Gramercy Bistro, a farm-to-table restaurant on Water Street, permanently closed on Oct. 6 after 23 years in business. According to Alexander “Sandy” Smith, the chef and owner of the restaurant, the property’s landlord declined to renew his lease, forcing him out of the space.
Smith, alongside his twin brother Edward “Ned” Smith, first opened Gramercy on July 3, 2001 on Marshall Street in North Adams. The restaurant expanded into an adjacent space in 2006 and moved to a new location on the MASS MoCA campus in 2010, at which point Sandy was the sole proprietor of the business.
After an 18-month closure — initially spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic — Smith moved Gramercy to its Water Street location in Williamstown, where it has operated since Oct. 21, 2021.
Gramercy served “locally-sourced New American cuisine” for dinner each day and brunch on Sundays, according to its website. The menu featured a wide variety of dishes, including Thai mussels, sweetbreads, and paella.
“I’ve always worked with farms and people,” Smith told the Record in an interview. “I like the local economy as opposed to the national economy.
“If I buy a stick of butter from somebody who makes the milk down the street, then they come and have dinner with me,” he continued. “It’s a lot different from buying butter from a company called SYSCO which makes it 400 miles away.”
According to the Town’s property records, the location’s new landlords, James and Xtina Parks — under the company 16 Water Street LLC — purchased the three-story brick building on Feb. 1, 2023.
Xtina is the owner of ROAM, a contemporary African art gallery, which opened a storefront next to Gramercy shortly after the building’s sale.
Smith said he learned on Oct. 1 that his three-year lease — which he had signed under a previous landlord — wouldn’t be renewed by the new landlord and that he had until Oct. 31 to vacate the space.
“I’m not closing it on my personal accord,” Smith said. “With the new landlord, things just kind of changed.”
Xtina declined to comment on the restaurant’s closure or on future plans for the space. “We are not ready to state what’s going into the space right now,” she wrote to the Record. “That’s confidential until things are signed.”
As of Nov. 10, individuals are still able to reserve a table at Gramercy for Sunday brunch on the reservation website Resy, though the restaurant shut its doors over a month ago — prompting confusion from several customers.
Charlie Cote, who had booked a reservation for Oct. 26, learned of the closure when he arrived. “We were disappointed,” he told the Record. “It was right in town and available on Resy.”
After 35 years in the restaurant industry, Smith said he’s not yet sure what’s next. “I could potentially open a new place, or I could just work for somebody else and let them worry about the bills,” he said. “I haven’t really thought about the next chapter yet.”
