James Beard-Winning Hoboken Restaurant Closes, Points To Pandemic

HOBOKEN, NJ — While some restaurants in states hit hard by coronavirus have found ways to weather the storm, including offering outdoor dining and cocktails, it hasn't been an easy ride, a situation put into perspective by a Hoboken restaurateur who posted a long goodbye note on Sunday morning — months after again being nominated for a prestigious James Beard award.

"It is with the deepest sadness that I am announcing the permanent closing of our beloved restaurant Cucharamama (mother spoon) after more than 16 years of continuous service to the people of Hoboken, a vibrant square mile community by the Hudson River in NJ," wrote Maricel Presilla on Facebook on Sunday morning. Presilla won a James Beard award for Best Chef in 2012 for her work at the restaurant — which features South American cuisine — and was recently nominated again.

"Pandemics have the insidious ability to disrupt much more than people’s health," she wrote. "Just as thousands of lives have been taken, people’s dreams and their hard work of years have been shattered forever too. And that’s exactly what happened to me and my business partner Clara Chaumont."

In Hoboken, a mile-square city across the river from Manhattan with approximately 53,000 people, Mayor Ravi Bhalla began closing local facilities in mid-March, soon followed by similar orders from Gov. Phil Murphy. The state has suffered more than 13,000 deaths since March, but deaths have slowed to single digits each day after reaching a high of 460 in 24 hours on April 30.

Murphy allowed restaurants to offer outdoor dining starting June 15, something of which many Hoboken restaurants have taken advantage. But a plan to offer 25 percent capacity indoor dining was rescinded by the governor after the virus spiked in other parts of the country where New Jerseyans travel.

"After five months of being closed with no possibility to offer take out service for a number of reasons, among them being too close to the service entry of our local hospital, little space to accommodate enough tables when outdoor dining was allowed, and a kitchen too small to implement the necessary social distancing between our staff, we had no choice but to close," Presilla wrote. "We could not guarantee the safety of our employees and customers in our limited space."

She noted, "To say that it was a heartbreaking and agonizing decision does not fully describe how we have felt as we analyzed all angles of our situation, month after month, hanging to the hope that NJ would flatten the curve and indoor dining would be allowed to resume. Like most restaurants, we need a full house not just a few tables to survive."

Customers and fans left supportive messages on the post. "What a deep loss for the community & the culinary world at large," wrote one.

Read about their recent James Beard nominations here.

Read the rest of Presilla's note here.

Read about the local hospital, and its milestone of no coronavirus patients last week, here.

Read about Hoboken's and New Jersey's recent coronavirus statistics and trends here.

Here is other recent business and dining news in Hoboken:

• Part of Sinatra Drive will close on weekends for expanded outdoor dining, starting in August. READ MORE.
• The Hoboken Business Alliance recently announced that various blocks will be closed to vehicles Thursdays and Sundays for "Summer Streets" business initiatives. READ MORE.
• Hoboken recently received almost $1.9 million in funding for small businesses, to be distributed in $20,000 grants. Read more here.
• More than 50 of the city's restaurants opened the week of June 15 for outdoor dining. READ MORE.
• Some of those have added "streateries" for outdoor dining. READ MORE.
• Hoboken businesses received government PPP loans to help with payroll, rent, and more during the pandemic. Read the list here.
• Kings supermarkets updated residents on their sanitizing procedures and on an employee who tested positive last month. READ MORE.
• Two of the city's weekly farmers' markets reopened in June. READ MORE.
• The city and Patch both have directories of businesses that are open and closed. Check them out and add your listing. READ MORE.
• Here's what you need to know about applying for unemployment and other benefits during coronavirus. MORE.
• Read more about unemployment, small business, and other coronavirus regulations and benefits in New Jersey here.
• States around the country have had to pull back on their reopenings, such as Texas, which closed bars and has seen a record number of hospitalizations and deaths.

Got news? Email caren.lissner@patch.com. To keep up with breaking news in Hoboken as soon as it happens, or to get a free local newsletter each morning, sign up for Patch breaking news alerts and daily newsletters.