Openings

General Greene’s Nick Morgenstern Takes Butcher Bay Space

Butcher Bay.
Butcher Bay. Photo: Melissa Hom

The big news at last night’s Community Board 3 meeting: Nick Morgenstern of the General Greene was recommended for a beer and wine license at 511 East 5th Street, the seemingly cursed former home of Butcher Bay and Seymour Burton. He plans to open an eleven-table restaurant called Goat’s Town in late October that will serve “continental” cuisine, and there’ll be at least one $75 entrée, as a board member pointed out to assuage one neighbor’s fears that the place would attract a loud and rowdy crowd.

The most contentious hearing of the evening: The board recommended the denial of Sin Sin’s application to transfer its liquor license to new owners, citing 72 complaint calls to 311 between January 2009 and yesterday. “I really feel uncomfortable transferring such a problem place to a person that doesn’t have a track record managing a nightclub or bar/restaurant,” said one board member (one of the applicants owns three Dunkin’ Donuts locations in the financial district). “It’s such a huge leap from where you are now.” One of the twenty opponents to Sin Sin’s application said she had driven six hours down from Maine on Wednesday specifically to attend last night’s meeting. “What we are talking about is drugs … people are clearly using this corner to traffic drugs,” said another.

Also on the docket:

• A partnership called Justified LLC (they also own International Bar) won approval for its full liquor application for the former Lilly Coogan’s space at 102 First Avenue.

• The board approved a renewal application from Double Down Saloon.

• It also approved an application from the 13th Step to operate a sidewalk café at its 149 Second Avenue location.

• A beer-and-wine-license application for a Japanese restaurant specializing in ramen at 121 Ludlow Street (formerly Chickie Pig’s) was denied on the basis that the immediate area is one of the worst in the neighborhood in terms of complaints to 311 and the police. The board chair specifically cited Ludlow Street and Rivington Street as “the worst corner in the 7th Precinct” according to the NYPD.

• The board approved of Ajaccio Inc.’s plans to open a bar and lounge at 40 Avenue C. One of the applicants was a part-owner of Eastern Bloc.

• The board approved a sidewalk café application from Ballaro Caffe Prosciutteria at 77 Second Avenue.

As always, all final decisions are up to the State Liquor Authority.

General Greene’s Nick Morgenstern Takes Butcher Bay Space