The King's Bay YM-YWHA and Trump Village West - Community Carnival, May 19, 2013

Chipp Pizzeria Closes! Russian Restaurant To Move In


by on Oct 13th, 2011

It is shocking – and revolting – how many businesses we’ve been writing about lately that haven’t survived a year. The latest example is Chipp Neapolitan Pizzeria (2971 Ocean Avenue), which opened November 2010 and is now shuttered.

The writing was on the wall, of course. Or at least on Craigslist. The restaurant, which was co-owned by Lenny “The Russian” Veltman of Donald Trump’s The Apprentice, looked like it was off to a good start, with an original idea for the neighborhood and a classy – if controversial – product. But just seven months after opening, we spotted a for sale announcement on Craigslist. At that time, co-owner Rus Gor told us that a dispute between the partners led to the sale.

And sell it has! When we stopped by yesterday, both Veltman and Gor were there – along with the new owner. The newbie didn’t want to chat at the time, but Veltman said it would be a Russian-Uzbeki restaurant. We didn’t get the ultimate sale price, either, but the asking price back in June was $250,000 for a 10-year lease, equipment and furniture.

Regardless, we’re glad Chipp didn’t go out of business, but closed at the discretion of its owners. And we wish those owners the best of luck in their future endeavors, and look forward to welcoming our new neighbor at that location.

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  • http://twitter.com/Lostinservice Lostinservice

    Incredibly unfortunate, the pizza was good but the neighborhood didn’t give it a try after it had overcome it’s growing pains. It would have fared better on a busier street too, where the customers don’t rely on fast to-go service or parking. I was one of the fans, and vocal about it, so needless to say I’ll miss chipp.

  • http://profiles.google.com/sreshey Steven Reshey

    vWell hey lets keep raising taxes on $250,000 business and up which are
    your local pizzeria, deli, grocery you name it, and particularly NY is
    so Left wing democratic that they have one of the highest
    taxes/fees/licensure requirements to start a business, dont ya love our
    current administration that wants to raise taxes even more on small
    business, and this will create jobs how??? Oh and of coarse our great
    mayor who recently was shot down with his ridiculous proposal of making
    the new min wage $10 an hour, this was statistically put into place in a
    “what if” scenario and they found out that 13,000+ low paying jobs
    would be lost the day that happened because businesses simply can’t
    afford it, yet the rich need to pay and more taxes($250,000 business is
    considered rich for them by the way) is all I here from democrats these
    days, great job…..NY, Cali, and Mich 3 states as far left as possible 3
    states with one the highest unemployment and small business closures,
    hhmmm noticing a bit of a pattern lol

    • http://twitter.com/Lostinservice Lostinservice

      Oh shit, someone went full retard. You never go full retard.

      • ES

        You’re likening a person’s right-wing political beliefs to being “full retard?” Or am I missing some deeper nuance here?

        • http://twitter.com/Lostinservice Lostinservice

          I was referring to the poor effectiveness with which he’s getting his point across, i.e. poor syntax, grammar, and spelling. He might have a good point, but it’s impossible to take someone seriously when I have to play detective because they jumbled 4 points they were trying to make into one sentence without coherent structure.

          This is a common issue with people on the right, and it’s most prominent with people on the right who post angry tirades on internet forums. Although, that’s not the point I was making. Had I wanted to address his conservative nature, I’d have pointed out how absolutely ludicrous it is to even try to have a semblance of a conversation with someone who refers to democrats as “libtards” (see his history). Had I been doing that, particularly name calling for political reasons, I’d be down to his level. Instead, I’m up here where people like you and I know how to speak and spell. It just so happens that it weeds out people like him.

  • CJ

    this place was actually good.  I’m glad I stopped in there to try it before it closed.  Terrible location though.  Parking is horrendous, no business like this can last there unless the product is already known and demanded. 

  • Anonymous

    It DID go out of business, or at least at a fire sale.  The build out for that spot was close to 300K and I heard rumors that they were ready to take a sub 100K offer.  I do not take joy in the failure of a local business and they are certainly not the only ones to be hit in this economy but this was text book example of poor investment, execution and management. 

    As far as the Russian/Uzbeki place I can only say one thing….LORD WHY, OH WHY.  How many of these shitty Uzbeki little places are we going to have that change their names every 6 month.  Who eats at these places besides the owner’s friends and relatives?  Do Uzbeki families build these places so the “slow” brother has something to busy himself with?

    “Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change,
    the courage to change the things I can,
    and the wisdom to know the difference.”        That is all.

    • Anonymous

      ROFL!

      the food isn’t that bad….. however once again, the location is shitty, that place should become a pharmacy!

      • Anonymous

        Funny you should say that.  If you look at the picture above you will see a pharmacy 2 storefronts down. 

        • Anonymous

          ohh whoops! your right! didn’t catch that :( 

          Hmm… in that case, that place might survive if they open a Chinese Restaurant, or something that Delivers cheap food!

          • Anonymous

            I vote for Korean place, there is not one in the neighborhood.

          • Anonymous

            Or maybe even a nice Vegetarian spot!, i’m not vegetarian but some of it tastes Great!

          • http://www.nedberke.com Ned Berke

            Vegetarian? Get the hell off my website.

            ;)

          • Anonymous

            There was this Vegetarian spot on Ave K and Nostand Ave. i forgot what it was called, Man they had some DELICIOUS Finger lickin food i’ve eatten in a long time!

            Are you worried that Vegetarian places might bring more Hipsters?

          • Barkingspider7

            YEAH – WHAT NED SAID!!!

    • http://twitter.com/bkjenka Jennifer K-Milo

       I am from Uzbekistan and actually enjoy going with my family to eat authentic Uzbeki food, just because your not a fan, doesn’t mean its garbage, although I do admit that lately a lot of them have opened up

      • Anonymous

        Nothing wrong with Uzbeki cuisine.  However there is one of those restaurants on every corner.  The serve the same things and the service is usually sub-par.

        • Julia

          You don’t mind chinese resraurant (same menu) on every block but have a problem with Uzbeki?  

      • ES

        I just ate at an Uzbeki place the other day (Cafe Nargis on Coney Island Avenue around Avenue Y) — the food was outstanding and the prices were incredibly reasonable: less than $30 total, for everything, including beverages, coffee, appetizers, etc. I can’t wait to go again.

    • ES

      The Uzbeki place I was at (Nargis Cafe), which I mentioned in a comment down below in a reply to Jennifer K-Milo, was packed at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday. Every table was occupied, including the outdoor seating area. There were at least four dozen diners, including my aunt and myself, and we do not claim any Uzbeki ancestry, nor do we have Uzbeki friends. I am not going to speculate what you have against Russian or Uzbeki cuisine (I am also a fan of Georgian cuisine), but I will suggest that, if you haven’t tried any of it, give it a shot and you may be surprised. Either that or you already have and just happened to have eaten at one place that turned out to be crummy. Otherwise, I find the fare quite enjoyable.

      • Anonymous

        That’s what happens when you go to a place recommend by The Bite

    • Stan D

      If no one, other than friends and family of the owner, eats there – how do these places stay in business? Ever thought about that?

  • Phlip1568

    Chipp was a ripoff, is it any wonder they closed? I ordered from them once, for $35.00 dollars they delivered two tiny pizzas and a small salad no joke. And the pizza was mediocre at best. Good riddance .

  • Gunzhard

    I was happy when this placed closed! They had no regard for there neighbors. Chipp pizza would pump obscene amount of black smoke into the air and into there nieghbors homes.
    We’ll see what the new resturant has in store for us. They have just installed a huge black metal vent and attached to the upstairs apartments terrace. Isn’t this some kind of violation or something?