By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
NOLITA – Beloved neighborhood restaurant Kitchen Club will shutter after 20 years on Prince Street.
The restaurant – which grew from a dinner party of friends – is the latest to fall victim to escalating rent prices and a harsh economy.
“There was a confluence of events,” said Kitchen Club owner Marja Samsom. “Rent is one reason that sticks out. Because of the economy and the colder weather, most of my customers also come back but they come back less.”
The Kitchen Club’s last day of business will be New Years Eve, when the restaurant will also celebrate its 20th anniversary with a crowd of regular diners.
Chibi's Bar, an adjacent sake and appetizer bar that Samsom opened named after her French bulldog, will also close on Friday.
The restaurant is one of several dozen to close in Manhattan in 2009, including Chanterelle in TriBeCa and Pink Teacup, which has been a fixture in the West Village for more than 50 years.
Kitchen Club – known for its varieties of dumplings including pumpkin edamame, duck and ginger and white chocolate and berries – got its roots in Manhattan when Samsom, a Dutch immigrant, started cooking for friends out of her apartment on 500 E. 11th St.
At the time, she was an artist by profession and cooked for dinner parties, beginning in 1985, to get by.
Samsom would charge $40 per person for sumptuous meals with tasty dishes like leg of lamb with mint and parsley, chicken in an orange and cinnamon sauce and oven-roasted salmon.
“I had no background in cooking,” said Samsom. “I wanted to make a living and live in New York.”
In 1990, Samsom got her Green Card and decided to expand her cooking ventures to a bonafide business for the public. She opened up Kitchen Club in NoLita and named it after the parties that originated from her own East Village kitchen.
Over the years, the spot, tucked into the corner of Prince and Mott streets, has developed a crowd of local followers.
"It's a very special place with a lot of charm," said NoLita resident Fabienne Stephan. "I'll be sad to see it go."
Samsom isn’t sure yet what she’ll do next.
“Maybe I’ll write a book,” she said. “I’ll take some time to think about it.”
