By Bill Parry
A new Vernon Boulevard pizzeria and charcuterie is opening in Long Island City in early June, but it won’t have the outdoor seating that the owner had planned on.
L’inizio owner Tom Blaze was informed by Community Board 2 that it was opposed to his using the restaurant’s backyard, citing the potential noise as the factor. Failure to comply and CB 2 could block him from getting a wine and beer license.
It is a decision every new restaurant or bar owner has had to confront when opening on Vernon Boulevard in the last couple of years: outdoor seating or a wine and beer license.
Alobar was told they couldn’t use their back patio. Owner Jeff Blath tried to get around CB2 with a direct appeal to the State Liquor Authority that failed. Woodbines, a pub that moved into the space vacated by Lounge 47 last year was told by the community board that they couldn’t use their backyard either. Owner Pat Burke is planning to build an extension over its backyard so it can use its space.
It has been an issue in the Hunter Point section of Long Island City since 2003, when a group of residents began trying to silence the noise that emanated nightly from the backyard of Lounge 47. The popular nightspot gave up its lease in January 2013 after the decade-long battle.
“I heard what happened at Lounge 47 over the years,” Blaze said. “That was a different kind of place, I live right around the corner, I’ve been in this neighborhood for 49 years. These people are my neighbors and I respect them. I’m disappointed because I wanted my customers, my neighbors to use the backyard and I have the support of every resident I’ve talked to.”
Joe Conley, chairman of CB 2, said it is a matter of policy.
“We go through a process and we listen to the community, it’s not just the board saying no. We’re listening to the people most affected by these backyards.”
Conley added that he is aware of complaints from the restaurant owners and their supporters signing petitions.
“They call it an unfair process,” he said. “For the people who think we’re trying to put people out of business, they are sadly misinformed. Many businesses are flourishing without the use of their backyards, so we’re perplexed by those who think that.”
Blaze would have preferred a chance to open before the community board made up its mind.
“Let me open and have the opposition come in and get a feel for what we’re about before they oppose it,” he said. “Just to say no to everyone is not constructive.”
Blaze said the restaurant, his first, is named L’inizio because it means “the beginning” in Italian.
“I grew up here playing stickball as a kid and everyone knew one another. My grandparents moved to LIC in the ’20s,” he said. “I want to make this place with the quality you had a hundred years ago but with a modern touch, a balance between an old-school pizzeria with a high-end charcuterie.”
The restaurant relies on original exposed brick and iron columns for the old-time feel. Even the blackboards are real slate, salvaged from an old school in Brooklyn. The modern touch begins with a state-of-the-art pizza oven shipped from Italy.
There is still a mural that needs painting and several local artists will hang their work along the 50-foot brick wall. Blaze still has workers fixing up the backyard, even though he cannot use it.
“You have a community board telling us the community doesn’t want it, but I know the community wants it,” Blaze said. “Shouldn’t they have to show proof that the community doesn’t want it?”
Reach reporter Bill Parry at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
