The legendary La Taza de Oro restaurant in Chelsea is now officially closed. But as NY1's Michael Scotto reports, the owner is hoping to reopen it in the future somewhere else in the neighborhood.
"This is my life," says Maria Elizabeth Vargas Montalvo, owner of La Taza de Oro.
As Montalvo walks through her now quiet kitchen, she still can't believe the restaurant that has been in her family for generations is now closed.
"It really is hard to have everything taken away from you one day and not to know what you're going to rely on," she said. "But we're hopeful. We're hopeful. "
La Taza De Oro in Chelsea has been a part of her life since her father purchased it from relatives in 1968.
"We were very close," she said.
For decades, the restaurant — furnished with Formica countertops and decorated with bright yellow menus — had turned out traditional Puerto Rican food.
But earlier this year, the Department of Buildings forced her to evacuate due to structural problems that started at a neighboring building.
At the time, she had hoped to start serving food again within weeks, but now eight months later, it's become clear that reopening is not an option.
"It is like a nightmare that hasn't ended," Montalvo said. "It is something that racks the nerves of every business owner, something we're not prepared for."
Montalvo owns the building on 8th Avenue.
But she says her insurance didn't cover everything.
Drowning in bills, she says she now needs to rent the restaurant space out to a tenant that can pay higher rent than what she was charging herself.
Montalvo says that this is not the end of this iconic restaurant, and that she hopes to recreate it somewhere else in Chelsea.
But with the neighborhood now fully gentrified, she admits her new restaurant, if it ever opens, will not be the same.
"I think we have to take into consideration the changes that are going on in the Chelsea neighborhood and try to move along with those changes," Montalvo said.
For now, though, she's looking back at her past, including her late father's vintage coffee maker.
"This will go with me wherever I go," she said.
As she desperately tries to move on.