By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava
Juicy Jungle, a smoothie and juice bar, has replaced Forever Coffee at 2263 Broadway between 81st and 82nd Streets. Nine months ago Daniela Garcia, the owner, moved from her native Colombia, to New York with her husband, who is Brazilian. “I’ve always enjoyed our culture and our food, so that’s why we wanted to start serving coffee and açaí bowls, which are popular in Brazil,” she said on a call with WSR. The “jungle” in the shop’s name refers to both South American rainforests and the concrete jungle of NYC. In the next few months, Garcia hopes to start donating a portion of the shop’s sales to the reforestation of the Amazon.
Sandwell, a “heathyish” toasted sandwich shop, is opening at 412 Amsterdam between 79th and 80th Streets. The sandwiches will be served on bread that’s baked in-house daily. This will be the shop’s first location and is expected to open this fall. The space used to be Bettola, the German-Italian restaurant that closed last year.
Spirit Halloween, the seasonal chain store that pops up in the fall to sell costumes for kids and adults, is opening this month at 2431 Broadway at the corner of 90th Street. Founded in 1983, Spirit has more than 1,450 pop-up locations across the US. The space used to be Face Values & Beyond, a brand of Bed Bath & Beyond.
Kukdae Taekwondo is opening on Broadway between 98th and 99th Streets. This appears to be Kukdae’s first studio in Manhattan (there’s another business registered under this name in Flushing, Queens). Kukdae will offer lessons for adults and teens in taekwondo, a Korean martial art. A class schedule can be found on their website. The space has been vacant for several years.
Friend of a Farmer, a restaurant that uses local ingredients, announced on Instagram that they will be opening their Upper West Side location on September 20th. The greatly anticipated new location at 68 West 71st Street will be Friend of a Farmer’s second restaurant (the first is near Gramercy Park) and was initially expected to open in November 2022. Friend of a Farmer, which dates back to 1986, is known as a pioneer of the farm-to-table movement. It will be open for brunch and dinner. The space was previously Pasha Turkish restaurant.
Yakitori Sun-Chan, a Japanese restaurant at 2707 Broadway (between 103rd and 104th), appears to be closed and has a “For Sale” sign in the window. The restaurant was temporarily closed back in January after violations were found by the NYC Department of Health. At the time, the restaurant’s Instagram posted that it was closed for maintenance. Yakitori Sun-Chan then reopened in February. WSR tried calling the restaurant but our calls went unanswered. (Thanks to Heather and Christine for the tips.)
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Daniela, can you share with us the safest and most ethical group to donate to for reforestation of the Amazon?
a “heathyish” toasted sandwich shop . . . what does that mean???
It means it’s healthier than Subway or Jersey Mike’s but not really health food since some of sandwiches likely have meat, cheese and mayo. Some people think there is no such thing as a healthy sandwich because of the bread.
Obviously, it means sandwiches that you would be likely to find on a heath. (I assume it was meant to say “healthy-ish”)
Excited for all these new restaurants! Speaking of food…
Does anyone have intel on the Taste of the UWS celebration? Typically the dates are released before September but I haven’t seen any publicity about it. Hoping my fellow Upper West Siders have the intel.
Really sorry to hear about Sun-Chan (if it is, in fact, closed). It was a great place.
Juicy Jungle serves very good espresso. I’ve had an iced latte numerous times. Also very good cookies. Try the “Grandma’s” one. Yum.
I remember going to the Grammercy Friend of a Farmer back when far to table was a new thing for the City. Looking forward to their coming to the UWS.
The Grammercy Friend of a Farmer has the best main-course salads I’ve ever tasted, so I hope to high heaven said salads come north to the UWS.
The original FoaF was in Roslyn, Long Island, where I was working at the time. Great concept, beautiful space. Looking forward to the UWS branch.
It’s not in the city’s fiscal interest to order a business closed. Tax revenues are lost, and the ripple effect can be significant. It should, and does, take a lot of violations for the DOH to shut down a restaurant. It’s a last resort death sentence, and should be. Who in their right mind would eat at a reopened Japanese restaurant with so many health violations that it was ordered closed? There are so many better and safer choices on the UWS. R.I.P., Yakitori Sun-Chan!
The owner’s wife/partner died during the pandemic, so that might be a reason it closed. Before the pandemic they were packed every night and the food was great. A sad loss for our neighborhood.
Sad to think of nice times at Pasha Turkish – great vibe, good food.
I think the recently opened Agave has closed too. I saw a moving truck outside with the restaurant closed and their social media pages specifically for that location are no longer active.
It’s nice that new businesses are opening on the UWS but it’s a shame that it’s mostly restaurants and food shops . The UWS used to be a vibrant and interesting place, with book stores and other types of shops – no more – just wall to wall restaurants which makes us no different than any other neighbourhood in the city
How can you say we have no bookstores when what I believe is the only branch of the world-famous Strand is on Columbus between 81st and 82nd?
I agree but would like to point out that we do have bookstores that could use your patronage: The Strand, Westsider Books, Book Culture, Shakespeare and Co. and Barnes and Noble.
when i moved into my apartment nearly fifty years ago, there was an upholsterer and a double wide candy / newspaper shop a street level. both lasted less than a year longer. replacing them was something exactly like what we all see today—nothing that is necessary.
I, for one, am happy with new restaurants & food shops. The few restaurants that now exist on the lower end of the UWS are not particularly good and/or interesting.
Bookstores? Why bother when they rarely stock interesting books especially ones that are not from Anglophone authors but have English translations (e.g. from Japan, Korea, China, FSU, Africa. ) A McNally Jackson book store would be a good addition though.
McNally Jackson in the right location would be a huge hit.
Bookstores and most other retail store can’t compete with online. On the other hand you have to go to a brick and mortar location for food,, veterinary services, manicures, gyms, etc. Be glad we are getting anything in all those vacant stores
Actually, bookstores are a bright spot in the retail scene these days. The number of new stores in the US is up 20% or more in the last decade or so. Many new ones in NYC and Brooklyn. Aeon, Mast, Sweet Pickle, Codex, VillageWorks and many others. Granted they are all downtown but the UWS could certainly support a new book store.
Don’t forget Book Club Bar and (sadly, temporarily closed) Yu and Me!
Funny how “party central” downtown seems better able to sustain bookstores than the allegedly highbrow UWS these days…
Great news about friend of a farmer. I was wondering about this the other day. Does anybody know anything about Kossars and when that might actually open?
I’ve been wondering the same thing! I walk past the Kossars “coming soon” sign almost every day, and I’ve never seen anyone doing any work on the interior. I hope they are still planning on opening – I was excited to have them in the neighborhood.