Upper West Side Sees Culinary Renewal, Bucking COVID Trends
The neighborhood is becoming a dining destination, in spite of the pandemic
John Nguyen, co-owner of Bánh on Amsterdam Avenue, never had a doubt:
Opening a location on the Upper West Side would be a success, “pandemic or no pandemic.” He and his partner had been planning to bring their Vietnamese fare to the area since 2019, and they were sure the neighborhood would support them. “We had to delay our construction, but we never had a second thought,” he says. “We knew there was a demand for Vietnamese food here.” Their commitment paid off; in their debut weekend in mid-January, at the height of pandemic closures, more than a thousand orders went through their kitchen.
Bánh is one of a dozen newly-opened food spots on the Upper West Side, going against a dire trend. A December 2020 survey of 6,000 restaurants in New York state revealed that more than half of them risk closing, if they are not granted federal aid. According to a Harvard-based economic tracker of the pandemic, the number of leisure and hospitality businesses open in New York City fell by 60% since last year.
The Upper West Side, on the other hand, is undergoing a culinary renewal. According to Eater NY, the area is traditionally not considered a dining destination, but times are changing, with new spots constantly popping up. The pandemic has not prevented business owners from investing in the area, and residents seem to welcome new openings warmly.
Vanessa’s Dumpling House, a Chinese family-run restaurant, opened its fifth location on Amsterdam Avenue in February, and drew lines of enthusiastic customers.
For Kevin Shin, co-founder of gourmet sandwich spot King Wang’s, finding a location on Columbus Avenue was “a miracle.” In December, his team was suddenly evicted from their location in Brooklyn, and they thought their restaurant was heading toward a premature closure. But when a PR firm alerted them to a vacancy on the Upper West Side, they couldn’t believe their luck. Now, their business is thriving, with dozens of 5-star reviews on Yelp, and local food bloggers promoting them on social media.
The reasons behind the Upper West Side’s trend-bucking restaurant boom are likely linked to the neighborhood’s wealth, and the fact that it’s a largely residential area, rather than commercial. The Manhattan Community Profiles data shows that, in this district, more than 62% of the built environment is occupied by households; the median income per household is 75% higher than the average in New York City.
Real estate and press agents working in the area noticed an ongoing trend: Wealthy residents gave up traveling and commuting due to the pandemic, and started to favor local dining options. “When working from home, there is one more meal to be had locally, instead of at the office site,” said Soozan Baxter, owner of a consultancy retail firm for the leisure and hospitality industry and lifelong Upper West Sider.
Louis Skibar, an entrepreneur with more than thirty restaurants citywide, is planning to launch a seafood spot on West 67th Street in the spring. His locations in other residential neighborhoods, such as the Upper East Side, have held up impressively well throughout 2020, and he is confident that here, too, residents will react positively. Just like they did with John Nguyen, whose restaurant continues to attract clientele. “This is not only a testament to our hard work,” he says. “It’s also a testament to the neighborhood that wholeheartedly supports us.”
