Inside the West Village's restaurant resurgence

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Restaurateurs are now taking a bite out of Manhattan’s West Village.

In this prime city district, which has long been known for cozy upscale eateries nestled among stately townhouses and otherwise luxury apartment buildings, openings are on the rebound in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which time a number of restaurants there closed their doors for good.

(That said, 90% of citybars and restaurants couldn’t pay their rent for the pandemic months between March and October 2020.)

These days, locals and visitors have great choices at hand for nibbles and sips.

Take Gab’s, for instance, which not only opened at the start of the year at 76 Carmine St. serving up its own take of modern European bites, but has also already earned distinction in the Michelin Guide.

“I would say that I chose this neighborhood because it’s on the precipice of new development,” Gabby Madden, the owner of the restaurant, told The Post. “It’s right next to Hudson Square and I think the new office buildings will bring great business to this neighborhood.”

This Thursday, a French bistro named Libertine — by Cody Pruitt and chef Max Mackinnon — will open at 684 Greenwich St. Even bars are opening up shop, including Donna, the tropical bar forced out of Williamsburg in late 2020, that debuted at 7 Cornelia St. last week with a robust food menu.

It’s all a big step from three years ago, when a number of city restaurants had to shut their doors.

In the West Village, Balthazar bigwig Kevin McNally’s French brasserie, Augustine, didn’t survive the pandemic. The restaurant closed in June 2020.

“Due to the impact of Covid, I’m sorry to report that Augustine will have to close permanently,” McNally wrote in an Instagram post announcing the news. “I have tried very hard to find a solution with our landlord, but he was simply not flexible enough to make this happen.”

The iconic West Village speakeasy Chumley’s shuttered in July 2020, three and a half years after the celebrated watering hole — a known hangout for the writers E.E. Cummings and F. Scott Fitzgerald — relaunched as a pricey restaurant.

Other area fixtures, meanwhile, did what they could to survive.

Joey Campanaro and Mike Price of Blackfoot Hospitality have kept afloat five different restaurants and other venues in the area.

They include The Little Owl, a bistro located in the famed — though international tourist-favored — “Friends” building on the corner of Bedford and Grove streets, which Campanaro opened in 2006 to acclaim. It was later followed by the event and catering space The Townhouse near Seventh Avenue South.

That events business, however, was destroyed during the pandemic — so the partners turned it into a coffee shop during the day, and a taco take-out and cocktail lounge at night.

The Townhouse reopened as an events space in February of this year. And all their restaurants, which were forced to shut down, are now back up and running. They also include Market Table and the 2014-opened The Clam.

Blackfoot Hospitality also signed a lease for its fourth corner restaurant at 99 Bank St. at Greenwich
Street in 2020 called The Mary Lane, though the timing misfortune was out of anyone’s control.

“We signed the lease in March 2020 right before the pandemic with a new landlord and the restaurant is in a co-op building, so we were now dealing in actuality with a president and board, and we had known them only a few months,” chef Mike Price told The Post.

Price explains that they came up with an affordable cost of $19 for a three-course lunch service there, as a creative way to keep the restaurant afloat while keeping New York fed.

“That’s why we are in the Village, that’s why we stay in the Village,” Campanaro added. “We know our neighbors, and we love our neighbors as customers. Of course, we want everyone to come here from all over so that they can experience what it’s like to really live in the Village.”

Meanwhile, partners Jody Williams and Rita Sodi have followed a similar pattern with their famous West Village eateries I Sodi, Buvette, Via Carota and Bar Pisellino.

The two were trying to find creative ways to keep their businesses above water — and had a pop-up shop called Spazio Creativo, where customers could take cocktail drinks to-go.

Emmett Burke, owner of Emmett’s and Emmett’s on Grove — restaurants that brought Chicago pizza pies to New York City — told The Post the West Village had his heart long ago.

“When it came time to find an apartment in New York I explored the city and each neighborhood on foot. I distinctly remember walking up Bedford [Street] 14 years ago and saying to myself, ‘This is where I want to live.’ I’ve been in the West Village ever since —  even the same apartment,” Burke said when deciding where wanted his restaurant, located at 39 Grove St.

Still, while these restaurateurs remained resilient and overcame the unknown during the pandemic, others found an opportunity.

Principal of real-estate company Kings Capital, and co-founder of 9 Jones Richard Wheeler says he’s always believed in the West Village.

Wheeler opened that savvy supper club 9 Jones this past November, which is Mykonos meets New York: a Greek fine-dining restaurant meets exclusive social club at 9 Jones St.

“We invested in real estate in the West Village because we believe in it. The space for 9 Jones was purchased in the beginning of the pandemic when no one could conceive that things would turn around, let alone in the food and beverage space,” Wheeler told The Post.

Two months before that opening, Italian restaurant Felice on the Hudson opened up 615 Hudson St.

“Felice at its core is a neighborhood trattoria and we jumped at the chance to bring our cozy atmosphere, authentic Tuscan dishes and extensive Italian wine program to the West Village’s angled streets,” Jacopo Giustiniani, Partner at SA Hospitality Group, told The Post.

“We’ve already seen a transformation of Hudson and we’re excited that a revival of the area might mean more New Yorkers and visitors alike discover the street’s unique charm.”

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