Photos by Stacie Joy
Updated noon:
The news about a new lease for Casa Adela was apparently a little premature. An attorney for the restaurant said that a deal has not been finalized.
As reported in early December, the building's landlord — a Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) — was looking to increase the rent on the 45-year-old LES institution to a rate that the current owner Luis Rivera, son of the late founder Adela Fargas, said was not feasible. (This post has background about the landlords and the situation in the building. As local activist Malu told The New Yorker, this "wasn't a story of a big, bad developer kicking out a neighborhood joint.")
Adela Fargas started serving her Puerto Rican cuisine here in 1976. She died in January 2018 at age 81.
Gonzalez said they will next work on getting the corner of Fifth Street and Loisaida Avenue co-named after Adela.
In early December, EVG contributor Stacie Joy was provided access to the restaurant and took these photos of the staff and other behind-the-scenes areas of Casa Adela...
Previously on EV Grieve: