UWS retail boosted with restaurants, nightlife

Bar and restaurant owners are heading uptown to be part of the growing restaurant resurgence on the Upper West Side, DNAinfo reported. Despite the area’s somewhat stodgy reputation, restaurateurs are offering upscale food and nightlife options to fill the growing demand by residents.

“The Upper West Side used to be that [trendy] place, 20 or 15 years ago, and then it really become family-oriented and older,” Jeremy Wladis, the restaurateur behind Nonna, Firehouse Café and AG Kitchen told DNAinfo. “And now you’re starting to see a resurgence, more people coming out. The Upper West Side is becoming a little more popular.”

Jennifer Klein, who is opening the Dakota Bar at 53 West 72nd Street, told DNAinfo she had also noticed the changes on the Upper West Side.

“[Columbus] Avenue desperately needs nighttime places,” she told DNAinfo.

Other restaurants that are looking to lure people away from downtown include the Smith at 1900 Broadway, Café Tallulah at 240 Columbus Avenue and Casa Pomona at 507 Columbus Avenue. Park West at 103 West 70th Street and Corvo Bianco at 446 Columbus Avenue are also both opening later this month.

And the Upper West Side isn’t the only place that has seen a surge of new activity lately. Nearby, Lincoln Square has seen a tremendous amount of new residential development recently, as previously reported. [DNAinfo] –Hayley Kaplan