{"id":308161,"date":"2026-07-28T23:23:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/308161\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T23:23:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:23:23","slug":"astorias-tootles-french-to-close-for-good-after-three-years-on-ditmars-boulevard-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/308161\/","title":{"rendered":"Astoria\u2019s Tootles & French to close for good after three years on Ditmars Boulevard \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Astoria<\/a> restaurant and wine bar Tootles & French<\/a> will close its doors for good after almost three years on Ditmars Boulevard.<\/p>\n

The restaurant, which was named Best New Restaurant in the United States by USA Today in 2025, delivered a cryptic email stating that it had been an \u201cabsolute honor\u201d to serve the local community.<\/p>\n

Chad Goldsmith, who opened Tootles at 36-15 in 2023, later confirmed to QNS that the restaurant would be permanently closing.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething we have learned is the sacrifices that must be made in personal lives to sustain our concept and what makes it special can become too great,\u201d Tootles said in an email to its subscribers late Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Goldsmith did not respond to a request for an interview but said he \u201ccan\u2019t do it anymore,\u201d stating that he was three hours late for his brother\u2019s wedding and \u201cjust realized it\u2019s not worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tootles will offer a limited menu of drinks and snacks in the coming weeks as it prepares to shutter for good and is encouraging Astoria residents to stop by and say farewell. Goldsmith did not provide an exact closing day.<\/p>\n

Goldsmith opened Tootles in a space formerly occupied by McCann\u2019s, curating an ever-changing wine and food menu.\n<\/p>\n

The restaurant prided itself on offering rare wines and spirits that are not often found on supermarket shelves, with a particular emphasis on wines and spirits produced by minority-owned vineyards and distillers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a heavily female staff. Of course, we\u2019re going to feature female-produced items. We\u2019re an LGBT-owned business, so we\u2019re going to feature wines and spirits that are produced from that end,\u201d Goldsmith told QNS in 2024.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

He also sought to introduce wines produced in countries not automatically associated with wine production, stocking wines from Serbia, Armenia and Japan, among many others.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of them are wines you can\u2019t even order on the internet. They\u2019re incredibly difficult to get,\u201d he said two years ago. \u201cThere are 6,500 wine grapes\u2026 People tend to drink the same five to nine, like Pinot Noir or Sauvignon Blanc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tootles offered around 15 craft gins, which it used to create a Negroni bar, and a range of high-end brandies.\n<\/p>\n

Goldsmith also transformed Tootles into a first-class events space, with regular comedy shows, watch parties and wine classes taking place in the restaurant over the past three years.\n<\/p>\n

He also sought to work with local businesses, partnering with the Honey House and the Bier and Cheese Collective, as well as launching the Astoria-Ditmars Restaurant Week to promote local businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a large enough population in Astoria to go around,\u201d he said in 2024 shortly after opening. \u201cWe opened to be part of this neighborhood not to compete with them. So we do collaborations with pretty much everyone and we can work with everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first instinct with any business is what can we do together.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The restaurant was one of 20 nationwide restaurants nominated for USA Today\u2019s Best New Restaurant in late 2024 and later topped a nationwide holiday poll in early January.\n<\/p>\n

Speaking shortly after Tootles was nominated for the award, Goldsmith said he was \u201creally proud\u201d to have made the 20-restaurant shortlist.\n<\/p>\n

Goldsmith said a Tootle\u2019s victory represented a victory for Queens, pointing out that \u201cAstoria, New York\u201d appears prominently in the USA Today blurb about the restaurant.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a strong community, and any excuse we have to show that is always going to be great,\u201d Goldsmith said. \u201cI think a lot of people just really want to see Queens win and see Astoria win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Astoria restaurant and wine bar Tootles & French will close its doors for good after almost three years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[3814,70209,128,30428,116639,310,9,24,63,129,131,130,116640,116641,8497],"class_list":["post-308161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-astoria","tag-astoria-small-business","tag-bronx","tag-business-closure","tag-chad-goldsmith","tag-daily-newsletter","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-tootles","tag-tootles-french","tag-wine-bar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}