Downtown restaurants are fighting for their lives — and it’s a big “downtown” from the Battery to 34th Street.
The threat is greatest to zillions of small spots that are the backbone of the eating and boozing scene — like Mexican ones on Rivington Street and bistros of every ethnicity in the West Village.
Their mystique helps define neighborhoods from FiDi to Chelsea.
They now stand — or float — at the edge of a precipe.
Eater.com founder Lockhart Steele said, “I’ve gotten a feeling of fear from restaurant people that hasn’t dawned on the media yet.”
I raved last week about Pig and Khao, a new Southeast-Asian place on Clinton Street. Going dark is just what a 2-month-old spot doesn’t need.
Managing partner Rick Camac understated, “When you’re getting all the attention, you don’t want to lose momentum.”
While most places shuttered by Sandy may reopen sooner or later, it’s misleading.
BR Guest president Stephen Hanson, who has 10 eateries in the blackout zone, warns, “The way it happens is, they don’t close up right away. But they owe vendors, taxes and landlords. They can push it off but it all catches up.
“The effect won’t be seen for six months to a year.”
“Top Chef” star Tom Colicchio, owner of Colicchio & Sons and Craft, says, “We’re usually sitting on between $15,000-$20,000 in inventory, and it’s gone.”
But the bigger problem is loss of revenue. Restaurants run on razor-thin margins and it can take only a few lost weeks to push them over the edge.
Employees face the loss of livelihoods. “We have workers who live on tips and they’re not getting them,” Colicchio said.
There are glimmers of hope. Dennis Turcinovic, an owner of Delmonico’s on Beaver Street, said he can reopen “within a day” once power’s back.
Yesterday, Balthazar was grilling hamburgers and steaks on the sidewalk. But few locked restaurants can afford the luxury of a photo-op when there’s no cash coming through the door.
scuozzo@nypost.com