Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

Mentioned the other night that Asian restaurant Estihana  was closed by the Department of Health (221 W. 79th, between Broadway & Amsterdam).

What I found interesting, but didn’t have a photo of at the time, was how they cleverly obscured the DOH sign by keeping their door open. I took the photo above a little while ago and the only “notice” that’s visible is the hand drawn “Under Renovation” sign in the window (hard to see here, but it’s the white sheet of paper under the restaurant’s logo).

The DOH sign is on the front door, and since the door is open, it’s pretty much invisible. As you can see from the photos below, it’s physically impossible for someone walking east on 79th to see the notice. If you’re walking west, it’s just functionally impossible.

If DOH wants the public to actually be aware that they’ve closed a restaurant, they need to put a second sign on the store’s front window. This “open the door to hide the ‘Closed’ sign” seems to be a pretty simple trick that restaurants use to minimize public awareness. Uno’s actually did have a second sign — not sure why Estihana didn’t have to suffer the same fate.

View while facing slightly east — no way to see DOH sign (it’s on the other side of the door):

If you’re facing west, you can just make out a tiny sliver of the yellow DOH sign on the door. That said, if you weren’t looking for it, you’d never see it. Passersby are fare more likely to spot the “under renovation” sign in the window (easier to see in person than in this photo):

A close-up of what’s actually behind the door:

Filed under: Food & Drink, Going Out, Manhattan, New York City, News, NYC, Openings/Closings, Photos, Restaurants, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, UWS 3 Comments »
Tags: 221 W 79, 221 West 79, Asian fusion, Closed by Department Of Health, Department of Health, DOH, Estihana, glatt kosher, New York City, NYC, restaurant closing, Sushi, Upper West Side, UWS