Frankies Not Returning to Clinton Street, Et Al.

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Cliche notwithstanding, significant events tend to transpire in threes. And so it goes on upper Clinton Street where a trio of restaurants recently called it quits. All in quick succession.

• Francesca – this was, of course, the ill-fated replacement of the beloved Frankies 17. The Spanish tapas experiment, with chef Ryan Bartlow helming kitchen duties, barely lasted six months after the conversion. A small sign behind the security gates confirms the storefront is for rent.

• 1492 – this joint opened a decade ago at 60 Clinton, and also boasted a garden, which was always advertised with window neons. It closed up late last month.

• Ed’s Lobster Bar Annex – the seafood shack abruptly shuttered last week after fourteen months in operation. The business is current for sale – asking price is $265,000 in key money.

One reader makes a good point, noting that:

Hopefully losing all of these restaurants at once isn’t an opening for the street to turn into Ludlow. All of the restaurants on Clinton have been a calm, comparably livable contrast to the screaming and chaos west of Essex.