Photo by Stacie Joy
After 15 months in business, Dora's Restaurant has closed at 40 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street.
The restaurant serving Peruvian cuisine (operated by siblings Dora and Oskar Morales) was recently denied a full liquor license by Community Board 3.
According to the minutes of last month's CB3 meeting, there were 24 commercial 311 complaints for the restaurant, with seven requiring NYPD action. In addition, CB3 noted that they broke their signed stipulations and kept their windows open past 10 p.m. with DJs as entertainment. The minutes also show that there were allegations that they were serving liquor without a permit.
Residents also said that the previous tenant at the address, El Carnaval, was a problem neighbor. El Carnaval was accused of serving liquor without a license in the summer of 2021. There's a video from the meeting here. (El Carnaval was first up.)
We heard from multiple neighbors who complained about blaring music via DJs outside the quick-serve spot in the summer of 2020 — when restaurants expanded to sidewalk and curbside spaces.
Dora continued the tradition after taking over from El Carnaval, which shuttered in the summer of 2022.
Fonda, the previous tenant at 40 Avenue B, closed during the pandemic. For eight years, Fonda stopped the revolving door of restaurants to come and go here. (Octavia's Porch, anyone?)
3 comments:
They did have a DJ some nights and a bit louder but it was never a an issue very much, and wasn’t any different than any other bar on the corner there. The issue there was that it was almost always empty. They seemed to try to make it a nightlife spot as a last ditch effort. But people never came
A strange combination of neighbors being mad at the venue for partying too hard + the venue closing because not enough people are partying there.
Perhaps the landlord should go out of their way to seek a restaurant operator that doesn't want to resuscitate a dead business with a nightly DJ? That might start with lowering the rent a bit & putting these stipulations in the lease?
I’m so sorry they’re closing after only fifteen months. Maybe if the atmosphere was a little more interesting, warm, and inviting.
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