A stylish cafe closes, as another restaurant gets set to open in its place. And a famed pizza spot near Columbia is making some changes.
Cafe Tallulah abruptly closed its doors at 71st Street and Columbus after five years of “merriment, laughter, conviviality and fun,” but the space won’t be vacant for long. The awning showed that the restaurant’s new name will be Oxbow Tavern, and it says it will be serving brunch, lunch dinner and cocktails. By the name, it sounds like they’re embracing the bas-relief sculpture on the side of the restaurant, which the owners once wanted to remove.
“Operator Greg said they’d be open in the next week or two, and they aren’t changing much aesthetically,” one tipster told us. An email to Cafe Tallulah co-owner Greg Hunt was not returned. Hunt had just been celebrating new city tax rules that he expected would help businesses like his. Thanks to Jose, John, Michael, Shelby, Joshua, Ryan, Sarah and JMAK for the tips and photos.
Chase Bank has closed its location on the Southwest corner of 96th and Broadway to make way for a new high-rise, and will open across the street on Broadway. Thanks to Kurt H. for the tip.
Sky Locksmith at 2206 Broadway between 78th and 79th is moving a few doors north, Sue tell us.
When paper went up over the windows of Koronet Pizza on 111th and Broadway, the neighborhood gasped. But it looks like the classic spot is just renovating, not closing. Hopefully, they’ll keep the late-night hours and enormous slices. Thanks to Pietro and Dave Cook for the tips.
"New look, same slice" is the promise from Columbia mainstay Koronet Pizza, papered over during a wall-to-wall renovation. The fabled slice — shown, for scale, beside a U.S. quarter — is due back in three weeks. @WestSideRag @EaterNY @GrubStreet @VoiceFood pic.twitter.com/WJ5RezQBTQ
— Dave Cook (@EIT) February 12, 2018
Finally, some good news in this column. Koronet Pizza stays in business.
Maybe they will also improve the bland pizza
Agreed Jim. Bland is the perfect word. And your opinion definitely doesn’t seem to be in the minority. Koronet’s pizza is totally generic, but perfect for the young, late-night drunks.
Bland is good when you’ve been doing Jägerbombs all night and need a 2 a.m. slice to blunt your hangover. That’s always been Koronet’s value proposition.
Jim – it appears your opinion is in the minority. Please read the other posts.
Looks like Tom Valenti of Ouest fame will be running the kitchen at Oxbow, that’s pretty notable:
https://www.oxbowtavern.com/chef-owner
Apparent draft menu here:
https://www.oxbowtavern.com/menu
Oh, my goodness! I gasped when I saw the name of ‘Koronet Pizza’ on your header of openings & closings. I rushed to open link to read and thank goodness they are only renovating.
However, there are so many stores & restaurants closing in our area it is heart breaking times. Only to see empty closed store fronts. And only the rich are able to live and open businesses in our neighborhoods.
It is what it is, I guess :o(
” And only the rich are able to live and open businesses in our neighborhoods.”
Yes. Small business owners are losing their stores and the little guy, losing apartments. And yet there are apologists commenting everyday on this neighborhood blog.
I heard OXBOW will be having a famous Chef from the UWS joining the team. It was always a beautiful restaurant but the food had been wildly inconsistent at Cafe Tallulah. It has one of the nicest looking long bars in the city.
Inconsistent is right. When they opened their food was excellent. They went through some chefs over the years and it got worse and worse. Their first chef was very talented and apparently proved himself and was able to move up. The last chef they had a few months back was laughably bad. My wife and I couldn’t believe how poor the food had become.
I asked the waiter if they had a new chef and he admitted they did and he was very inexperienced, especially with regards to the French Bistro style of cooking. I hate to piss on a hard working chef but I would not have sent out some of the dishes they were.
I was pretty sure they’d either be closing up or having to switch to a new theme after that amazingly bad meal. We left and literally laughed at how bad it was. The waiter saw just about nothing was even close to finished and didn’t look too surprised and apologized for it.
The bas-relief sculpture on the side of the restaurant is a remnant from the old Cuban restaurant Victor’s Café, now on 52nd Street.
Tried Cafe Tallulah once. My wife sled for a glass house red. They charged $17. Vowed never to return.
*asked
The Chase Bank on Broadway and 95 Street has already opened.
Never needed a reservation at Cafe Tallulah. Food was so poor no one went.
I almost had a stroke. But, luckily Koronet is only being renovated. Whew!
Oxbow is going to be a Tom Valenti restaurant.
Lots of activity at the H-Mart on the corner of 110th and Broadway and it looks like they even have produce on the shelves. Opening must be imminent!