Some of New York City’s leading restaurants, including Le Bernardin and Daniel, announced Friday that they would close indefinitely after dinner that night. All 19 of the Union Square Hospitality Group’s restaurants in New York City closed after lunch on Friday and will remain closed until further notice, said Danny Meyer, the group’s founder and chief executive.

The group’s move temporarily shutters some of the city’s most popular and enduring restaurants, like Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe.

“With all that we now know about federal, state and citywide mandates, as well as the science that has provided evidence urging everyone to reduce nonessential social contact, we have made the difficult, but for us, obvious decision to temporarily close our restaurants in New York City,” Mr. Meyer said in a statement. “I feel it is necessary that U.S.H.G. do our part to prevent the spread of this pandemic.”

The chef Daniel Boulud, who has restaurants around the globe, decided to indefinitely close Daniel and Café Boulud on the Upper East Side, Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud on the Upper West Side, and four other locations in New York.