‘Two weeks notice: El Quijote will close’

     

Courtesy Eater New York

Arguably the most beloved and famous eatery in closest proximity to Masonic Hall, which until 2014 had been owned and operated by a Brother Freemason, will serve its last meals two weeks from today, local media are reporting.

El Quijote, at 226 West 23rd Street, on the ground floor of the historic Hotel Chelsea, has been serving delicious Spanish dishes for nine decades but, like everything else in New York City that you ever loved, it will cease to be.

“…it’s an end of an era for El Quijote, which opened in 1930,” Eater New York says. “After the closure of El Faro, it was the oldest surviving Spanish restaurant in the city. The legendary restaurant features a floor-to-ceiling mural of scenes from Don Quixote, the book that inspired the name. There are three dining rooms in the maze of a restaurant, which also has a series of strange oil paintings and carved Don Quixote figurines.”

For four years, the future of the famed restaurant had been in question. The landmark hotel itself was purchased then by a group that pledged to renovate and “rebrand” what had been cherished for generations for being a cheap place to live for artists of all kinds. The investors also acquired El Quijote, and told reporters they planned to leave the restaurant unmolested.

As Leonard Cohen might say, “I remember you well at the Chelsea Hotel.”