Hurricane Sandy has blown a well-reviewed DUMBO restaurant out of the water.
The buzz-worthy eatery Governor announced this month that it will not reopen due to damage sustained during the five-foot storm surge — even after foodies fought to raise cash for the inundated new American restaurant on Main Street between Plymouth and Water Streets.
“[Despite] our commitment and the subsequent and remarkable outpouring of support in all forms … we have, regrettably, been forced to accept that the scope and scale of repairing the damage to our restaurant is beyond our means financially,” the restaurant’s owners said in a statement. “It is with a very heavy heart that we must humbly face up to this fact.”
There are no plans to move Governor to a new location or to re-open in a new form, said Ilana Alperstein, a spokeswoman for the restaurant.
The restaurant — the third venture by the owners of Brooklyn Heights’ Colonie and DUMBO’s Gran Electrica — opened in July 2012 to enthusiastic reviews, including a two-star notice by Pete Wells in the New York Times.
Owners hoped to reopen the eatery after Sandy struck, turning to the crowd-sourcing website GoFundMe.com, where they raised about $40,000 in two months, according to the food blog Eater.
Culinary titans on the other side of the river — including Momofuku and Eleven Madison Park — held fund-raisers to benefit the storm-shuttered eatery.
But it wasn’t enough, and now that Governor’s brief term now over, the owners say they will return all contributions as soon as possible.
Reach reporter Jaime Lutz at jlutz@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8310. Follow her on Twitter @jaime_lutz.
