I am very sorry to report that Homemade by Miriam, the outpost of Miriam in Brooklyn that served Israeli home cooking to go on West Broadway just south of Chambers, has closed for good.

I was hoping it was a summer vacation, but a call out to Park Slope confirmed it. “Business just did not come back,” Josh told me. (The chef is Rafi Hasid, who opened Miriam in 2005 and who also has 1803 with other partners.) “We had to make a decision, and we weren’t willing to wait.” But if you are craving the mushroom shawarma as I now am, you can still order from Brooklyn. (Their ready-to-grill skewers are the best summer house gift ever.)

With Twiggy to Go recently closing, and with Mulberry & Vine gone as well (sniff), to-go independent lunch spots are thinning out. Comment if I am wrong. (Sweetgreen across from Citi had a line out the door yesterday, so I guess they aren’t going anywhere.) I am going to make an effort to get to OneSeed, Lekka Burger and Nish Nush more often.

There’s also the neighborhood’s delis: Benvenuto, Corner Gourmet on Murray and West Broadway, Tribeca Park Cafe on Walker, and of course Zucker’s, though their new offerings at the kiosk in Bogardus Plaza are even better.

Homemade by Miriam opened in the height of the pandemic, June 2020, after a pivot from their original tavern concept when they applied for their liquor license. At the time, they understood the limitations of the pandemic, but of course none of us knew it would have these lasting effects. Josh did leave a window of opportunity for another Tribeca Miriam, and here’s hoping. “We might be back — who knows. Life is unexpected.”