Tuesday, July 31st, 2012

Looks like The BackYard @ 160 is no more.

@JamieNguyenTV tweeted this photo yesterday evening, showing the windows papered up — according to her they had been open on Sunday.

Their website is no longer online and Menupages lists them as “Closed.”

Originally named The Yard, BackYard @ 160 only managed to stay open for a little more than a year-and-a-half — it opened in December 2010.

The restaurant only managed a middling 2 1/2 stars and Yelp and never seemed to find a foothold. I remember at one point they were serving both sushi and pizza, as if they couldn’t decide what type of place they wanted to be. They streamlined their menu a bit when they changed their name (can’t remember exactly when that was), but it appears as though it wasn’t enough.

BackYard @ 160 was also not blessed with a particularly good location at 160 Freedom Place (near 68th).

On the one hand, there was a built-in customer base with all the Trump/Extell buildings around there. However, that area gets barely any foot traffic from anyone other than people who live in the immediate area. If the people in the surrounding buildings didn’t come out en mass, it would have been hard to keep the business going.

Elsewhere…

Raven from MommyPoppins.com sent in a note to say that Elephant Playground in Riverside Park recently reopened after seven months of construction, noting “it’s now much more engaging.” That article also has some photos of the new design.

Elephant Playground (officially known as Neufeld Playground, but called Elephant Playground because of its “signature pachyderm sprinklers”) is located at Riverside Drive & 76th.

Filed under: Food & Drink, Going Out, Kid Stuff, Manhattan, New York City, News, NYC, Openings/Closings, Restaurants, Riverside Park, Things to do, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, UWS 1 Comment »
Tags: 160 Freedom Place, BackYard @ 160, Closing, Neufeld Playground, New York City, NYC, Opening, playground, The Yard, Upper West Side, UWS, Yard @ 160