Wednesday, December 7, 2016

XyZ Pintxos y Botanas closes for now on 7th Street



The small cafe serving a variety of tapas has closed for the time being at 102 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Per the XyZ Facebook page: "To all our friends, XyZ will be CLOSED until further notice. Thank you so much for your patronage and happy holidays!"

The interior looks in disarray at the moment. (The XyZ listing at OpenTable notes they are permanently closed.)



In any event, the food and wine here had received high marks upon opening in the early fall of 2015. Here's a post from Gothamist from October 2015:

While the food is outstanding at XyZ, cooked by Basque native chef Javier Ortega — who previously owned the TriBeca restaurant Pintxos and ran the kitchen at the natural wine bar The Ten Bells — the wine selection is truly unique and adventurous.

From Wine&Spirits:

Chef Javier Ortega and his daughter, Alaia, serve up a menu that would be at home in San Sebastian, filled with pintxos and botanas, little bites like salt cod croquetas or salty-sweet pa amb tomaca, tomato-rubbed toasts.

This has been a competitive block for cafes/wine bars. Virgola and Shervins Cafe have both closed this year.

The previous tenant here, Tink's Cafe, closed in June 2015.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to admit more often or not the first time I realize some restaurants exist is when I read about their closing here on EVG. It must be impossible to stand out and complete on some blocks here where every storefront is some sort of cafe or restaurant. It's obviously are really tough business, and I admire those that follow their dreams.

Anonymous said...

I'm amazed that donostia has managed to survive on Ave B.