Photo outside Ruffian on 7th Street on Thursday by Derek Berg
The deadline for restaurants to apply for the city's new outdoor dining program passed Saturday at midnight.
If you didn't apply for
Dining Out NYC, your curbside dining structure needed to come down, per the Department of Transportation (DOT), which oversees the program.
In the past week or so, we have seen at least a dozen restaurants remove their pandemic-era curbside structures, including Gnocco on 10th Street just west of Avenue B,
which in June 2020 was one of the more attractive-looking spots with its plants and umbrellas.
Many structures remain, as you've noticed. Perhaps these establishments applied for Dining Out. According to the DOT, they received fewer than 3,000 applications as of Saturday afternoon,
per Gothamist.
That's in contrast to the 13,000 participating in the temporary program in 2020.
We spoke with an employee of one such place that didn't apply and still had its structure up outside. The employee didn't seem too concerned that a stretched-thin DOT would be out in force the first few days after the deadline passed.
Well, you have to figure the city is seeing $$$. Back to Gothamist: "Establishments that fail to do so would face a $500 fine for the first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense until the outdoor setup is removed."
As previously noted, the significant change with the new guidelines is that enclosed, year-round roadway dining structures will no longer be permitted. The revised regulations stipulate that roadway cafes must now be open-air, easily portable, and simple to assemble and dismantle.
Additionally, these establishments are restricted to operating only from April through November. Lastly, Nov. 29 marks the conclusion of the roadway dining season under the permanent program, and all roadway setups must be removed until the spring. (Sidewalk cafes are permitted year-round.)
The application review process for roadway dining can take up to five months and for sidewalk dining, up to six months,
CBS 2 reported. And, "Within 30 days of approval or by November, they need to submit a plan to meet the DOT's new outdoor dining guidelines."
Meanwhile, we'll be curious to hear the reaction to the new structures.
Shiso Omakase could serve as a litmus test on Ninth Street between Second and Third Avenue.
A new curbside space went up earlier this summer outside the under-renovation building (and adjacent to a portable toilet for the construction workers). This is how it looked before completion.
Notices — since removed — were posted on the structure stating that the setup had been approved by the DOT and was "not illegal as the building (214 E. 9th St.) falsely claimed."
Then!
The dining platform should not and can not be tampered with. By doing so, you will be bringing forth a lawsuit against you and any members involved, including the building."
The letter says the structure is valued at $17,500.
And to repeat later:
Under no circumstances may the dining structure be damaged, removed or tampered with in any way, shape or form or you will be charged with a felony offense by the NYPD as well as bringing forth legal charges against you, your company, and the building.
Community Board 3's SLA committee has two items on its
August agenda related to outdoor dining — a sidewalk cafe for Bowery Meat Company on First Street (which, if memory serves, had one before the pandemic) and curbside dining for Motel No Tell on Avenue A at 13th Street. Those items will not be heard during the meeting, however.
