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Park Slope Red Sauce Institution Aunt Suzie's To Close
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 8, 2011
Modified Nov 8, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 8, 2011
Modified Nov 8, 2011
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After 25 years in business, the homey red sauce Italian restaurant Aunt Suzie's is going to the great cannoli in the sky. The owner, Irene LoRe, posted an open letter on Park Slope's Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District website announcing her decision to call it quits on January 1st. LoRe, who is also the executive director of the Fifth Avenue BID, opened Aunt Suzie's when Fifth Avenue was a very different (i.e. seedy) scene, and the closure marks the end of an era.
“We’ve been here 25 years, but the restaurant business has changed dramatically," LoRe tells the Park Slope Patch. "It is extremely hard to do business in New York City, it’s time to go. It’s time for younger people with stronger constitutions to step up shop. I’m retiring, now I will only have one full-time job." As an example of her latest hassle, LoRe explained that she had to cough up $250 for a permit to have candles in Aunt Suzie's—which LoRe named after her mother. No, it's not an incest thing; everyone just called her mother "Aunt Suzie."
Aunt Suzie's cuisine isn't on the same plane as some other restaurants like Al Di La that have followed in its footsteps, but it's beloved for its friendly staff, unassuming atmosphere, and reasonably priced, perfectly decent Italian-American fare. (The artichoke dip is particularly delicious.) It's unclear what will open up at the location; it appears that LoRe owns the building, but our phone calls to the restaurant this afternoon have so far gone unanswered. If you want to swing by to pay your respects, you still have a couple of months: you'll find Aunt Suzie's at 247 Fifth Avenue, between Carroll Street and Garfield Place.
Tagged
aunt suzie's
brooklyn
Irene LoRe
italian american
italian cuisine
park slope
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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