Sweet, sweet 19 Kenmare, the giant two story space that everyone wants and no one will ever get. For a quick review, the space was set to be Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce last May, then Chris Eddy's noodle house this past winter, and then, most recently, a Mexican live poetry house/restaurant Compas last month. The owners of all three were met with harsh and forceful opposition from the community, who, God help them, will never back a liquor license for that space.
Yet that isn't deterring brother and sister team Dustin and Danae Cappelletto. They proposed yet another restaurant for the space, the "fine dining restaurant," Travertine at last night's CB2 SLA licensing committee meeting, and yet again, the community rallied in opposition.
The large group had concerns about the proposed hours of operation (open until 2 a.m. during the week and 3 a.m. on weekends) and facilitating crowd control for the two-story 2800 sq ft space. Danae Cappelletto said they want to target young professionals whose schedules do not accommodate early dinners (not exactly the best move with these cranky CB members). Cappelletto has attended several prior meetings, so she knew what she was up against, but lamented the absence of her supporters who had to work during the meeting time. The decision was tabled until September pending meetings with the community, so anyone in favor of a restaurant actually opening in that space or any more 19 Kenmare naysayers are welcome to duke it out then.
VITAL UPDATE: Cutlets reports that this 19 Kenmare proposal is much smaller than the others, so we're not dealing with the unwieldy two-story, 2,800 foot space, and our correspondent chimes in: "They only want to occupy half the space, however, their original presentation included 2 levels. Apparently since the last presentation the space has been divided in two, and an organic juice shop is moving to the west side, they will take the east side. And more importantly: "They did in fact get approved. They took a vote at the very end of the night." That means they just need full board approval tonight and a pass from the SLA and they are good to go. Finally, something may open in that space.
— Reporting by Noah Adler
· First Word Addendum: Cops Called During 19 Kenmare Debate [~E~]
· The Curious Case of 19 Kenmare [~E~]