While the often-repeated statistic that only one percent of New York City restaurants survive a year after opening is a long-running urban legend (the actual number is closer to 20%), the market in the city is notoriously difficult given the high cost of real estate and a customer base with infinite options for where to go for delicious food.
Some high-profile restaurant closures in March 2026 alone include specialized wine bar Corkbuzz, gluten-free Japanese bakery Postcard and Bar56 just underneath the Brooklyn Bridge in the Dumbo neighborhood.
On the chain end, New York also lost Las Vegas Mexican restaurant Pink Taco. The last Hooters restaurant in New York also closed its doors in the Queens borough in late February.
Elmo restaurant opened in Chelsea in 2001
Another beloved restaurant that is serving its final meal this month is the gay staple Elmo Restaurant. Opened in the Chelsea neighborhood by Bob Pontarelli in 2001, it served a menu of simple American dishes but quickly grew into a beloved community hangout as Chelsea went through a period of rapid gentrification and most other LGBTQ+ restaurants on sixth and seventh avenues closed their doors.
A New York Times article from 2021 described Elmo as one of the last LGBTQ+ restaurants left in a neighborhood that was once full of them.
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But in an Instagram post, Pontarelli announced that the restaurant will serve guests for the last time on March 13; after the building where the restaurant was located was sold, the new owner chose not to renew their long-running lease.
The existing space at 156 Seventh Avenue will be developed into a new high-end residential project.
“It was just confirmed to me that our building — home to elmo for 25 years — has been sold,” Pintarelli wrote in the Instagram post. “Our lease expires with that sale. The new owners will soon bring a residential building to our neighborhood. Sadly, all things must come to an end and elmo will serve its last meal on Friday, March 13.”
Elmo Restaurant
“A place to gather comfortably with members of your community”
The heartfelt post received hundreds of comments from fans and local residents who see the closure as the end of an area and the loss of an important community space.
Many described memories of coming there to meet dating prospects in the pre-app era and continuing to come back for the communal ambiance over the years. Others would come to Elmo for a place to socialize with locals from Chelsea.
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“It’s been a place for a first date or dinner with friends,” Pontarelli wrote. “A place for important celebrations and fabulous parties or simply a place to gather comfortably with members of your community at a home away from home. […] We opened just months after the events of 9-11 and stayed open and serving food and cocktails through Sandy, several blackouts and record snow falls.”
A year ago in March 2025, a separate bar also owned by Pontarelli closed down for similar reasons of neighbohood development and demolition of several local buildings by the owner.
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