Things Aren’t Looking Too Good at Downtown Bakery Right Now

Plus, Momofuku’s Bāng Bar has reopened — and more intel

Downtown Bakery is temporarily closed.

 Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Decades-old East Village mainstay Downtown Bakery is closed, at least for now. A sign posted on the door on February 21 states that the restaurant has been shut down by order of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for operating without a permit. Online orders have been paused at the restaurant, but a sign from Downtown Bakery says it will “resume working as soon as we resolve this issue.”

Downtown Bakery first opened in the mid-20th century as an Italian bakery. By the ’90s, a Mexican family from Puebla took over the establishment, cementing the spot as one of the best options in town for items like its breakfast burritos.

Baldor blitz leaves restaurants stranded

Baldor, a gourmet wholesaler to top restaurants in New York City, has been experiencing a site outage, that’s left chefs scrambling to place orders for key menu ingredients, according to Grub Street.

Momofuku’s Bāng Bar has reopened

David Chang’s shawarma-style flatbreads shop Bāng Bar has returned to Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle, per a company Instagram post. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., on the third floor. The business first opened in 2018 and had been mostly closed during the pandemic.

Avant Garden seeks out a new home

Following eight years in operation, the East Village vegan restaurant is seeking out a bigger space, with a potential end date at its current location come June. “Avant Garden is still one of our busiest restaurants at Overthrow Hospitality,” Ravi DeRossi, the owner of Overthrow Hospitality, told EV Grieve. “The 28-seat space with its tiny electric kitchen just isn’t able to meet the demand anymore so we will be moving into a new and bigger space.”