This pre-holiday week is hopping with restaurant and bar news around the neighborhood.
- Closings report: Allen Street’s tiny Mexican eatery, Mole, has ended its LES run, as has the bizarre and mysterious Preserve 24 on Houston Street. In the wake of the recent departures of local favorites Sorella, Bereket and Family Recipe–along with the high-profile Union Square Cafe–Grub Street interviews a real estate expert about the rising cost of restaurant rent in Manhattan.
- Speaking of Family Recipe, the NYT’s T Magazine published a sweet eulogy for the homestyle Japanese restaurant on Eldridge Street, which shuttered at the end of June.
- Golden Cadillac, the ’70s-themed cocktail bar that opened at the corner of First Street and First Avenue in November, is also closing; tomorrow is its last day and a reboot is in the works, Zagat reports.
- New York magazine reissued its 101 Cheap Eats feature for the first time since 2006 this week, and the list highlights many LES spots. Gaia, El Rey and Ivan Ramen make the top 10; nods also go to Eastwood, Mission Cantina, Boubouki and more.
- The Lobby Bar, part of the Ludlow Hotel’s forthcoming restaurant Dirty French from the Torrisi team, soft-opened last night. Eater has the menu.
- Moscow 57 celebrates the new Delancey Street public art installation with a party tonight from 7 to 9 p.m.
