Closed: Two Steak & Sushi Den in New Hyde Park

On New Year’s Eve, Two Steak & Sushi Den in New Hyde Park served 450 dinners and 900 people for cocktails. Then it shut its doors for good and, on Monday, renovations began. According to partner Jay Grossman, the space is to reopen in a few months as a casual Mexican restaurant. The new venture, Grossman said, will offer “food and cocktails that are accessible to everyone. It won’t be a special-occasion place — the point is to resonate with everyday guests.”

“Everyday guests” was a demographic that Two, where dinner could easily cost $80 a person, struggled to attract. The restaurant, owned by the same team as Four Food Studio in Melville, opened to great fanfare in March 2010 and earned 3½ stars from Newsday's Peter M. Gianotti. The sprawling and sumptuous dining room and lounge (actually four separate areas) were matched by an ambitious menu that offered dry-aged steaks, pristine sushi, freshly grilled yakitori and a generally excellent selection of New American specialties. Over the last year, Grossman and chef-partner James McDevitt streamlined the menu and tried to harness the prices. But the restaurant never really found its audience.

Grossman said that he had been approached a few months ago by an investment group that wanted to put together a fun, casual concept using Two as a flagship location. “It was the right idea and the right time,” he said. Chef McDevitt and the rest of the management team remain in place for now and, Grossman says, over the next few weeks, the concept will be refined, the menu finalized. We'll keep you posted.

At Two Steak & Sushi in New Hyde Park