New Little Italy Restaurant Owners Accuse Neighbors of Dirty Tricks

A new restaurant in Little Italy, Dolce Vita, has been trying to serve food that would make the tourist-flooded neighborhood "authentic" again, but according to an open letter posted on Eater, the other restaurateurs are jealous and trying to destroy them: "If you are the new guy on the block and not in everybody else’s back-pocket or part of Old Little Italy, you apparently do not have a prayer of making it. Police are sent to my establishment from these restaurant ‘ghosts’ regularly checking for a liquor license, or a sidewalk café license or what ever else citation they can come up with as soon as a whiff of a busy Dolce Vita is caught from around the block." The jeremiad goes on, but the moral is simple: You're asking for major agita trying to serve good food in Little Italy.

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By John Del Signore in Food on August 18, 2008 5:40 PM

Comments [rss]

foodtruth

Dear...I don't think they are trying to be "authentic" for tourists, but for neighborhood people rather. Small, tiny yes... but they do get my vote on good food though.

The Edge

Not surprising, but the location isn't all that great and it isn't exactly the most visible restaurant in the area.

Small, tiny, and overshadowed by the big gun sign from the Jovino gunshop (which, I might add, is a major fucking ripoff).

John Del Signore

The offensive comment was unpublished this morning... we do monitor the comments, but given the volume we get, we appreciate it when other readers can alert us to questionable comments.