Several people attending tonight's CB3/SLA meeting sent along an update ... BAD Burger (Breakfast All Day), the 24-diner that opened in November at 171 Avenue A, was on the agenda for a beer and wine license. The restaurant's opening announcement noted that the restaurant would "eventually serve Craft Beer and a Sommelier-honed Wine List."
Owner Keith Masco, according to those in attendance, was looking for the OK to serve beer-wine until 4 a.m. seven days a week, including in BAD's backyard. For their part, committee members offered the alcohol until midnight, though not in the backyard.
Masco then reportedly said, "Just deny it, just deny it," and walked out of the meeting.
There's plenty of history between Masco and the CB3. You can read that here. In an email to us in October 2010, Masco called CB3 members "communists."
Awesome. We need more of this. It's a great compromise to neighbors to serve alcohol only until midnight. He's a **** for not accepting.
ReplyDeleteSome sort of curfew for the back I can understand. But Not serving alcohol in the backyard is a little absurd. Can we sit in the back? Yeah, but only if you drink Sprite. Come on.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the fucking frathole taking over for Charbon space? Different meeting? Dying to know and pissed I had to work and didn't make the meeting.
ReplyDeleteseems to me the smart move would have been to take the CB's counter, prove you're a good neighbor, and later on petition again for 4am and the backyard thing.
ReplyDeleteseems to me like serving booze till midnight would bring in more dough than serving fuck-all.
Actually, i would"ve been a fool to accept all those fascist stipulations. Besides the fact that I should be given the same chance as any to succeed or fail on my own terms,and on my own merits,who do they think they are,overruling the state of NYs own laws??? And are there not any musicians left in the world? How ffffed up is it to try and make a living when the government tries to make it illegal to practice your craft. Live musicians should filibuster these meetings and give them a lesson in civil disobedience. That same board gave a not open yet bakery a beer and wine license 2 months ago!!! I could go on for hours,but its useless. The SLA are not fools My place is good for the hood,and to the city and state-think of the payroll taxes alone,and sales taxas well we are losing police and firehouses because of this economy and short sighted wannabe politicians. 1 last thing-the E.V. is zoned commercial/residential.If thats not where u want to live,do the rest of us a favor and leave.KM
ReplyDeleteBtw,thats when people want a drink,after midnight.
ReplyDeleteI bet most of his profit comes from selling booze to the people who are already really f*ed up, in that midnight to 4am slot.
ReplyDeleteAnd gotta love that "sommelier honed" wine list bit. How dumb does he think people are?
I just want to know where we went wrong as a society - instead of just popping open a simple beer with your burger, now people need sommeliers to pair wines with them? I'm all for quality drinks, but this is getting ridiculous. These must be the same people who demanded sushi at ball games. People are getting way too pretentious...
ReplyDeleteit is a hardship on ÅLL the surrounding residents if alcohol is served in a back yard. folks that drink tend to get loud, especially the more they drink. and while it may seem more acceptable to allow this noise all during the daytime, if you live along side or above a garden bar it can make life one big hell.
ReplyDeletethink of how you would feel if you had a dozen people sitting in your living room talking on cell phones. now give them a nice cold drink!
people have absolutely no idea how loud they are most times.
and we have a bar every 10 feet now so
it's not like residents (or tourists) can't find a place to have a drink around here.
i had wanted to try out bad burger until i read Keith Masco's comments.
give in to the communists that live here?
get a life!
and what part of the East Village do you live in, Keith?
ReplyDeleteTotally inappropriate for this neighborhood. Even musicians have to sleep some nights. Bakeries, shoe stores and other useful businesses pay taxes as well. Many bartenders get paid under the table & benefits no one except the owner.
ReplyDelete@faces
ReplyDeleteBingo!
How about this for a new rule: all liquor license applicants must rent the apartment directly above the bar/restaurant they are applying for and live there as their primary residence. If they're caught not actually living there, their liquor license is permanently revoked and the INDIVIDUAL (not whatever bs shell corporation they made to escape personal liability for the crap they do) is fined say 250k. You want to claim that your business will benefit the community? Put your money where your mouth is.
If I want to get a drink so badly after midnight I will either:
ReplyDelete1. Go to a bar, not a burger joint.
2. Go to a bodega and buy one to take home
3. Opt for the wine I always have at the ready.
KM will hardly endear himself to the neighborhood if he continues to behave like a petulant spoiled brat.
When businesses opening in a neighborhood already over saturated with liquor licenses predicate the success of their business on the sale of alcohol maybe they've made an error in judgement and should not be surprised by push back. I know many people believe the "alcoholification" and party atmosphere of the EV Village is a done deal so residents should just get over it or get out, but it's also okay to want to preserve balance and diversity-
ReplyDeleteIf those earlier comments are indeed from Keith Masco he is one nasty, deluded, destructive jerk.
ReplyDeleteBased on his history I am surprised that this Rambo character was even offered a compromise at the hearing.
"If thats not where u want to live,do the rest of us a favor and leave." These assholes really never learn, do they? By the way, your burger joint is about inviting as the waiting room of the Amtrak portion of Penn Station.
ReplyDeleteI ate here twice and the food was atrocious and the service about as slow as it gets, though the servers themselves were very nice. I had the brownie, it was awful. Who can fuck up a brownie? Almost impossible, but it was stale. If you order the 2 burgers instead of the single burger it comes in one flavor: burnt. Then they got 1 out of 4 burger orders wrong ("I must have entered it into the computer wrong") and it took another 10-15 minutes (after waiting about 40 minutes initially) to get that order, with no apology and no compensation (ie how about some fries while you wait for the burger you ordered that I fucked up and now you have to eat after everybody else is finished?)
ReplyDeleteSo that fancy wine with a burnt burger that takes over 1/2 hour to cook doesn't sound so good.
I've been here several times now for breakfast — has always been very good and reasonably priced. I'd eat here any day for breakfast/brunch before stepping into the Westville East hell next door.
ReplyDeletePeople have been living there for decades, and then a new restaurant opens and gets to say that if you don't like it, you should move ???? That just sucks! And it's a losing proposition for the success of any community anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear this. I've been to BAD Burger a few times and really enjoyed the food. I was hoping to make it a regular stop, but this attitude really takes me aback.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who lives above an outdoor restaurant (BYOB), I can tell you the noise levels are terrible. The only thing that keeps the residents and business people from going to war is the fact the garden closes at midnight every night. It's a compromise that has worked well for the last 10+ years.
This was an opportunity to be a good neighbor. Residential/commercial zones can exist successfully, but not like this.
agh - the backyard problem is worse with 'private' people who believe we all should be happy to hear their hyena friends at 3 am - at least the bars must negotiate with the neighborhood. Too bad KM sounded so pissy cos I think BAD burger is a good place, nice wait staff, goodenuf food but needed some alcohol to really by viable. AND they give NYC ICY space and that is worth it's mexican hot chocolate/ginger apricot weight in gold.
ReplyDeleteAgree with what's been said. Live down the block. Don't plan on eating her again as a result of this "dispute." Vote with your wallet!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm a meat-eating, wine-guzzling musician, even if I'm probably not in Masco's target demographic (sounds to me like he wants the kiddies), and I was looking forward to trying a burger there, but I think I'll give it a miss now. I know he'll just go to the SLA and get his goddamn license anyway, but the CB did the right thing. Show some respect for the community, asshole. Nobody's going thirsty in this neighborhood and you're not automatically entitled to ram another fratty alco-hole into an area that's already jam-packed with them.
ReplyDelete