Monday, November 7th, 2011

Looks like the mystery location for the new Upper West Side Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf mentioned in September has been outed.

I meant to take a picture of it today so I wouldn’t have to use this logo shot, but I forgot that it gets dark so damn early now.

The Post reports CB & TL will open at Columbus & 79th “by the end of the month.” This jibes with a tip I got in early October from @healthydiarrhea (I shit you not). However, as recently as last week I was told by a commercial real estate agent that Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf would be opening at Amsterdam & 86th, which matched up with a few reader tips indicating they heard a non-Starbucks coffee store was opening at that location.

I believe the specific location The Post is referring to is 392 Columbus, which used to be home to Ducale.

The Post’s source seems to be a spokesperson for the chain, so I have no reason to believe it’s inaccurate. That said, my sources who’ve mentioned 86th & Amsterdam as the new CB & TL location seem pretty credible. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

In the same NY Post article as above, there’s also a note that the new Stephen Starr restaurant in the New-York Historical Society, Caffe Storico, will be opening November 25th. I’m sure there will be more news on this as the opening date gets closer.

If you missed the post last week, the Patagonia Tin Shed at 2625 Broadway (near 100th), officially opened for business today.

Finally, the Department Of Health closed Glatt-Kosher/Asian-fusion restaurant Estihana (221 W. 79th) last Thursday. In addition to the “Closed By DOH” sign on the door, there’s also a “Closed For Renovations” sign — I’ll give you one guess as to which one went up first. Again, wanted to take a picture of this, but was stymied by the early darkness.

UPDATE 11/9: Posted some photos of the Estihana “cover-up”

Much like when Uno’s was closed by the DOH over the summer, Estihana is doing their best to conceal the signage. The DOH sign is located on the restaurant’s door, which was in the “open” position today, completely obscuring the DOH notice (similar to the Uno’s pic below, where that yellow sign you can’t read says the restaurant has been closed by the Health Department). If not for the fact that I spotted the DOH sign over the weekend, I would have never known the real reason why there were closed. Case in point, when I walked past Estihana tonight, two girls were about to go in for dinner, only to be disappointed by the “Closed For Renovations” sign — they never saw the obscured DOH notice.

Uno’s was closed for about five days or so when DOH shut them down over the summer. If Estihana can resolve their issues in the same time-frame, they should reopen later this week.

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Tags: 221 W 79, 221 West 79, 2625 Broadway, 392 Columbus, Cafe Storico, Caffe Storico, CBTL, Closing, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Department of Health, DOH, Ducale, Estihana, glatt kosher, Health Department, New York City, New York Historical Society, NYC, Openings, Patagonia Tin Shed, restaurant ratings, Stephen Starr, Upper West Side, UWS