Ningbo, the Chinese restaurant at the foot of South End Avenue, appears closed permanently. The windows are papered, the website is down and the phone number is disconnected. Awaiting confirmation from the owners. (Thanks to N. for the tip.)

The restaurant was opened in 2016 by the owner of NYC institution Peking Duck House, Wellman Wu, who gave a great interview to The Broadsheet at the time. Wu opened the Chinatown restaurant in 1978 and a Midtown version on East 53rd Street a few years later, and at the time of the restaurant’s 40th anniversary (see the story from Food & Wine and the duck carving video below) was still cooking four days a week. “I am in my 70s, with three grown children and six grandchildren” he told The Broadsheet. “I already have two successful restaurants and a thriving grocery business, so I was semi-retired. But when I saw this beautiful space, I knew we could create a wonderful restaurant here. And even at my age, I still have some confidence and energy.”

He continued: “Fewer and fewer young Asian men are willing to go into the food business. This makes it very difficult to launch an authentic Chinese restaurant. It is only because we have a team that has been working together for decades that we are able to do this, when so many others fail.”

By March 18, Wu had already closed the lunch counter at his grocery store, New Kam Man, on Canal since by then Chinatown businesses were already suffering. Wu told The New Yorker that he was already down $200,000, and that was two months ago.