Tracking the Restaurant Closures of 2021, So Far

While there is optimism on the horizon, with many restaurants that have been dark for so long returning to bustling dining rooms, there are some that did not reach the other side of the pandemic. In every year, there are restaurants and bars that say goodbye; it’s part of the natural lifecycle of dining out. In the year 2021, which will likely be remembered for vaccinations and returns to family and friends, it is perhaps all the more bittersweet to say goodbye to beloved institutions like Liquor Lyle’s and the original Blue Door Pub. We will miss pizza nights in the basement at Burch, or steak dinners with the parents upstairs. The landscape of where and how we eat out continues to shift and change, and while we’re ready to resume a semblance of normal, it feels right to take a pause and remember the dining and drinking places — and third spaces — that won’t return. Here are the major restaurant and bar closures of this year, so far.