[Updated 2/20/2021]

The year 2020 has not been good for restaurants. As a consequence of the pandemic, many have been forced to close. This includes some long standing ones. Today, the New York Times published an article about it: The Treasured Diners and Hidden Haunts That Covid-19 Closed for Good . It includes one restaurant I have been to, Cake Cafe & Bakery, in New Orleans. The article is full of fitting tributes to places that are no more.

Closer to home, one of my favorite restaurants, Krazi Kabob, recently shut its doors. Though this was not due to COVID, but gentrification. The building it was in is being demolished in order to build apartments. The skyline of downtown College Park is getting to be pretty ugly; soon it will be nothing but high rises.

Also in College Park, the Original Ledo’s Pizza has temporarily closed. When it reopens, it will be under new owernship. Famous for their square pizza, the College Park location is actually the second location. Ledo’s first opened in a strip mall in nearby Adelphi Maryland back in 1955. It moved in 2009.

The entire time, Ledo’s has been owned and operated by the Marcos family. The Original Ledo’s should not be confused with the Ledo’s Pizza chain, which is separate. The chain is operated by the decedents of one of the founders of the original restaurant, Robert L. Beall. The Ledo’s chain has not changed owners. The new owner of the Original Ledo’s is Chesapeake Hospitality, who plan on reopening it in 2021. I cannot wait.

Silver Spring, Maryland has also seen iconic institutions close. A landmark restaurant for 90 years, Mrs. K’s Toll house has shutdown. I only ate there once, at a wedding reception, but their Sunday brunch was legendary. The building the restaurant occupied was actually a toll house. Hopefully, it will be preserved in some fashion.

And while it closed in 2019, I enjoyed the restaurant enough that I want to mention it. In Berwyn Heights, right next door to College Park, the beloved restaurant Fishnet closed its doors. Fishnet served one thing — fried fish sandwiches — but served it well. Well liked by everyone who had eaten there, business slowed during the government shutdown and the place never recovered. It is missed.

Have you had any favorite restaurants close its doors in 2020? If so, please share!