There aren't any messages on the restaurant's website or social media about a closure... Google lists the Local 92 address as on Mulberry between Prince and Spring. No one answered the phone listed for this Mulberry address on Sunday or last evening.
Local 92, which served a variety of Middle Eastern cuisine and was a popular brunch spot, first opened here in 2013.
In 2021, three former employees claimed that Marcello Assante, the restaurateur behind Local 92 as well as the now-closed Bella Ciao in Little Italy, "refused to pay his employees overtime; ignored coronavirus health requirements issued by city and state officials; and referred to former employees as 'princesses' after they raised concerns about the alleged incidents," Eater reported. There were also allegations levied against Local 92 chef and co-owner Shai Zvibak. They denied the accusations.
And Local 92 is the latest closure along this corridor in the past two years... other closings on Second Avenue between Fourth Street and Sixth Street include the Mermaid Inn, Eros, Mighty Quinn's BBQ, Wild Mirrors, Sauced Up!, Calexico and Sestina.
Now get that shed removed, ASAP!!
ReplyDeleteThe EV is a total disaster zone! Empty storefronts, junkies, homeless, graffiti, and vandalism are taking over!
ReplyDeleteAlso Nomad between 4th and 5th Sts.
ReplyDeleteResidents should be far more concerned about the number of established (3+ years) restaurants tanking in the area & less concerned about whether a drug user has chosen a shed to lay down in rather than Tompkins Square Park.
ReplyDeleteI do not think shed backlash is in any way responsible for restaurants leaving (nor are the sheds a good solution to financial squeezes), but ballooning commercial rents & taxes are primarily to blame, and that problem gets very little attention from the local scolds. It isn't the sheds that are keeping vacant storefronts vacant. And vacant/unattended storefronts attract far more seedy activity than sidewalk sheds on busy strips; it's a little nuts to claim otherwise, given what everyone has seen over the years.
Changing demographics in addition to high rents is a factor in these restaurant failures. With the constant churning of student tenants, there’s no interest in or loyalty to a neighborhood business. Unless a new restaurant gets PR buzz from a blog, etc, or builds a business model around boozey brunches, the chances of replacing longtime patrons with the new locals are nil. Of 24 apartments in my building, 10 turned over in 5 weeks following the end of the semester and, although immediately rented, few have been occupied and won’t be until NYU Fall classes begin.
Deleteok now get that landlord lovin' extra square footage building off the sidewalk
ReplyDeletethey had a good shakshuka :(
ReplyDeleteGet rid of the shed. It's not just junkies it's rats and piles of garbage.
ReplyDeleteBTW When I moved here 45 years ago it wasn't all restaurants. There were hardware and stationary stores a leather cleaning place a sign supply store. A computer repair store and for a short while a place that refilled ink tanks for your printer a couple of great antique stores and places with live music.Not everyone wants to pay $100 for some cheaply made food every night so you need a lot of tourists who don't care.The only one I miss is The Mermaid. When they reopened for a few weeks it wasn't the same. Not worth the inflated prices they had to charge. Maybe landlords should quit rent gouging. That might help.
I think the Dept of Transportation is who you still can call to have the unused shed removed .
People's initial obsession over the outdoor dinning is so strange, it's like a mental illness.
ReplyDeleteInstead of being concerned over the increase of closures or feeling bad that someone's dream is now dead the first response is "OKAY NOW REMOVE THE SHED"... like jfc people.
Never have a seen a group a more soft, mentally weak and stubborn group of people than the anti- outdoor dinning crew. Can only assume they are all 55+, have little to no friends and wish the city was the same volume as a library. Simply pathetic.
Not weighing in on the shed debate.
ReplyDeleteHowever Duda, if you're going to accuse people of being mentally weak, don't use ad hominem for your argument.