Tehuitzingo recently opened a 9^th Ave location, and while the new location was opening, they closed their long-​time 10^th Ave location (opposite the park). It looked like they’d just relocated the store, but it turns out they’re still keeping the old one around, and are bringing the same “modern” signage and décor to it:

Still not fully sold on the logo, but at least they’re consistent:

For reference, here’s what it looked up until the start of the year:

Busy few months for the Tehuitzingo team.

Just one month ago Tehuitzingo opened their new store on 9^th Ave, and already they’ve been hit by the health department.

They’ve put a letter up with the closure notice giving their side of the story:

They say they were closed “for reasons that cannot be shared”, but “were not closed down for a ‘dirty’ or unsanitary reason”. The health inspection violations are available online though, and list things like hot food not held at the correct temperature, evidence of mice, and food not protected from potential sources of contamination. So not sure what’s going on.

This is the second place this week the DOH has hit – they also got Stecchino further up 9^th Ave, with a whole lot more “violation points” than here. Strict week at the health department it sounds like.

The new Japanese restaurant Nippori on W 51^st St has been having its “pre opening” over the past few days. After a long time watching, the signage went up just over a month ago, and now it’s here:

The place is run by the same people behind the two Tabata Ramen stores on 8^th & 9^th Aves around 40^th St which are usually doing pretty well, so if the food here is anything like the ramen there, it should be a big hit. (Probably a smart move on their behalf not jumping into the the ongoing Totto/​Ippudo Ramen Wars around that area, too.)

The menu is still being finalized, so if you get in soon you might be able to try some dishes that won’t be around for long. Exclusive!

Bricco, the italian restaurant just west of 8^th Ave on W 56^th St, has been hit by “tax season” hard, with their store seized for nonpayment of taxes, as noticed by local resident Derek.

Meanwhile, their website has a big message saying they’re “temporarily closed for emergency weather-​related renovations”, which is one way of framing it.

It’ll be interesting to see if they can come back from this one…

Thanks Derek for letting us know!

The health department has struck again, this time shuttering Stecchino, the Italian/​American restaurant on 9^th Ave just north of 51^st St.

They racked up 94 violation points in their inspection this week, more than two and a half times their previous worst score. Not a good week I guess. They managed to get both the “live roaches” and “live/​evidence of mice” ones, as well as a number of food handling and employee based violations, so that’s comforting.

Not wanting focus to go towards the health department closure notice, they’ve put their own giant sign up explaining the closure as a result of “mechanical problems”:

Hopefully they can sort out their “mechanical problems” and reopen cleaner than ever!

Thanks to HK regular George for the heads up!

Broadway Joe, a long-​time Restaurant Row establishment, has closed its doors after 65 years. The steakhouse opened way back in 1949, named after its owner Joe Moreno. In recent times, the place seemed to be having a hard time living up to its customers’ expectations, as its 2½ star rating on the-​one-​true-​metric-​for-​success Yelp suggests. Broadway Joe had a lot of history though, and over the years a number of movies filmed scenes at the place. For example, you can see part of the scene in this trailer for the 1959 movie FBI Story.

Broadway Joe has been closed for a few weeks now, so we already have news of the new tenant. As reported by DNAinfo, an ex-​NYPD officer is planning to open a police-​themed bar at the location, complete with its own jail cell.

Retired police officer of 27 years Stephen Barounis missed his old job so much, he decided to open a police-​themed bar in Midtown called The 46^th Street Stationhouse — complete with a police car, a precinct desk, a jail cell and a commissioner’s room.

It sounds like they’re going all-​out on the immersive experience:

“I can bring you in in handcuffs and you’ll actually think you’re in a precinct,” said Barounis, who served on the NYPD’s Bronx Task Force before he retired in 2011.

Head over to DNAinfo for more info about the new place, including how they plan to get an entire car inside the restaurant.

It’s been a rough few months for Restaurant Row. A few months ago, just across the road O’Flaherty’s closed down, and in December a fire at Barbetta caused them to close, however fortunately they recovered and reopened. Hopefully the planned “makeover” for the street doesn’t end up pricing any more long-​time places out. We’d hate to end up with the street just being called “Row”…

A quick progress update on the incoming outpost of the Chelsea Vietnamese restaurant Co Ba, coming to W 53^rd St (previously). Over the past week or so, they’ve pulled down the old tenant’s awning and lights, leaving a very different, bare storefront:

The place used to be Kiran Indian Cuisine, who disappeared back in October last year. For a long time, they had their colorful lights hanging from the awnings, which we were sort of hoping might make it through the transition, but I guess not…

Before:

It’s been a few months since we first heard Co Ba was planning on taking the spot over, and this is the first progress we’ve seen since the papers went up on the windows. Hopefully not long to go now before the big reveal.

The short-​lived Phở 66 on 9^th Ave has sat dormant for several months now, with thick chains locking the doors. Over the past few days however they chains have come off, and someone has been moving around inside, seemingly clearing out some of the old Phở 66 gear.

Here’s a look inside:

As you can see, still a whole lot of Phở gear, but there was a man moving around in the dark with trash bags (who was very surprised to see a camera), so hopefully we’ll have something new to look forward to soon!

Continuing our non-​stop 10^th Ave coverage, plywood is going up around the former cleaners on the corner of W 50^th St. The spot, which has been for-​rent for at least a year now, is finally seeing some life.

Back in November, “As Is NYC” applied for a liquor license at the spot. The new place is owned by the same person behind Atera, a spot downtown which just last year was awarded two Michelin stars, so they know their stuff.

Some architectural diagrams of the future exterior:

Some details from the application: it’ll be a 40-​seat restaurant plus bar, and open till 1am weeknights, 2am weekends. If you’re curious, you can check out the application itself, which has an “example menu”…which includes ice cream sandwiches!

Tehuitzingo, a long-​time favorite “hidden gem” on 10^th Ave, has opened its doors at it’s new, shiny 9^th Ave location. The taqueria is open 24 hours for your taco needs (cash only…).

Plastering their “quirky” logo for the world to see:

The polished new store perfectly represents the difference between 9^th and 10^th Aves. Here’s the old storefront, sitting dormant now:

See you there for 2am tacos.

After a disappointingly short run, Havana Libre on 10^th Ave looks to have closed for good. Only a few months ago in September we saw them gearing up to open, and now it’s gone full circle with papers back up in the windows. The place posted this terse message on Facebook last month:

Havana Libre is dead

It sure looks that way:

You’d almost think nothing’s changed since last year:

The worst part is the place seemed to be pretty well liked by visitors, scoring a 5-​star rating on Yelp (the only true metric of success, obviously), but I guess they couldn’t get enough people in the door. Definitely one of the shortest lifespans in recent memory…

Continuing what must be a new trend, a new foreign-​railway-​station-​named spot is coming soon. Nippori, a Japanese restaurant, is opening soon. Seemingly pulling the name from a station in Japan, the place is opening up slightly outside our usual area – just east of 8^th Ave. Close enough…

We’ve had our eye on the place for some time…it’s been sitting dormant with the mystery papers for months now:

Managed to get a brief look inside once:

Way back when, the place used to be a dry cleaning/​laundry spot, but as we all know nobody wants that anymore… Anyway, with the Gershwin directly across the road, I’m sure the new place will do well with the post-​theatre crowds.