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Cherche Midi, Keith McNally's French brasserie on southwest corner of the Bowery and Houston, appears to be closing this summer.
Rumors were circulating earlier last week about the impending closure. On Friday, Patch reported that the restaurant had filed paperwork with the state about the matter:
The restaurant will close on June 11, according to a notice filed with the state. Under New York law, private employers must provide written notice if their business will close, suffer a mass layoff or relocate. The notice says that Cherche Midi will lay off 46 employees because of a "plant closing." The closing date is listed as June 11 on the notice. It lists the reason for the relocation as "economic."
The restaurant has not made any official comments yet about its fate.
McNally, who also runs the Odeon, Balthazar, Minetta Tavern and Augustine in the Beekman Hotel, opened Cherche Midi in the summer of 2014.
This replaced McNally's Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria, which apparently tripled nearby rents and caused men to urinate in the co-ed sink. Pulino's opened in March 2010.
This would mark the second high-profile restaurant to close on the Bowery and East Houston since last August. Daniel Boulud shut down DBGB Kitchen and Bar after eight years in the Avalon Bowery complex between First Street and Houston.
"In this location, it’s busy on weekends but erratic in the early part of the week," Boulud told The New York Times. And per Eater: "The neighborhood is changing," he said of his decision to close the "very good restaurant."
Both restaurants opened around the time of the start of the East Houston Reconstruction project, which is now just five years behind schedule.
The area in front of DBGB remains torn up, as workers are apparently grappling with underground utility issues...
