Future Looks Grim For Washington Heights' Pick & Eat, Pocion Lounge

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — The future looks bleak for two beloved Washington Heights eateries plagued by rent and construction woes.

Pick & Eat and Pocion Lounge, both on West 177th Street and Broadway, have disconnected their phone lines, months after owners reached out to their City Council rep seeking help with the rent.

Patch was unable to reach Chef Alex Peralta, owner of both eateries, for comment, but a local said both Washington Heights eateries were shuttered Friday morning and Pick & Eat's sign and outdoor dining setup were gone.

"We don't have that many healthy food options,"resident Estiven Rodriguez told Patch. "And now the people that work there will lose their job and we lose a healthy food option."

City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa also tried to confirm the closures, having tried to help with eatery owners work out a deal with the landlords in June.

A longtime construction project on the corner had hurt business at the popular eateries, De La Rosa said.

De La Rosa wrote a letter to the landlord of Pick & Eat hoping to talk about some sort of payment plan system to take into consideration the construction, but her office never heard back, she told Patch.

For confirmation, the City Council member said the Pick & Eat sign's disappearance was "the best we're going to get at the moment."

Pick & Eat offered a wide variety of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options, and was beloved by locals who enjoyed the restaurant and rooted for the owners.

"This is so terrible!" one Upper Manhattanite wrote on a Facebook thread about the possible closure. "The owners were very friendly and generous. I'm sorry this happened to them."

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Pick & Eat has served customers at its Washington Heights location for more than a decade.

Pocion Lounge described itself as "where the farm meets handcrafted cocktails and savory plant-based bites."

In a video promoting his two uptown restaurants, Peralta detailed his journey from the Dominican Republic where he first discovered his desire to cook.

"I started noticing that I had the passion not only to cook, but most likely to come with new ideas," Peralta says. "It just became a part of me."

Patch will update this story when it fully confirms the closures.