It will be missed.
This is a bummer: Yesterday, Bill Telepan closed his ten-year-old Upper West Side restaurant. He offered the following explanation to West Side Rag, and wrote a good-bye letter on his website.
Like most restaurants, we operate with very small margins. As our costs go up each year and our revenue has not kept pace, we have been operating at a loss and cannot sustain the business.
When Telepan opened in 2005, it championed local, seasonal cooking. Frank Bruni wrote in his Times review, "It shuns trickery and puts its faith in fundamental virtues: its freshness; the pureness or punch of its flavors; the skill with which it's been cooked"; New York's Adam Platt said, "Judging by the volume of tweedy, bespectacled, child-friendly folk surging into Telepan on the evenings I visited, the Greenmarket revolution is playing well on the Upper West Side." Telepan Local, in Tribeca, closed in 2014, leaving the chef with no restaurant at the moment. As expected, people are upset:
@Telepan closed?It represented everything I love about restaurants: a warm welcome, terrific food,caring service & a chef who gave a damn.
— edlevine (@edlevine) May 16, 2016
Remembering the time @billtelepan & I went on an eating tour of the Jersey Shore. Eager to see what he does next. https://t.co/7dimb8IMOx
— Jeff Gordinier (@JeffGordinier) May 16, 2016
Sad NYC restaurant news: UWS gem Telepan closes suddenly. @billtelepan a gifted chef, even better guy. @westsiderag https://t.co/DWYcgRqeVd
— Peter Lattman (@peterlattman) May 16, 2016
I mean, what kind of world do we live in where this place can't even make it on the Upper West Side? https://t.co/dZdouP9h5R
— Greg Morabito (@GregMorabito) May 16, 2016
ST dangerously wrong w/NYC when a true great closes @billtelepan you r 1 of our heroes, a great Chef & gentleman 😢 ♡ https://t.co/jDrTPuV1nb
— PearlOysterBar (@PearlOysterBar) May 16, 2016
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Filed Under: closings, bill telepan, new york, new york city, telepan, upper west side