Tomorrow, Tuesday 10/27/15, will be the last day of business for Circa-NY, the long-running kosher midtown dairy eatery (although their Facebook post announced that 10/28 is their last day). According to the manager of the restaurant, Circa had lost their lease and their FB post notes a “dramatic rent hike”. While this is possible, we can’t say if it is the only or true reason for closing. On a recent trip, the restaurant was not particularly busy during the normally busy midday lunch hours.
With the closing of Circa, which served pizza, pasta, fish, bagels, and sushi (of course), that leaves only Jerusalem Cafe and Bravo Pizza as the 2 remaining kosher pizzerias for that area of Midtown.
At varying points in time over the last 15 years, Circa had operated a unique restaurant in a bank on Ave. J Brooklyn (which has since become a bank yet again), as well as an eatery downtown in the Financial District near Century 21 on Fulton Street. Both of those locations were short lived, despite the successes of its original midtown location. Additionally, there is a Circa-NY cafe in Los Angeles which appears to still be operational and connected to the Schwartz Bakery.
We’re hoping a new kosher restaurant fills the void in the area of midtown south of 34th street as there are many Jews working in that neighborhood. They will have a much longer walk to the other kosher eateries in the region.
