The Spotted Pig is closing. Rumors started to circulate last week that disgraced restaurateur Ken Friedman’s West Village restaurant would close. In two Instagrams posted overnight, the restaurant’s chef, Tony Nassif, wrote that the restaurant has closed. There will be no more food served at the restaurant, though an employee tells Grub Street it’s possible the bar will remain open tonight. (Eater first reported on the rumors, noting that Friedman denied them.)
It’s the end of a business that, in the New York restaurant world, became a bitter focal point in the Me Too movement. Friedman and investor Mario Batali were both subjects of reports alleging sexual harassment and assault at the restaurant. In 2018, Grub wrote that the “restaurant is synonymous with the power dynamics and culture of abuse and harassment that festers in the restaurant world.”
Still, the restaurant held on. Earlier this month, Friedman agreed to pay 11 accusers $240,000 and a share of his profits from the restaurant through 2030. Friedman was also to step down as the operator and no longer be involved in operations or management.
There was a time when the restaurant was one of the city’s most celebrated, and its enormous influence can’t be denied. April Bloomfield was, with David Chang, a chef who reshaped restaurants during the aughts. That, however, is not how the Spotted Pig will be remembered.