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Richmond is teeming with new dining options this month, and even more places are expected to open throughout December.

⛳️ ICYMI, though I know you didn’t since it’s seemed the most reported “eatertainment” opening ever, The Park at RVA is now open Wednesday through Sunday in the Diamond District.

🧀 Truckle Cheesemongers opened two weeks ago in its new Devil’s Triangle home at 714 N. Sheppard St.

• The spot serves cheese boards, grilled cheese, charcuterie and wine and beer for dine-in or to-go daily.

🤫 uliveto, the fish-heavy, Mediterranean-focused restaurant from the Gersi folks, opened quietly this week in the former Secco Wine Bar space in the Fan.

• The restaurant is open Tuesday through Sunday from 5-9pm for its soft opening.

🍲 Botana Restaurant, the Carytown Italian and Spanish fusion restaurant, opens today at 4pm and will be open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday. check out themenu.

• The restaurant is booked through Saturday, but walk-ins are OK at the bar.

🍛 Kismet Modern Indian, the Richmond location for the award-winning Northern Virginia restaurant, is opening next week in Scott’s Addition, in the former Perch spot.

• The restaurant serves traditional and modern takes on Indian cuisine.
• It may launch takeout and delivery this weekend for trial runs, so check Instagram for the latest.

🍔 Eazzy Burger, the Ardent and ZZQ folks’ burger joint love child, will open mid-December.

🥘 Hot Pot 757, the Chinese hot pots and Korean barbecue restaurant that opened on Broad last month, has a Chesterfield location on Robious Road next to Total Wine in the works.

😢 The Broken Tulips will close at the end of the year after five years in Carytown, the restaurant announced on Instagram this week.

More than two years after New York’s first indoor dining shutdown, restaurants and bars continued to struggle. At least 4,500 have closed since the onset of the pandemic due to the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the difficulty of tracking restaurant and bar closings, experts say that the number is likely to be much higher and will take years to fully assess.

Below, Eater is documenting the city’s permanent restaurant closures, including a popular jerk chicken spot in the Bronx, the legendary Jane Ballroom and Rooftop, and a Hong Kong egg waffle shop in Chinatown. If a restaurant or bar has closed in your neighborhood, let us know at [email protected]. This post will be updated regularly.

December 2

Brownsville: Villain’s Hideout, a comic book-themed pizzeria in Brooklyn, has closed after two years. The owners announced the closure in an Instagram post this week, attributing the decision to the pandemic. “It was a very difficult decision but one that was best for us as a family,” it reads.

Chinatown: Eggloo, a Hong Kong egg waffle shop that started off as a stand at the Hester Street Fair closed this week after seven years. The business will continue to sell its waffle and pancake kits online and are available for catering, according to an Instagram post announcing the closure.

Prospect Heights: Neighborhood coffee shop Coffee Spot is out on Classon Avenue. The small, bathroom-sized cafe recently renovated its interior and opened for evening service with wine. It’s since been gutted.

Ridgewood: The Acre, a well-liked comfort food spot in Queens, ended its two-year run this week. The restaurant attributed the closure to staffing shortages, supply chain issues, and other setbacks caused by the pandemic. “Since we opened our doors in June of 2020, we have been stuck in a perpetual state of survival mode,” a post on Instagram reads.

Upper West Side: Mexican restaurant chain Oaxaca Taqueria appears to be have closed up shop. The windows on the chain’s Upper West Side outpost have been papered over, West Side Rag reports, while its other locations in Bed-Stuy, Boerum Hill, Stuyvesant Heights, Williamsburg, Gowanus, Murray Hill, the Upper East Side, and Hell’s Kitchen, are all listed as either temporarily or permanently closed online. Calls to the nine locations reveal that their phone lines have been disconnected.

Wakefield: Jerk chicken favourite Forever Jerk is no longer grilling in the Bronx, owner Oneil Reid shared in a post on Instagram. The business, which has locations in Brooklyn, Queens, and Florida, was applauded by the New York Times last year for its “pull-apart tenderness that a fourth-generation Carolina pitmaster would admire.” It opened at this location in February.

West Village: The Jane Hotel Ballroom and Rooftop, one of New York City’s most legendary party spots of the aughts, closed on November 20. Earlier this year, it was reported that the Jane Hotel had been sold to hotelier Jeff Klein, a west coast operator who formerly owned the Monkey Bar in Midtown . The space has since closed for renovations, as Klein refashioned it into an East Coast outpost of his members-only San Vicente Bungalows club.