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It was a bit of a surprise when seemingly popular Back Forty rather abruptly shut down after service on Dec. 21.
Chef and owner Peter Hoffman told Eater that "a difficult landscape and lease uncertainty" led to the decision to close the 7-year-old restaurant at 190 Avenue B near East 12th Street.
A tipster sent us the listing for the space that is now for lease...
Not a whole lot of information here, such as the asking rent for the 1,600-square-foot restaurant. The listing does note $250,000 in key money.
I live around the corner of this place and walked by it all the time in the evenings and it seem to always be packed. The garden space had seating but unlike some places the noise and dinners where finished before midnight which I appreciated. What goes in this space next... hopefully anything but a sports bar, please.
ReplyDeleteNever ate there - tried to a couple of times but it seemed poorly run. Both times there were queues of 5-10 people waiting to list names for a table but no host or hostess to collect those names. After 10 minutes I left.
ReplyDeleteSeemed to appeal to either groups of young women, or families with monster strollers.
Too bad to see that even a popular place couldn't make it.
I ate there a lot and it always seemed busy but well run, polite attentive staff but laid back. and the food was always great. I'm shocked they are closed. If they can't make it work I don't know what could.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to lose this place. The food was simple and good, and the area out back was a quiet space to enjoy a meal. I wonder what's next.
ReplyDelete"Difficult landscape" aptly describes the jacked-up sidewalk on the SW corner of 12th and B. Quite an obstacle course in the summer when the shave-ice man and his folding-chair groupies are parked there as well. A couple of times I thought of handing said groupies a trowel and bucket of concrete mix, as they seemed bored with not much to do...
ReplyDeleteI have eaten there a lot... Great food with good service... They will be missed.
ReplyDeleteWe need more places like this that are centered around well cooked simple food and not another boozy bro sports bar...
I still miss Radio Perfecto. The problem with that garden is that it backs up to Sauer Park, which has been overrun with rats for as long as I've lived here. Eating outside it was not uncommon to have a dinner interrupted by shrieking after some rodent ran under a table.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:55, yes, a group of senior citizens enjoying the community and fawning over children equate "groupies". They are sustaining the diminishing thread connecting a very treasured part of this village to the next generation,which you are obviously clueless about. Go live in a glass box in Dubai, leave us alone already!
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