Reopenings

Pink Tea Cup Is Saved (Plus: A Tally of 2009 Openings and Closings)

Photo: Shanna Ravindra

Fork in the Road reports that Lawrence Page, the owner of the Actors’ Playhouse, will team up with the manager of the Pink Tea Cup to buy and operate the restaurant with the same staff. It remains to be seen whether it will be relocated. (Update: Diner’s Journal reveals that the new, larger restaurant will be around the corner from the old Grove Street digs, at an undisclosed address.) The bittersweet news is plenty indicative of the year that was — a mixture of iconic closings (Chanterelle, Joe Jr., etc.) and empire building, such as the incredible Michael Bao’s. But what were there more of, shutterings or ribbon cuttings? To find out, we turned to the vast MenuPages database.

In all, our trusted MP scorekeepers recorded 746 closings (keep in mind that some of those were for renovations and relaunches), but here’s what might surprise you: They also added no fewer than 2,536 new restaurants to the database last year. The Zagat guide had previously observed that “notable” openings outpaced notable closings last year by 157 to 102, but the MenuPages data throws your less notable mom-and-pop Chinese takeout joints into the mix to show that brave souls are still opening restaurants in New York — and a lot of them.

Pink Tea Cup Is Saved (Plus: A Tally of 2009 Openings and Closings)