Quiz: Dead Restaurants (Part 4)

Since the Tribeca Citizen Restaurant Guide was founded in 2011, many restaurants have been removed upon their closing. Here are blurbs describing 10 deceased establishments, with their names and other pertinent proper nouns redacted. Feel free to answer in the comments. (All of the restaurants are in Tribeca proper.) These are a bit tougher than Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, and subsequent posts will be worse. UPDATE: The answers are posted at the end.

1. Celebrity chef/restaurateur XXXXXX had architect XXXXXX design the street-level space at XXXXXX for a Chinese restaurant (called XXXXXX) that failed. No matter: XXXXXX, a Japanese restaurant serving “soba cuisine,” is a far better fit for XXXXXX’s superclean, supercool lines. While the room is a minimalist’s dream, however, the menu is wide-ranging, with sushi, umpteen soba preparations, tempura, grilled food, shabu shabu, sukiyaki, and so on, and so forth. The large, airy bar is an elegant place to met for a drink.

2. XXXXXX has embraced the country aesthetic—pink wainscoting, polka dots, old doors used to panel the counter, vintage furniture, bric-a-brac everywhere, beverages served in jars…. The menu, as one would expect, leans heavily on comfort foods in large portions. XXXXXX is open for breakfast, popular for lunch and brunch, and a low-key spot for dinner. (It’s also very friendly for solo diners, whether you want to sit at the counter or not.)

3. A contender for best restaurant south of Canal—and perhaps in the city— XXXXXX has little of the grandeur of similarly ambitious establishments. Behind an undistinguished storefront on W. Broadway—during the day, the gate is drawn, leaving no sign of the restaurant—is a subtle, minimalist room that some find too quiet (you may have to squint to see the gold vines embossed on the walls). Presumably, restaurateur XXXXXX and chef XXXXXX wanted to better show off the dazzling modern French cooking. You might want to skip lunch in preparation for dinner here: Not only will you not leave any food untouched, this is fine dining with all the trappings—amuse-bouche, petits fours, and so on.

4. A popular spot for breakfast, lunch, coffee break, or working for hours, XXXXXX is a handsome café with brick walls, big windows, and a mix of individual and communal tables. The food is mostly premade, with a range of salads, sandwiches, and so forth (it now serves egg dishes on weekends). It’s spacious, and therefore one of the few places in Tribeca where you can reliably snag a seat.

5. Neighborhood restaurateur XXXXXX partnered with chef XXXXXX to create XXXXXX. The food is a modern take on Mexican cuisine, hopscotching around the country to spotlight different regions—but, yes, you can still get chips and guacamole. The room isn’t anything special; then again, with windows overlooking XXXXXX and XXXXXX, it doesn’t need to be. A margarita on the loading dock is one of Tribeca’s loveliest summer pleasures.

6. Pay no attention to the French name: XXXXXX is a “pan Asian” restaurant, serving mostly Thai and Vietnamese food, with occasional forays into Chinese, Japanese, and Laotian. It’s cheap and unsurprising (except perhaps that the shrimp chips, according to the menu, are “loved by mermaids”).

7. XXXXXX, within the XXXXXX, serves breakfast all day long as well as buckwheat crepes, sandwiches, pastas, and assorted entrées. The decor is cut from vintage cloth, decorated with antiques and books. Ask owner XXXXXX to show you the back room, decorated with antique finds from the neighborhood.

8. If you’ve been to any of XXXXXX’s other bistros in the East Village, Chelsea, and Cobble Hill—you have a very good idea of what to expect here. The style is textbook French, from the decor to the large menu (featuring steak tartare, housemade pâté, cassoulet, mussels, and so on), but there’s zero hauteur.

9. Craving sangria? The long bar at XXXXXX is your best bet, although on a nice day, one of the outdoor tables can’t be beat. The Spanish restaurant serves a broad array of tapas (as well as entrées) in a high-ceilinged, brick-walled room decorated with candles galore and reproduction art. Occasionally there’s flamenco for entertainment.

10. A bastion of dignity at the busy intersection of XXXXXX and XXXXXX, the Northern Italian restaurant XXXXXX is a throwback: Folded napkins sit atop plates, staffers wear tuxedos, a bottle of wine is on every table, and the specials will be recited before you’re handed a menu. Don’t be surprised if, during the recitation of the specials, you’re handed a gorgeous mushroom; don’t be shocked if the special pasta you order costs $38—at lunch. The room is a bit lost in time, with carpet, heavy draperies, and European easy-listening music played on the stereo.

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Answers: 1) Matsugen. 2) Kitchenette. 3) Corton. 4) Pecan. 5) Centrico. 6) Mangez Avec Moi. 7) Cosmopolitan Café. 8) Cercle Rouge. 9) Flor de Sol. 10) Acappella.

 

13 Comments

  1. 2 – kitchenette

  2. #4. Tribakery? Loved that place. And Kutcher’s too when it replaced tribakery.
    Now there are a few pieces of furniture inside that space.
    Yawn.

  3. 1 — Matsugen
    5 — Centrico
    7 — Yaffa’s
    8 — Petite Abeille
    9 — Tablao (or maybe the similar place in that spot before it)
    10 — Acapella

  4. None of these are Tribakery (which predates this site), Yaffa’s (which predates the Restaurant Guide), Petite Abeille (which was in Part 2 in this series), or Tablao, although “the similar place in that spot before it” is another matter….

  5. 9 — Flor de Sol!
    7 — Cosmopolitan Cafe with Craig the owner?

  6. 6 is Mangez Avec Moi

  7. 8 – Cercle Rouge

  8. 3- Montrachet?

  9. #4 Pecan?

  10. #4 Pret A Manger on Chambers near Church

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