Ming Moon, the Chinese restaurant on Center Street, is now permanently closed. While the sign, featuring the name of the restaurant and the Chinese characters for the sun and moon remain, the inside is dark and empty and the phone number is discontinued.

Dan Pollan, the building inspector for Ellenville, said that he is unaware of why the restaurant closed and had only learned about it a week ago as of August 28.

“People always tell us when they’re opening, they never tell us when they’re closing,” Pollan said.

One Ellenville resident, Hyeon Cho, is also not quite sure about why, but he did run into the former owner while at St. Mary and St. Andrew Church in Ellenville for the community pantry visit. Cho said that the former owner “barely could walk with his lower leg very swollen with serious dark bruises.”

According to Cho’s post on Nextdoor, in response to a question from a neighbor asking what happened to Ming Moon, the injury happened after a construction ladder fall.

Another response to a comment details that while there was a language barrier, Cho believed he was trying to explain that he would have to close down the restaurant due to his disability. Cho speculated that he may need legal aid and translation services.

“Also that he’s had multiple surgeries with complications from the same injury that he may not have a choice but to retire early?” Cho wrote. “His English is very limited as he thought I could speak Chinese. I could speak South Korean. Felt sorry I couldn’t help.”

Efforts to make contact with the store owner, including through St. Mary and St. Andrew Church, were not successful.