January 05, 2006

2nd Avenue Deli closes, possibly forever - NY Times

The 50-year-old all-kosher 2nd Avenue Deli has temporarily closed in a dispute with its landlord -- and may be closed for good, according to the New York Times.

The new owners of the building, Jonis Realty of Great Neck, have raised the rent to $33,000 from $24,000 a month, deli owner Jack Lebewohl told the Times.

Unlike some of the city's other famous delis such as Katz's, Carnegie and Stage, 2nd Avenue is kosher.

From the Times:

Mr. Lebewohl said that there were five years left on his lease with the previous owners, Sterling Equities, who sold the building in August. But he said that the restaurant needed several hundred thousand dollars' worth of renovations to meet Board of Health regulations, and that without a long-term lease at a rent he felt he could pay he could not justify doing the work. Without a lease agreement with the new owners, he said, he would close the restaurant.

"The basement and the prep areas haven't been renovated in 30 years," he said. "And today the rules for refrigeration and so forth are much stricter. We passed our last inspection, but I know we have to do a lot of work."

I just walked by as a pickup truck was parked outside with a bunch of huge Hobart mixers in the back. Truck was from a restaurant supply house. The automat doors from the vestibule had been removed. Several people were removing things from the basement.

January 5, 2006 08:13 AM in Downtown, Foodology

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