Restaurants and bars participating in the Dining Out NYC program may now start serving in their roadway dining structures. The city allowed approved establishments to begin setting up last Tuesday, before today's official start.
This is the first year of the new program. Per 2023 City Council legislation that Mayor Adams later approved, establishments can operate sidewalk setups year-round, while roadway dining operates seasonally, from April 1 to Nov. 29. (Sidewalk cafes are allowed year-round.)
The revised regulations stipulate that roadway cafes must now be open-air, easily portable, and simple to assemble and dismantle.
According to a city press release, 2,600 establishments have approval to operate on roadways or sidewalks. "By April 1, NYC DOT estimates 600 roadway dining applicants and another roughly 2,000 sidewalk applicants will be able to operate."
However, the Post noted Sunday: "Only seven restaurants out of 3,000 hoping to set up al fresco have received outdoor liquor licenses from the State Liquor Authority, meaning thousands may not be able to legally serve alcohol outside."
We haven't seen much curbside-dining construction in the East Village, but we spotted several in the works on the Lower East Side over the weekend, including outside hotspots like Le Dive and Dudley's.
On Saturday evening, as the temperatures started dropping from the 80s to the 50s, we saw several restaurants and cafes with chairs and tables on Broome Street.
Regardless, based on the number of applications, there will be far fewer establishments with outdoor setups compared to 2020 and 2021. According to NYC Comptroller Brad Lander's office, an estimated 12,500 restaurants offered outdoor dining at the height of the pandemic.
Also, Streetsblog reported that most curbside dining will be in wealthier neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Enjoy a coffee outdoors
Mudspot Café (top photo) has a compact curbside space ready for today. ("Smaller and cuter" than post years, they noted on Instagram.)
Meanwhile, last week, EVG's Stacie Joy spotted C&B Cafe starting work on the coffee shop's outdoor space.
Owner Ali Sahin said there will be six tables with 12 seats total — and no roof, though perhaps a few umbrellas at some point in the future. The floor panels will be removable for ease of cleaning.
"We are approved for the roadside dining structure, and we are doing the absolute minimum of what the city requires because they will change their minds and the rules," Sahin said.
He continued: "We want to spend as little money as possible; this is already pretty expensive. And at the end of the season, we'll toss it, as it's too expensive to store and we have no room or space to store it."
Several restaurateurs said they opted out of curbside dining this time due to the new, complex, and costly process, spanning over 30 pages of rules and regulations.