Mezzaluna turned its last key on Sunday, November 1, at 8 p.m., ending 42 years at 1295 Third Avenue near East 74th Street. In its final weeks, the New York Post reported, regulars were buying the plates. Founder Aldo Bozzi told the paper he would rather not call it goodbye.
"Let's not say goodbye. Let's say arrivederci. That's a big difference. We can see each other maybe soon. Who knows?"
Bozzi's wording matches a pattern across the Upper East Side this fall. When a restaurant here loses its room, whether to an expiring lease, a sale for redevelopment or years of construction outside the door, the name often outlasts the address. Operators keep looking for the next space within a few blocks of their old customers. Mezzaluna is the newest case. One name is already back, and another has a date.
Jean Claude Already Made the Trip
Kamel Moumeni's history with Jean Claude goes back about 35 years. He started at the original Soho bistro, which opened in 1991, and worked as a dishwasher, busboy and waiter before taking over the restaurant in 1995. He later opened an Upper East Side location near Second Avenue and East 71st Street. That restaurant closed after a developer bought the building and planned to demolish it.
Moumeni reopened at First Avenue and East 59th Street, but his old customers kept asking him to come back north. He described those requests to Patch Upper East Side:
"Everyone was telling me, 'We love you, but we cannot walk all the way here all the time.' So I said, 'You know what? Let me go back there.'"
The new Jean Claude is at 1481 York Avenue, between East 78th and 79th Streets, in the former Yefsi Estiatorio space. Moumeni and his wife redesigned it completely. It serves the same French menu as the East 59th Street location: escargot, foie gras, mussels, steak frites, steak au poivre, beef bourguignon and coq au vin, plus rotating specials. The restaurant's own site now lists two addresses, Yorkville at 1481 York Avenue and Sutton Place at 1076 First Avenue. Both show hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day and take reservations through Resy.
Moumeni told Patch he lives three blocks from the York Avenue room. The restaurant left the neighborhood because of a building sale. It came back because of the people who live nearby.
Ship of Fools Comes Back Twenty Blocks South
The second return has been fourteen years in the making. Ship of Fools held the corner of Second Avenue and East 82nd Street from 1996 to 2012. Owner Glenn Treacher told Patch that the bar became a sports bar almost by accident. It opened during the Yankees' 1996 playoff run, the room filled up, and he and his wife Owen went with it. It closed in 2012 because Second Avenue Subway construction made it hard to operate.
The Treachers are reopening at 1152 First Avenue at East 63rd Street and are aiming for January 2027. The space has its own history. Baker Street Irregulars was the most recent tenant and closed in July 2025. Before that, it was the original TGI Fridays and a filming location for Cocktail. "I already knew the place, and it was only 20 blocks away from our original Ship of Fools," Treacher said, adding that it has been exactly 30 years since the first one opened.
Chef Miguel Silverio is returning. The menu will be pub food: wings, burgers, steaks, pies, fish and chips, and bangers and mash. Treacher plans to cut back on screens, keeping a few for major events, and says he wants to offer the room to neighborhood groups for meetings. In his words, "It's a space for the neighborhood."
Where Each Name Stands Now
Four restaurant names, four different stages of the same move:
| Name | Former address | Next address | Status, early November 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jean Claude | Near Second Ave. and E. 71st St. | 1481 York Ave., between E. 78th and 79th Sts. | Listed with daily hours and Resy reservations |
| Ship of Fools | Second Ave. at E. 82nd St., 1996 to 2012 | 1152 First Ave. at E. 63rd St. | Targeting January 2027 |
| Adria | 1556 Second Ave. near E. 81st St. | Seeking a new Upper East Side space | No site or timeline secured |
| Mezzaluna | 1295 Third Ave. near E. 74th St., 1984 to 2026 | None announced | Founder has not ruled out another |
Adria shows the search before it succeeds. The coastal Italian restaurant served its last customers at 1556 Second Avenue on September 12, after two years there. Owner Endri Qalliu told Patch that business did not reach what the owners expected, especially in the slower season, and that relocating "probably makes more sense for us in terms of the space." He and partners Larry and Maria Hass want to stay on the Upper East Side. They have not found a new location yet.
What Mezzaluna Was Weighing
Mezzaluna's closing came down to a choice about the building. Gea Bozzi, the owner's daughter, wrote in an essay for Air Mail that her father opened the restaurant in 1984. East Side Feed's account of the essay lists the room's features: a 150-square-foot kitchen that needed modernizing, 77 paintings by Florentine artists on the walls, and an Andy Warhol sketch left behind after a meal.
Staying at 1295 Third Avenue would have required another 10-year lease and expensive renovations, including a kitchen overhaul that Bozzi said could close the restaurant for months while costs kept coming in. The restaurant was originally set to close in March. When the rumor spread, more than 2,100 people signed a Change.org petition, and Bozzi asked his landlord for an extension. Patch quoted the maitre d' as saying the petition bought regulars a little more time.
ABC7 reported that Bozzi, at 86, is not ready to retire. The Post reported that he and his daughter have talked about another space, ideally a corner with outdoor seating, though there are no imminent plans. As of late October, New York News reported that no new tenant for 1295 Third Avenue had been announced. If the name returns, Jean Claude and Ship of Fools suggest it will most likely be somewhere nearby.
Operators Already Here Are Opening the New Rooms
Some of this fall's openings follow the same pattern from the other direction. Teams already established on the Upper East Side are opening new places here.
- Kuriya, a soba noodle house at 219 East 85th Street between Second and Third Avenues, opened Sunday, September 6. It comes from the neighborhood team behind the rice bowl restaurant Suki Desu, according to Eater NY.
- La Sardine, a seafood-focused wine bar at 1614 Third Avenue at East 91st Street, opened Wednesday, September 9. Eater NY reports it is from the team behind Bar Vivant, also on the Upper East Side, and Alison. The menu includes seafood towers, fried oyster or lobster sliders on brioche, lobster rolls, and crab and jambon beignets.
On the Calendar
Several more openings are planned. All of these dates are the owners' own targets and could still change.
- BloomBar Café et Fleurs, 1226 Third Avenue at East 71st Street, a café and flower shop from Heleyne and Ronnie Tamir. Patch reported a target of the end of October. WhatNow, quoting Heleyne Tamir, said the first week of November.
- Pepe & Vera, 1712 First Avenue near East 89th Street, an Italian restaurant with Caterina Pepe running the kitchen and Wilson Vera the dining room. The partners told Patch they are tentatively aiming for Thanksgiving week. Its wine, beer and cider license application was on Community Board 8's October agenda.
- Ship of Fools, 1152 First Avenue at East 63rd Street, targeting January 2027.
Restaurant names here rarely disappear with a single lease. They often reopen a few avenues over, run by the same people and sometimes with the same chef. A townhouse sale on these blocks follows a similar path, because the right buyer usually already knows the street. If you are thinking about what comes next for your own Upper East Side townhouse, Tom Wexler can build a plan around your block and the buyers who already know it. Work with Tom and get a tailor-made townhouse plan.
