David Bouley got a second chance last night to go before Community Board 1's Tribeca committee for a license for his planned Japanese restaurant and cooking school, Brushstrokes. And yet again, he was shut down, now in a 6-4 vote. Things may look dire for Brushstrokes, but team Bouley (David and his lawyer) have another chance at the full board meeting later this month before lobbying the SLA. The saga of Bouley, Brushstrokes, and CB1 is one fraught with accusations of bad neighborliness, illicit activity, and personal vendettas, and it offers a prime example of the increasing power community boards wield in the restaurant world. Let's get to the arguments:

In the red corner sits the community board, where at least five board members spoke out against Bouley and cited the following issues:

· years of health code violations in his Tribeca restaurants
· a carbon monoxide leak at Bouley
· the issue of triple parked idling limos outside his schmancy restaurants
· his allegations of insurance fraud after 9/11.

· Bouley brings $$$$$ to the neighborhood
· Bouley donates benches and food, cooks at charity events
· The planned restaurant is from the "finest cooking in Japan, bringing food that is unavailable in New York City and probably unavailable in the rest of the U.S."
· This is a personal vendetta between new board member Julie Nadel and David Bouley

For his part, Bouley reiterated what he said to the the Tribeca Tribune two weeks ago, that the whole ordeal was a "witch hunt" perpetrated by new board member Julie Nadel, a resident in a building that houses Danube: "It's bizarre. It has nothing to do with liquor licenses. She has personal issues with me that go way back, but I don't want to dignify her comments with a response. I got a license last year with zero issues."
· Bouley: You've Won This Round Tribeca [~E~]
· Tribeca Has Major beef with Bouley, Denies Liquor for Brushstrokes [~E~]

Filed under Manhattan: Tribeca, Brushstrokes, Community Boards, David Bouley, The Drying Of NYC

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