¡Hasta Luego! El Centro Closing — But Familiar Faces Remain on 9th Avenue

Popular Hell’s Kitchen restaurant El Centro will close its doors at the end of June, after nearly 20 years at the corner of 9th Avenue and W54th Street.

The Mexican restaurant was opened in 2005 by John Dempsey and Maren Powell, who had previously operated VYNL at the location. In total, their Chow Down hospitality group spent 30 years on the corner serving the Hell’s Kitchen community. “Despite the closure, we are committed to maintaining our high standard of service. We plan to relocate our dedicated staff from El Centro to our other eateries in the area — B Side Pizza, Hell’s Kitchen restaurant, ‘Rita’s, and Bodega HK,” said Maren.

“Everyone is sad to see El Centro go; it’s the end of an era. But you’ll still see the same, familiar faces at our other venues,” said Maren. “We’d like to thank all of our loyal customers over the 19 years for their friendship and support. We will post on our social media and put up notices at the restaurant this week.”

Although Hell’s Kitchen is saying “adiós” to El Centro, Maren stressed that locals can still visit ‘Rita’s for their Mexican treats; “We’ll have to add the chilaquiles to ‘Rita’s menu because everybody loves El Centro’s chilaquiles!”

Maren spoke fondly of the early days of El Centro. “Jorge Pareja was our chef at Hell’s Kitchen when it was ‘progressive Mexican.’ He wanted to open more of a street food, casual place, with tacos, nachos and burritos. So we did that with him here. This past Cinco de Mayo was really sad because we knew it would be our last.” El Centro Cantina, a couple of doors down on W54th Street, will also close.

One benefit of the closure is that their most recently opened restaurant, Bodega HK , will be able to move to a seven-day opening in July — and they have some menu changes that will delight locals and increase their evening traffic. “Although our smash burgers are delicious, we find not everyone wants an artisanal egg sandwich for dinner so we’re adding some of VYNL’s ‘greatest hits’ to the menu, like General Tso’s chicken, sesame chicken, cobb salad & wrap, and more. We’re now considering some of El Centro’s favorites!”

We asked Maren the question that many folks in Hell’s Kitchen have been asking recently — “What’s happening with Gilda?” the restaurant that won Best Newcomer in W42ST’s Best of Awards in 2023 . “Right now we’re focused on expanding Bodega HK, and we’ve just relaunched Hell’s Kitchen as an Italian concept with delicious craft cocktails, so we have our hands full.”

For those of you who might see this as quite an upheaval, it’s not the first time that John and Maren have reorganized their ChowDown hospitality group. Back in 2005, John spoke with the New York Daily News about the changes he was making on 9th Avenue.

Referring to John as the “Danny Meyer of 9th Avenue,” they outlined how VYNL was moving from W54th to W51st and Hell’s Kitchen was moving from W47th to W49th St (where Michelin-starred Mari is these days). Additionally, their lounges Barrage on W47th and Therapy on W52nd were doing a good trade — and El Centro was getting ready to open!

“We’ve had a good run, and have many happy memories at 824, and now we’re consolidating,” said John. The food scene on 9th Avenue has been stirred up for decades, and undoubtedly John and Maren have (and will continue to) have a big spoon in that pot!

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