Sammy's Roumanian Wins Back Liquor License Along with 7 Other Businesses at May's (In-Person) Full Community Board 3 Meeting
All 8 applications up for review made it past the full board on Tuesday, including 4 within the Lower East Side/Chinatown.
CB3 Meetings Will Soon Be Held Only In-Person
Following a lengthy 3-hour session, community board members cast their votes in favor of all 8 liquor license applications considered (check out that neat graphic I made above). It was the first in-person meeting since pandemic era measures shifted regular proceedings online. About two dozen members of the board and the public alike sat alongside each other at P.S. 20 (Anna Silver) on the corner of Essex and Houston to listen about monthly outputs from committees and legislative updates from representatives’ offices.
This was a hybrid meeting, allowing audience members from Zoom or present at the school auditorium to participate. As of next month, however, all board meetings will occur in person (probably still streamed though).
Sammy’s Roumanian is Back
The most important result for some? Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse secured the needed votes to serve wine, beer, and liquor at their new location on Orchard St., right below Houston. During last week’s SLA Committee (AKA Liquor Licensing Committee), residents of Hell’s Square briefly voiced their opposition to the density of licenses in their micro-neighborhood. In a surprising twist, those same residents reversed course mid-speech and gave Sammy’s their blessing, acknowledging that the historically Jewish restaurant was a local cultural institution that deserved preservation.
There were concessions, however. Sammy’s agreed never to use the backyard space to serve guests and rolled back their closing time by half an hour. It currently stands at 12:30am every day.
Operator of Cervo’s to Open New Business at 252 Broome Street
A couple streets south, the restauranteurs behind Maiden Lane in the East Village and Cervo’s in Dimes Square plan a new restaurant or bar at 252 Broome Street; their application for a full liquor license was approved along with Sammy’s. The business name is undetermined.
The space they will take has been unoccupied for years. Google Street Views from 2017 show a cafe called Napoli and earlier images reveal a long-gone sushi and sake bar.
The East Village’s Isabella on St. Marks to Close
It’s a tough commercial market out there. Isabella, a bar affiliated with the David Cafe right next to it, will be replaced by Spice Brothers, a restaurant featuring Middle Eastern cuisine (and beer and wine brought to you by a newly minted liquor license).
FYI, for all you liquor license applicants, it’s much easier to talk about you when you’ve already chosen a name!