c/o Maz Mezcal
The wait is over for one of the Upper East Side’s most beloved restaurants. After nearly four decades in the neighborhood and eight months after going dark, Maz Mezcal has officially opened the doors at its new home. But the family behind it chose opening day for a reason far more personal than any grand-reopening timeline.
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Maz Mezcal shared the news in an emotional Instagram post on Sunday, revealing that it would welcome guests inside the following day, July 20. That date carries deep meaning for the Silva family. It marks six years since the passing of patriarch Eduardo Silva, who co-founded the restaurant in 1987.“For a long time, July 20th felt like the day everything stopped,” the family wrote. “So this year, we decided it would become the day something begins.”
The family said that when they closed their old home after decades, they made Eduardo a promise: to build a place worthy of everything he taught them. Every tile, every light, and every decision, they wrote, was made with a single question in mind, “Would papá be proud?” The post called the new space not just a reopening but his legacy, signing off, “Welcome home. Con todo nuestro amor, Familia Maz Mezcal.”
The new home sits at 304 East 78th Street, just off Second Avenue. One thing is still on the way before neighbors can raise a proper toast: the family says its liquor license has been approved and is simply waiting to arrive. Until it does, Maz Mezcal will be serving its full food menu, with margaritas to follow the moment the paperwork lands.
The opening caps a long and emotional road for the Silva family. Maz Mezcal served its final meal at 316 East 86th Street last November, leaving its longtime home after the building’s new management sought roughly $10,000 more per month in rent, a personal guarantee, and a preference for a national corporate tenant.
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The closure prompted an outpouring of support from regulars, including a community GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $60,000 to help the family secure and build out a new space. They revealed the new location in April after taking over the former Anand space, then opened for pickup and delivery in June.Eduardo and Maria Silva first opened Maz Mezcal in 1987, and the family has carried the restaurant forward in the years since Eduardo’s passing. Now, on the anniversary of the day they lost him, the doors are open once again, less than a mile from where it all started.
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