All stories about "Drying Of Nyc"
The Drying of NYC: La Esquina Denied
Contrary to what was reported earlier, things aren't looking to good for La Esquina's plan to serve liquor at their sidewalk cafe. CB2 voted unanimously against it in last night's full board meeting. From our CB correspondent:
"The restaurant owner, Derek Sanders, spoke during the public session arguing that he has gone out of his way to meet with a particular person opposed to the sidewalk presence. He has offered to replace her windows with special soundproof ones. Sanders also explained that he lives in the same building as the restaurant, and the area in general is very noisy—in other words, the problem is not just his hot spot.The neighbor's response, ahead.>>
The Drying of NYC: The Community Board Backlash
Today the New York Sun takes the news of Bouley's liquor license woes as an opportunity to launch into a full fledged report on community boards and their control over the New York dining scene. And as any careful follower of restaurant openings knows, it's been getting harder and harder to get liquor license approval from the community, especially downtown, as evidenced by Veselka (denied), Chris Eddy's Japanese restaurant at 19 Kenmare (eventually passed with excessive stipulations), and of course Bouley's Brushstrokes. The Sun reports:
"The decision underscores mounting concerns among advocates and lawyers for the nightlife and restaurant industries that some community boards in Manhattan are wielding an excessive amount of influence over the State Liquor Authority's decision-making regarding liquor licenses, an issue they say is stymieing economic development."Hear from the restaurant lawyers and from the CBs, ahead.>>
Deathwatching: Blue Seats Hits Liquor License Snag
As a result of a January community board vote, Blue Seats, the Ludlow Street sports bar of ill-advised pricing scheme fame, has another problem on its hands. Community Board 3, having hipped to the fact that Blue Seats is operating as a bar, and not a "restaurant," has voted to disallow the bar from serving alcoholic beverages at one of its two bars. Here's the ruling from the CB3 minutes:
Gothamist talks to Death & Co. owner, swallows his spin on the cause of the week-long shutdown wholesale. On the bright side, the East Village cocktail lounge is on track to reopen to the public this Saturday, as previously expected. [Gothamist]
Frank Bruni laments the difficulties plaguing East Village cocktail lounge Death & Co. Takeaways: a) Late Night with Frankie B sounds like good times: "It was very late at night. And I was very much off the clock"; b) per a commenter, "Most of the bartenders from D&C are guest-tending at PDT this week." [BruniBlog]
Drying of NYC: Death & Co. Closed for Next Week, Future Again Murky as SLA Lowers the Hammer
East 6th Street's perennially embattled Death & Co. is under the gun again. After shuttering temporarily last spring, the cocktail lounge is being forced to cough up $10,000 to the State Liquor Authority—and close for a week—after it came to light that two of its owners aren't listed on the liquor license, The Villager reports. Death & Co.'s website confirms the closure (right), which begins today and runs through next Friday. And according to The Villager, things may get worse yet for the venue: the provisional liquor license it's been operating with comes up for renewal soon, and you can bet neighbors will try hard again to get the place shut down for good. In a word, dicey.
· Death & Co. Closed for Next 7 Days [Official Site]
· On Life Support? [The Villager, 3rd item]
· Drying of NYC: Death & Co. Remains Closed, Future Bleak [~E~]
Drying of NYC: Protesters Decry Cooper Square Hotel Bars!
As reported in EaterWire at the end of the day yesterday, last night saw assorted residents and supporters of East 5th Street in the East Village gather to have their say about developer Peck/Moss's rather aggressive bar and nightlife plans for the forthcoming Cooper Square Hotel on The Bowery. Though the liquor license application indeed was withdrawn—it can be heard next month, if Peck/Moss thinks the climate has improved since the debacle that was their first appearance back in July—the protest went on. As such, the Eater Video Ops team was on the scene to chronicle the action, as seen above—do let us know which oldskool protest chant you find most effective. And see also more on last night's protest over at Curbed.
· Cooper Square Hotel Protest Scares Off Developer? [Curbed]
· Govind Armstrong Heading to New York, Cooper Square Hotel [~E~]
· First Word: Cooper Square Hotel Liquor License Fiasco! [~E~]
The Drying of NYC: Down and Out on Bowery and Bleecker
It's been awhile since we've broken out the Drying of NYC tag, in large part because community boards have stepped back from the precipice they tottered on for awhile last year—an era when securing a liquor license seemed like some impossible dream.
But as last week's First Word report from an East Village community board meeting showed, there's still plenty of animus out there for those who would dare suggest a neighborhood could use another restaurant. From the Eater inbox, a proprietor writes, "After reading about Daniel Boulud's struggle with Community Board 3, I would like to share what happened to me a few weeks ago when I introduced my request for a liquor license for a restaurant I was planning to open on Bowery and Bleecker." Uh-oh.
The proprietor's report, after the jump. >>Sign up for our email newsletter.
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