Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

It’s been less than four months since The Purple Fig opened in the former P.D. O’Hurley’s space at 250 W. 72nd (near West End).

During that time it has been plagued by rotten reviews and rumors of financial problems.

They’ve now been shuttered for the past few days and a phone call placed to them earlier today was greeted with a recorded message saying they were closed for “summer vacation” and would reopen on September 7.

That may turn out to be true, but it’s possible the end is nigh for the restaurant affiliated with Chef Conrad Gallagher, the youngest chef to ever be awarded a Michelin star.

First, the bad reviews:

The Post’s Steve Cuozzo took a huge, steaming dump on Purple Fig earlier this month.

Its negative tone is rivaled only by a similar shit he took on the Lady Gaga-backed UWS Joanne back in February.

Cuozzo’s review is admittedly based on just one visit, but still… not a good sign.

Less than a week later, legendary critic Gael Green wrote a tamer, but still negative, review of PF (scroll down — it’s the second review).

The word on Yelp is no better, with a sorry 2 1/2 star average from 19 reviewers.

Aside from the lousy reviews, Eater had a post earlier this month detailing alleged financial problems at the restaurant, titled “Is the Purple Fig Stiffing Its Staff and Suppliers?”

The Facebook post Eater links to appears to have been deleted, but there are plenty of juicy tidbits in their comments section.

And now this — the restaurant is closed nearly two weeks for vacation?

MUW reader Chris W. wrote in to say he first noticed the restaurant was closed on Saturday, although it “could have been Friday.”

I’m not sure how a restaurant in New York City, especially one that doesn’t appear to be doing well, can afford to just shut down for two weeks.

They may in fact reopen on 9/7, but it won’t be shocking if they don’t.

More to come…

In some very belated opening news, it didn’t take long to find out what’s moving into the former Body Shop location at 2159 Broadway (SW corner of 76th) that closed last month.

L’Occitane, which I gather is similar to Body Shop but more expensive (and French instead of English), will be moving into the space this fall.

This will be L’Occitane’s third UWS location — they also have stores at 2303 Broadway (near 83rd), 198 Columbus (near 69th), and in the Time Warner Center.

That stretch of Broadway has become pretty high-end: The corner at 75th is home to the recently opened Lulumon and other stores on the block include Barney’s, Stuart Weitzman, The Art Of Shaving, and Papyrus.

Belated thanks to MUW readers Eric, Wimsey, and the incomparable Kevin A. (that’s his photo below).

Filed under: Beauty, Food & Drink, Going Out, Manhattan, New York City, News, NYC, Openings/Closings, Restaurants, Shopping, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, UWS 3 Comments »
Tags: 2159 Broadway, 250 W 72, 250 West 72, Closing, Conrad Gallagher, L'Occitane, New York City, NYC, Openings, P.D., Paul Hurley, The Purple Fig, Upper West Side, UWS