Carnegie Deli Remains Closed, Accused of Stealing Gas from Con Ed

Carnegie Deli is still closed today, as it has been since Friday, when Con Ed inspectors discovered evidence that the iconic restaurant had illegally tampered with its gas hookup. This morning, according to the Times, Con Ed inspectors will present their findings to city investigators, and what they found is not good. Apparently, for the past six years the deli has been using a little Y-shaped piece of pipe to siphon off gas before it reaches the gas meter, thereby cutting its gas bill in half.

Having made that discovery, Con Ed determined that Carnegie Deli owed it $40,050 for delivering all that gas over the years. That did not faze the deli's owner, who "cut us a check on the spot," as a spokesperson for Con Ed told the Times. But a different company actually sells the gas that Con Ed delivers, so Carnegie's owner will have to pay that as well.

A bigger barrier to the restaurant actually opening is the fact that there's a stop work order on the entire building, where the gas is now completely shut off (not just to the restaurant, but to the apartments above it as well). It needs a new work permit before that gas can be restored, and it's unclear how soon that permit will come.

Meanwhile, a rep for the deli tells the Times only that the managers are "outraged over this situation and will do everything possible to find out exactly what happened." They hope to reopen as soon as possible.

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