Iconic Village Joint Named 'Most Anticipated' Amid Comeback

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Once believed to be permanently closed, the Gotham Bar and Grill is making a comeback. The eatery's expected opening in the Village in October was recently named one of the most anticipated restaurant fall openings in New York City.

The iconic Lower Manhattan joint at 12 East 12th Street, between Fifth Avenue and University Place, announced it was closing permanently in March 2020 due to losses related to the coronavirus pandemic.

A few months later, though, rumblings emerged that a former employee was reopening the Village restaurant with a slightly updated look.

In October 2020, Bret Csencsitz — the former general manager of the restaurant — filed an application with Community Board Two in Manhattan for a liquor license under the name Gotham Restaurants, LLC.

The liquor license application shows that the restaurant would have 47 tables, seat 156 patrons, and have an additional 18 bar seats.

That reopening was confirmed not long after, and now, the newly named Gotham was recently named by Eater NY as one of "NYC's Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings, Fall 2021."

The restaurant is expected to reopen at its same West Village location on Oct. 14.

Here's what Eater NY editors had to say about Gotham's reopening:

"The shuttered NYC institution formerly known as Gotham Bar and Grill is undergoing a revival in the hands of former general manager Bret Csencsitz as Gotham, a gently updated take on the decades-old, classic Greenwich Village spot. Longtime pastry chef Rob Paprocki is taking over the whole kitchen and introducing new dishes that aim to strike a balance somewhere between the restaurant’s old favorites made famous by veteran chef Alfred Portale, and the short-lived, flashy overhaul initiated by Portale’s replacement, the ambitious chef Victoria Blamey. The restaurant itself is getting a light makeover as well, led by the same architect who designed the original Gotham Bar and Grill 36 years ago."

Read More:

• Gotham Bar And Grill Continues Its Comeback To The West Village