There was a crowd of people of all ages outside, spilling onto the sidewalk after a show at New World Stages — tourists comparing flights, theatergoers tucking into scarves, winter sneakers grinding through that dried-up salt-snow. Down the block, across the street, at the modest little restaurant at 10pm closing time, three tables of melancholics sipped water and the last dregs of cocktails, refusing to let the Edith Piaf soundtrack stop.
Some of the final diners at Chez Napoléon prepare to leave the restaurant on Saturday evening. Photo: Jorge Corona
On Saturday night (January 31), resistance met reality: Chez Napoléon, the tiny French standby at 365 W50th Street (just west of 9th Ave), served its final diners and closed its doors after more than six decades in the neighborhood. The Bruno family has run the place since 1982 — with owner Elyane Bruno and her son Guillaume (better known to regulars as William, or “Sir William Welles”) at the helm — but the pressures finally added up: higher costs, shifting dining habits, post-pandemic strain and building issues, including a 358-day gas problem.
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Jorge Corona is a Hell’s Kitchen-based photographer, writer and filmmaker. He’s covered national politics, sports, food and features for journalism outlets in New York and beyond, reporting in the US and internationally. An MFA film graduate, he also produces visual stories and shoots for NYC nonprofits.