R.I.P., the Hat.
Photo: Konstantin Sergeyev
The 30-year-old affordable Mexican restaurant on the Lower East Side closed after service on Saturday. Last year, a waitress at El Sombrero said rising rents were driving the restaurant’s longtime customers from the neighborhood; by September, all indications were that the restaurant would close and become an outpost of Artichoke Basille’s Pizza. The deal fell through, however, and El Sombrero remained open through the new year. March’s CB3 Manhattan agenda indicated that a new tenant called Two Almontes Corp. is taking the space over. [EV Grieve, Earlier]
