks ago and that person said they have no idea when the UWS Zucker’s will open because there are “many factors” involved. I was told that March 2017 is a realistic target for their opening.
March 2017? Nope. Opening any day now.
on wednesday 30 november, a painter working on the front door told me ‘two weeks’.
on wednesday afternoon, 30 november, a painter working on the front door of Zucker’s told me the shop would open within a ‘couple of weeks.”
I just ate at BRGR after seeing the balloons inflated. The place was packed. I wonder what happened.
I saw an owner walking out with some chairs and asked what happened and he said the the rent was too high to sustain the location. Seems to be happening a lot on Broadway (Orens). It is a good place to eat, high quality, fast, tastes great and not too expensive. I wish there were more decent places like this in our neighborhood.
In the end it’s just a burger and the somewhat-upscale burger market is over saturated right now with Shake Shack and Bareburger and Five Guys and all the other McDonalds wannabes.
BRGR was only an ok burger at a premium price and the menu was incomprehensible. What’s a good reasonably priced burger in the neighborhood?
Big Nick’s at 70 W 71st St (646) 808-3577 might be worth a try. I’ve always assumed it is related to the Nick’s on Broadway that closed. I don’t eat there myself, so I have no opinion.
A reasonably priced burger was at the now closed Big Nick and/or the now closed Jackson Hole
Bankruptcy Auctions!!! 4 successful coffee shops…….LOL! AHH NOT VERY SUCCESSFUL
Good, and good riddance of the illegal outside foyer they construct on the sidewalk in winter.
And one that hasn’t opened on Columbus between 85th and 86th Streets.
TLV shutdown marshal siezure – have image don’t know how to post it.
TLV – the “Resto-Bar”, you mean?
I liked it when it was the hummus place, but when it changed identities I could never figure out what a “Resto-Bar” was. What language is that, anyway?
“Resto” = Restaurant
you can blame texting for this new language
I like English. Think I’ll stick with it.
Bye-bye, “Resto-Bar”. Happy txting!
Ugh. The loss of BRGR and TLV in a week. Shame
Also heard Bello Giardino has been rebranded Polpette 71
Please send to westsiderag at gmail.
I had a feeling BRGR would close… not enough biz. They make a SERIOUS burger though, and I loved it.
Fresh, fresh fresh and really tasty. sorry it closed.
We ordered from there and my whole family got sick.
Maybe you ordered the salmonella burger instead of the salmon burger
That 95th and Bway location of Espresso Matto must be cursed or something. Can’t wait for the next frozen yogurt shop to open and close there soon.
the subway station and resultant narrowed sidewalk together put the curse on.
cursed both that block and the block across.
Agreed. That subway redesign was poorly thought out and executed. It re-routed a lot of foot traffic which hurt the businesses on that block. It also created a dangerous pedestrian situation. The best answer would be to spend a ton of money and redesign that entire area closing it off to automobile traffic but that likely won’t happen and will cause other problems on other avenues. Unless landlords of these properties are willing to lower the rents we will likely see empty spaces or businesses popping up only to shut down after a short period.
The building housing BRGR is coming down in 3 years and condos are going up.
Source?
The guy behind the counter at Zabar’s
…and it won’t be long before Zabars is gone, at least in its current incarnation.
Source?
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/realestate/streetscapes-zabar-s-broadway-between-80th-81st-street-its-horizons-widened-it.html
It is well known.
Yep, well known.
They also own the DSW(?) building on the corner of 79/Bway.
Zabar’s isn’t going anywhere.
i like zabar’s
…Just an opinion people so no pitchforks and torches, ok?
@stevieboy: Duly ignored. See you at Whole Foods.
Is it just me?? I don’t see the appeal of this place.
I try to go in there and I just lose my appetite. I’m speaking specifically about the prepared foods and such. They would be well advised to raze that whole building and start over. It just seems old and dirty.
Just an opinion people so no pitchforks and torches, ok?
Zabar’s owns its building and several in the area. I doubt they are going anywhere.
I tried BRGR the first month they were open and I bet they would be out of business within 6 months!
What a disappointment. I live on right near where LaSalle Dumpling Room is opening. We have nothing around here and this is what we get?? A dumpling room? Geesh, New York, you can do better than that.
I know, right? Why couldn’t it have been a Duane Reade or a bank or something?
I was excited to hear about the Dumpling Room, sounds great to me! I don’t understand all the hoopla about designer hamburgers though, when you can get a great hamburger at the Utopia Diner on 72nd and B’way. Maybe I’m too old to care about the atmosphere. 😉
I love the soup dumplings at LaSalle Dumpling House. Amazing.
Gave Brgr two tries. Slow and lousy. Not surprised.
Limeleaf on 72nd between Col and Amsterdam closed. No surprise there.
I ate there once. The food was OK. The restaurant was empty and sad, the staff standing around with nothing to do.
What is going on with Gracious Home? They have a sale that sure feels and looks like a “closing this store” sale. Maybe Lowe’s appearance a block away did them in over there? The Salesmen who helped us had no comment…
I heard a convo between two mothers on the bus this morning lamenting that the same thing is happening in the UES store. 🙁
UES store does not have those huge “bankruptcy” looking signs in front window. Rather they are inside suspended from ceiling, but still can be seen from street.
Signs in windows still state “year end clearance sale”.
Haven’t had a chance to go into either and see how good any of the deals are. Many things on their website are now “in store only” purchases.
If the UES locations close and or GH shrinks its presence that is going to still put a lot of retail space on the market. This at at time when Third Avenue from about 61st to 80th already has too many long vacant retail spaces.
It has been several years since Grace’s Market was forced out of their Third Avenue location, and that space is still empty.
Francois Payard closed up their location on Third between 74th and 75th streets after only being open for under four years. This could have been the result of competition from Maison Kayser across the street. That or rumors that the entire block (or much of it) will soon come down and be redeveloped.
My guess is if GH remains open on UES they will consolidate everything back into one store as it was originally.
I lived on the UES for several years (moved 3 times but always stayed near 3rd Ave from 65th to 87th) and it’s just sad to see how much everything has changed there. It would be great if GH consolidated and stayed in their original location.
Do people who post on the West Side Rag not also *read* the West Side Rag?
GRACIOUS HOME IS ‘REINVENTING,’ NOT CLOSING, EXEC SAYS, Posted on November 24, 2016 at 9:02 am by West Sider . https://www.westsiderag.com/2016/11/24/gracious-home-is-reinventing-not-closing-exec-says
yes
Salesman told me they were “reorganizing”. Makes me sad. That store has existed for over 50 years. I remember when they had free delivery and they had everything a handyman could want. They were knowledgeable and fixed lamps on the spot. And so it goes….another one bites the dust….sigh.
For any future burger entrepreneurs here’s the deal….
If you charge almost $20 for a burger, fries and a milk shake it had better be AMAZING!! The best biggest juiciest burger cooked to perfection you ever ate. And it shouldn’t take 25 min. to make either.
This was not that….although I will say the milk shakes were really really good.
A healthy restaurant should have a food cost of 25%. I assume that Manhattan rent will drive that percentage lower, but let’s use 25%. That means that a $10 burger has material cost of $2.50, which seems reasonable for quality meat. So you get to $20 pretty quickly.
Any news on the mugging of a mother and child in stroller on 86 and CPW?
Yes.
I just noticed building permit signs on the old Columbia Cottage building, next door to Hungarian Pastry Shop, at 111th and Amsterdam. That space has been vacant for a long time. Does anyone have any information about what might be coming there?
What could be better than a dumpling house? Seriously. It’s the exact type of place that most of us want to see. Speaking of Upper West Side food, please patronize Han Dynasty. If that place closes it will be a huge blow to the neighborhood.
I’d be happy to patronize Han Dynasty, *except*
(a) You can’t just walk in. They insist on reservations, even when the place is half empty.
(b) They won’t make a reservation less than two hours into the future. So if you decide you’d like to go there for dinner in an hour (see (a), above), you’re out of luck.
(c) You can’t order delivery on-line, since they don’t subscribe to any of the common deliver services (Seamless, etc.). Instead, you have to download their clunky proprietary app.
I’d be happy to patronize Han Dynasty, but Han Dynasty first needs to show that it wants my business. It’s showing me just the opposite now.
I’ve never had a problem walking into Han Dynasty but it’s either been lunch or early dinner during the week. Pretty much every decent restaurant in Manhattan requires reservations at peak times on the weekend. During the week I doubt they turn anyone away. Try going on a Wednesday at 6:45pm. I agree that their host/hostess situation needs a fix (they are often doing other things besides seating customers) but the rest of the service is spectacular. Just head and shoulders above any Chinese restaurant on the UWS (except Shun Lee). And reasonable.
In addition to missing good burgers reasonably priced, I miss the days when you could walk into a good West Side restaurant without the pretension of a reservation.
Sure, you might have to wait — though usually not, or not more than a couple of minutes at most — but at least you didn’t have to kowtow to the proprietors (or more likely some rude kid handling the phones) for permission to enter the sanctum.
That’s odd…I’ve walked into Handy Nasty a few times and gotten a table w/o a reservation. I’ve also ordered via the DoorDash app which is as easy to navigate as Seamless. But your experience is certainly frustrating and would make me disinclined to patronize them.
There is now a sign announcing a new restaurant in the former Deluxe Diner space near Columbia. Says Junzi Kitchen. It is northern Chinese fast food, bing and noodles started by two Yale alums. Their other location is in New Haven. Website says they will open in early 2017.
I miss Deluxe!
i miss the West End Bar.
but am beginning to get over it
dannyBoy, I also miss the West End Bar, it was a fun place in the 50’s. I also miss Teachers & Teachers Too, but most of all
I miss the automat (104th & Broadway, and all the candy stores with soda fountains) What a neighborhood the UWS
was.
Speaking of places that I miss, does anyone remember the All State Cafe on 72nd between Bway and WEA? The burgers were great. So were the fries. And the veggies were so good that everyone (even me) ate them. Best bar food on the West Side. By far.
I don’t remember that one. What’s in the location now?
old judge…
i agree, the All State was great!
Living UWS and looking for a serious burger?
Look no further friend.
Kirsh Bakery – 551 Amsterdam
Has a very serious burger, now I know what your saying:
Why ground out a burger when you can have a steak?
True, true
But Kirsh does it well and it is sooo juicy!
Oh, so juicy and flavorful
So well seasoned
Good cheese, high quality cheese
It’s a Bakery, so a nice bun
Try it!
It’s interesting to see the commenters lamenting the closure of businesses.
Not one month ago, 89% of UWS voters voted for the presidential candidate who promised to make it tougher for small businesses to survive. She advocated expanding Obamacare, giving Dodd-Frank sharper teeth, higher income taxes across the board, and of course an even more dirigiste regulatory state.
These ideas, like the dulcet-toned economic demagoguery of De Blasio, may be sensible enough to the progressive gentry of the UWS. The intentions of these political figures are good, right? And the alternative is unthinkable, right?
But perhaps a few of you may be willing to consider that this well-intentioned statism is pushing marginal businesses over the edge that would survive in a freer economy.
No. None of the above. The retail landscape is changing in Manhattan because of online retailers. Empty stores are free enterprise at work. If the marketplace cannot support your store, you close it. Simple.