The summer is always a rough time for restaurants with people out of town, rents being raised for the next year, and new restaurants getting ready to open. So, New York City dwellers and tourists alike must bid fond farewells to a few favorite restaurants. However, fear not because a whole new crop of bars and restaurants are just around the corner from opening!

Lani Kai, SoHo’s resident Polynesian restaurant, has closed after a successful two-year run. Owner Julie Reiner has refused to comment on the closing, but she is still actively involved with her other cocktail bar projects, including Flatiron Lounge and Brooklyn’s Clover Club. In the meantime, the space is rumored to turn into lesbian bar The Dalloway.

Primehouse, Steve Hanson’s upscale flatiron steakhouse, said goodbye after five years. The summer has been a tough one for Hanson, who also had to close his Japanese-inspired restaurant Kibo with Joel Robuchon not being able to keep the menu afloat.

Those who miss the double-cut ribeye for two can get their meat fix at the soon-to-be-opened BrisketTown by Chef Daniel Delaney. After his summer pop-up eatery called BrisketLab was a huge success, Delaney decided to make the operation full-time. This authentic Texan barbecue comes with options for traditional sides, like white bread and pickles.

Fans of Daniel Angerer have missed the restaurateur since he closed his popular eateries Klee Brasserie, Brats, Dogs, and Wieners, and Little Cheese Pub. Though people yearn for his signature gooey mac and cheese, they can now try the healthier side of things at his new kombucha bar called Bucha Bar inside his seasonal health restaurant, Dig Inn. This month-old juice bar features up to four different kombucha on tap from Kombucha Brooklyn (quite the far cry from Austrian-influenced cheese and sausage.)

The upper west side lost one of its most exciting restaurants in Fatty Crab. This Zak Pelaccio Malaysian restaurant brought pickle backs, watermelon-and-bacon salad, and funky, garlicky Southeast Asian food to a neighborhood known mostly for delis and upscale Italian restaurants. Though the downtown branch of the restaurant remains open, UWS residents need not totally despair. In its place, Joe Ng and Ed Schoenfeld’s Red Farm is set to open. This high-end Chinese restaurant features exquisitely made dim sum and fusion dishes, like Katz’s pastrami eggrolls.

Sources:
Solish, S. (2012, September 18). Lani Kai shuttering to make way for lesbian bar. Retrieved from http://ny.eater.com/archives/2012/09/lani_kai_shuttering_tonight_to_make_way_for_lesbian_bar.php