Still Here and Still Queer: The Gay Restaurant Endures

Many have closed in a time of growing inclusion and more fluid sexual identities. But in several places around the country, they remain anchors of safety and community.

Scott Frankel’s favorite memories of New York gay restaurants aren’t about food. Universal Grill cranked “Dancing Queen” on birthdays. There was that incredibly hot Italian waiter at Food Bar. Florent was around the corner from a notorious sex club in the meatpacking district. Manatus was so gay, it had a sobriquet: Mana-tush. Gay restaurants, said Mr. Frankel, the Tony-nominated composer of the musical “Grey Gardens,” “made you feel like you belonged.”