Carnegie Deli Shut Down Over Illegal Gas Hookup

Carnegie Deli, the Midtown pastrami institution, is currently closed, after Con Edison inspectors found an illegal gas hookup in the restaurant on Friday. A stop work order pasted in the window cites the building's owners, 854 Carnegie Real Estate Corp., for "work without a permit," and an "illegal gas connection to Carnegie Deli." The Daily News says it looks like the restaurant's gas pipes were fitted with a device that helped lower the gas bill, and a spokesman for Con Ed told NBC that they had discovered "theft of service conditions," so it sound like the restaurant was illegally siphoning gas in some way.  A sign in the door and a message on the deli's answering machine both blame the closure on Con Ed "repairs."

Ever since last month's East Village building explosion, which has been blamed on illegal gas siphoning in the building, Con Ed has been sweeping the city for similar cases, and cracking down hard on any offenders. Stage Restaurant, the old-school lunch counter on 2nd Avenue, was also shut down recently under similar circumstances, though the owner maintains that he's not the one to blame for the tampering that went on there.

For now, it's unclear when Carnegie Deli will be back up and running, or if it will face any major repercussions. And in the meantime, the whole thing has Dr. Phil in an "acute depression":

New York News