Pub puzzler: Fears that Corner Bistro had closed

BY THE VILLAGE SUN | What was up with the Corner Bistro?

Its Web site bills the iconic spot as “the last of the bohemian bars in West Greenwich Village.” Yet, locals feared for the worst after recently seeing the watering hole’s windows covered with brown paper for at least a week or so.

A casually handwritten “Closed” sign on the front door didn’t exactly give the impression it was a permanent closing, though. Penned in red marker, the simple sign didn’t include a typical heartfelt goodbye message thanking patrons — but did sport a cute little drawing of a burger and a bottle of ketchup.

In business since 1961, the small, casual bar, at the corner of W. Fourth and Jane Streets, is especially known for its burgers — and for usually being packed.

Calls to the watering hole’s phone number recently were answered by the message, “Your call cannot be completed at this time; please try again later.” The e-mail link on the Web site does not work.

Yelp added an alert with a red exclamation point on its Corner Bistro page noting, “Yelpers report this location has closed.”

Called last Wednesday, a supplier who works with the popular pub said he had just filled a new order last week, so was surprised to hear the Corner Bistro was closed — or at least closed for the moment.

However, the blog Flaming Pablum, after an initial panicked post of its own that the place had closed, reported on Sat., July 12, “In the wake of so many conflicting reports, I decided to swing by the Corner Bistro this morning, and I’m happy to relay that they are indeed back open for biz, beers, booze and — wait for it — burgers.

“I spoke with the owner, who was loading new supplies into their kitchen. As speculated, they were indeed redoing the floors, but after ‘some idiot on Barstool’ started the rumor, he’d been inundated with texts and calls and panicky e-mails, etc.”