Meatball Assembly Line Grinds to a Halt: Seafood Spot Coming Next Month

meatball shopMelvin Felix

Somebody call Michael Moore: there’s been a Factory closing on 14th Street.

The mysteriously-closed Meatball Factory is a goner and will become a seafood restaurant next month, its new owner said today. Miha Khondoker, who previously owned the West Village’s now-closed Mixx Lounge, said he’s busy deciding on a name and finalizing the new restaurant’s menu and decor.

“It’s going to be very different,” he said.

The Meatball Factory became the object of speculation after its 14th Street and Second Avenue space closed without explanation less than two weeks ago.

The restaurant attracted a lot of attention when it opened last October because it was run by Top Chef contestant Dave Martin, who left the restaurant in January. It closed briefly in May (Mr. Martin said in an interview he had “no idea” why) before reopening as pop-up restaurant Hole Foods — only for The Meatball Factory to rise again in June.

Mr. Khondoker said he didn’t know the details of the Meatball Factory’s closing, but attributed it to the issues that “lots of restaurants have”: “The meatballs were very good,” he said, “but it had some personal problems, some internal problems.”