En Japanese Brasserie owner Reika Alexander (right, smoking) with guests—including Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle—at En’s closing party. (Photo by Daniel Paik.)

I ’m tired of the disposable mentality of New York,” Reika Alexander tells me on a recent afternoon. “It leaves a bitter taste.” Over pozole and black rice at Dimes, Alexander, the founder and owner of En Japanese Brasserie, reflects back on 20 years of running her West Village restaurant before its closing, a little over a year ago. She confirmed that En is gone for good. She briefly considered re-opening in a new location, and then thought better of it. Instead, she’s moving to Paris this Spring.

The beginning of the end began on April 8, 2024. It was a Monday, the day of the solar eclipse. Alexander was walking through the West Village to her restaurant on the corner of Hudson and Leroy to let her landlord in. A few days earlier, he had called her, asking if he could use her key. Some people wanted to come see the space. “No, I’ll let you in myself,” Alexander told him. She’d meet him there at 2:00 pm sharp.

En’s lease was up at the end of 2024, and Alexander had been doing everything in her power to renew the lease she had signed 20 years earlier. But, according to Alexander, a broker for her landlord hadn’t picked up her calls in weeks. As New Yorkers stood outside staring at the moon wash over the sun, Alexander walked up to the black steel threshold of En. When she got there, she found the door was already open. 

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