Hecho en Dumbo Moving to Bowery
September 15th, 2009
(Photo by Julie Mack for New York Magazine)
Locals have known that Hecho en Dumbo has been looking for a while for a suitable location in the neighborhood to open a dedicated restaurant. Unfortunately, they have not been able to do so, according to Village Voice:
“Ethan Smith, one of the owners of the Mexican restaurant that for the past two and a half years has been doing evening-only service at Dumbo’s General Store, confirms that they’ll be setting up shop in the old Marion’s space at 354 Bowery come December or early January.”
The challenge for Hecho’s search in the area is limited restaurant space and restrictions on using gas equipment in many of the historic buildings in Dumbo. In an email to Ethan Smith a while back, they were looking for a Dumbo-like loft atmosphere that suited their food and music nights, so they had to rule out newer locations such as J Condo or 85 Adams Street.
“We’re absolutely heartsick to be leaving the neighborhood,” Smith says. “We have the best regular customers we could hope for; they’re the ones responsible for giving us our start. That said, I think a lot of them are really excited for us as well.”
We’ve loved the food there for two and a half years, and viewed Hecho as a unique asset to the neighborhood, with great drinks, music, and good food. It is very sad to see them cross the river and a real loss for Dumbo. The name will stick as “Hecho en Dumbo” as they were made in Dumbo Brooklyn and proud of where they came from. They will close by October 31 and reopen on the Bowery in late December. The Dumbo General Store will expand dinner service to fill the void, says Village Voice.
Hecho en Dumbo is having a Mexican Independence Day Celebration on Wed, September 16th with live music directly from Mexico. (111 Front Street, Brooklyn, NY)
Related:
{Celebrate Cinco de Mayo at Hecho en Dumbo, 05May2008}
September 15th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
dang
September 16th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Sad to see them go, especially with so many vacant storefronts and so few dinner options in the neighborhood. Hecho in Dumbo has good food and great atmosphere, they will be missed. Let’s hope Dumbo residents and our real estate developer overlords can lure equally good restauranteurs to the area.
September 16th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Very sad news. Hecho, in my opinion, is/was the only real destination restaurant in Dumbo (the food at Superfine is terrific, but it is not unique enough to draw from beyond the neighborhood. The River Cafe is a different animal altogether.)
September 16th, 2009 at 10:46 am
hecho will be greatly missed a real loss for the neighborhood…very unfortunate….best of luck to them…and also one of my other fav destinations is st. anns warehouse..what will happen to it once walentis builds yet another high rise??
September 16th, 2009 at 11:03 am
*sob* *sob*…will totally miss their excellent drinks and unique tasty food! it’s a very cool and comfortable place to have drinks and or dinner and i’ll definitely miss it! truly a sad day.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Can they take Loose Stools with them?
September 16th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
As tenent upstairs i will be happy that the noise level shall drop. When eating there can not enjoy conversation. Good food otherwise. A tad expensive but tasty non the less.
September 16th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
None not non.
Poor speller I am.
September 16th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
It’s too bad they can’t open another location in Manhattan and maintain their old location here.
September 16th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Not a good outlook for potential new restaurants in DUMBO… if an established eatery has to throw in the towel and move across the river because of all of the restrictions on our buildings then how on earth will a new restaurant manage to come in? The empty storefronts on Front btwn Jay and Pearl would be perfect for a new restaurant or two… but now I don’t see that happening. Sucks.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:02 am
They’ve been looking for a location but were unable to find one? Huh?
Have they ever been to DUMBO? There are empty storefronts everywhere! How about the store on Old Fulton Street where they’re now in the process of building yet another crappy tourist-trap Italian joint that DUMBO residents won’t go to?
September 17th, 2009 at 6:12 am
Are Bowery rents cheaper than DUMBO now? Maybe they’ve just been priced out.
September 17th, 2009 at 7:47 am
I’d said this before. The expense of running ductwork (a must for a serious kitchen) to the roof of these old factory buildings is prohibitively expensive and maybe impossible thanks to LPC. The restaurants on Fulton and the new one on Hudson(?) have backyards that allow the ductwork to be run out of sight, a prime LPC requirement. Outside of a landmark district the ductwork would hug the side of the building. There is no incentive to landlords to give up space on the upper floors to build one internally.
Don’t get me started on the logistics of putting in an AC unit for a restaurant in a landmark district. Ha!.
Outside of something like Olive Garden or Applebee’s (with deep pockets) the best we’re going to get is glorified muffin shops or a Pret a Manger that does their cooking off premises.
For better or worse we have decided that it is better to preserve the pristine quality of these crappy buildings instead of actually fostering a livable neighborhood.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:01 am
My point is (I know do I have a point) that Dumbo is too small to support any decent restaurants. Outside of a weekend bump, the street traffic is pretty light on a daily basis, not economically feasible for making money. The night life? Likewise except for Thursday night which is a false positive and pretty much wraps by 10 or 11 pm. The only reason people came to Dumbo years ago were the underground parties but that crowd will not be buying appletinis anytime soon.
September 17th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
lunatarium?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Exactly Mr. Simpson. This neighborhood was founded on illegal nakedness. Now everyone walks around with their law and order panties in a knot.
September 17th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
One landlord owns the majority of the neighborhood thus it is hard to find competitive rents. All hail the king!
September 18th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I don’t know the name of the place, but that tacky lounge/bar on the corner of fulton right next to 5 Front Resturant has a great tasting burger. The lounge itself is 90′s tacky with that asian theme.
September 18th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
“One landlord owns the majority of the neighborhood …”
Can a neighborhood file an antitrust suit?
September 20th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Damn that sucks!! Hope they can make it, they’ll have stiff competition close to the Bowery–(La Esquina, Pinche Taqueria) hope they took that into consideration. I think in its place, a beer bar/hall that serves great Belgian/microbrews with small plates…any investors??
September 21st, 2009 at 8:41 am
Since there are “so few decent restaurants in the nabe” – what kind of restaurants/food is needed/wanted here in Dumbo? Anybody have any ideas?
September 21st, 2009 at 10:50 am
You could file a suit but he would kick you out and you would have little choice but move to another neighborhood while the case goes through the courts. By then he will make your office a condo.
September 21st, 2009 at 11:59 am
some little hole in the wall Tai place or maybe Cuban? that little Cuban place in cobble hill is pretty good. something like that?
Is the general store taking over full time?
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 pm
For a short period of time there was a gyro/hot dog cart outside of the F train station. I thought it was cheap an convenient. Sure its probably filthy, but its no different than any rat infested resturant that we all enjoy anywhere in the city.
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Kemp, I have some..
September 24th, 2009 at 12:04 am
Very sad news. Hecho, in my opinion, is/was the only real destination restaurant in Dumbo (the food at Superfine is terrific, but it is not unique enough to draw from beyond the neighborhood. The River Cafe is a different animal altogether.)
October 26th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
[...] we noted last month, Hecho en Dumbo’s last day in Dumbo will be on October 31, 2009 before they relocate to 354 [...]
December 25th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
The new crepe /organic yumms, are coming to one of those Front/Perl empty storefronts.
I want to try french /russian crepes man….I mean I want to have them nearby…The last one I saw was in Soho,,,,I mean decent place…not the one located in downtown Brooklyn, called Brooklyn Crepes or something….bad , bad experience….I am excited about our DUMBO creperea….
December 26th, 2009 at 1:59 am
The new crepe /organic yumms, are coming to one of those Front/Perl empty storefronts.
I want to try french /russian crepes man….I mean I want to have them nearby…The last one I saw was in Soho,,,,I mean decent place…not the one located in downtown Brooklyn, called Brooklyn Crepes or something….bad , bad experience….I am excited about our DUMBO creperea….
March 26th, 2012 at 5:14 pm
[...] you love Taco Thursdays at 7 Stars Deli, Gran Electrica gives us another great option. After Hecho en Dumbo left the neighborhood in October 2009, Pedro’s Restaurant was the last all Mexican place in Dumbo. The other [...]