Isabella's Oven Goes Out With a Bang, Sledgehammer, Graffiti

Isabella's Oven, the Lower East Side pizza place deemed one of the top ten in NYC by big eatin' Ed Levine, was abruptly closed at the end of January for, rumor has it, not paying $70K in back rent. Co-owner Teresa Rizzo-Marino told Grub Street she fell behind because she spent $300,000 renovating and rat-proofing the pizzeria, and she had hoped the Seward Park Co-Op board, which controls the property, would give her more time: "I was subjected to mental abuse. They told me to sign over the whole store and [that] they'd forget about what I owed if I gave them the pizza recipe." Now it seems Rizzo-Marino, who is rumored to be the daughter of one board member, inflicted some abuse of her own on the way out the door, taking a sledgehammer and spray paint to the place. Photos on Eater and Grub Street depict a level of destruction which one commenter aptly deemed "poetry." The interior has been savagely trashed, and "threatening and derogatory graffiti" spray painted all over the walls. BURN! You just gonna take that, Co-Op board?

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By John Del Signore in Food on February 11, 2009 1:38 PM

Comments [rss]

Kandu

As a customer I am outraged. I am a resident of Seward Park, and therefore a shareholder of the company that owns the property where Isabella's did business. The Seward Park Housing Co-op has a number of commercial residents and I proudly support their businesses, knowing it keeps our community thriving. As tenant shareholders, we do not know the daily workings of what goes on in the boardroom, and I was not aware of any problem, or the eviction, until a few weeks before Isabella's was to close.

I ate at Isabella's, although the pizza was rather expensive, because I was supporting the neighborhood businesses, and because the pizza was good. I am not sure if Isabella's owners realize that it is not the management company that will ultimately end up with the bill for the lost rent and the destruction, but it will be the shareholders - your former customers*, from who you earned every dollar you made. If this is how you thank us for our business over the years, then I regret every bite I took and hope that every one of your future customers realizes how ingrateful you are for their business. You have simply made an inconvenience for the management company and the board, but it is really your loyal customers that you have slapped in the face, and the wallet.

*For those of you that don't know the area, the Seward Park Housing Complex is 4 large residential buildings that contain a large percentage of the potential clientelle for the block where Isabella's was located.

Kandu

As a customer I am outraged. I am a resident of Seward Park, and therefore a shareholder of the company that owns the property where Isabella's did business. The Seward Park Housing Co-op has a number of commercial residents and I proudly support their businesses, knowing it keeps our community thriving. As tenant shareholders, we do not know the daily workings of what goes on in the boardroom, and I was not aware of any problem, or the eviction, until a few weeks before Isabella's was to close.

I ate at Isabella's, although the pizza was rather expensive, because I was supporting the neighborhood businesses, and because the pizza was good. I am not sure if Isabella's owners realize that it is not the management company that will ultimately end up with the bill for the lost rent and the destruction, but it will be the shareholders - your former customers*, from who you earned every dollar you made. If this is how you thank us for our business over the years, then I regret every bite I took and hope that every one of your future customers realizes how ingrateful you are for their business. You have simply made an inconvenience for the management company and the board, but it is really your loyal customers that you have slapped in the face, and the wallet.

*For those of you that don't know the area, the Seward Park Housing Complex is 4 large residential buildings that contain a large percentage of the potential clientelle for the block where Isabella's was located.

Spirit of 76

I've seen this happen before. Some people have absolutely no class. I've had problems with a couple of landlords, but even with the most intractable one, the worst I did was just didn't bother to clean up after I moved out. Vandalizing the place never entered my mind.

BelowGrand

Look, I live at Seward Park. There is no doubt regarding the facts, as we shareholders were informed in a letter from our attorney. Isabella's owes us $77K. In a settlement, they agreed to pay it and vacate at the end of February. Instead they trashed the place and then tried to trash us on various sites. The mama of these two miscreants, a board member of all things, enabled this behavior and has cost her fellow cooperators money at a bad time. We do not appreciate it. Nor do we appreciate what it will cost to put the little store into some sort of usable shape for a new tenant.

LinkMan

I could see why taking a measure like that is good for everybody and warrants giving her more time

How much more time? All accounts (even the owner's own comments on Grub Street) indicate that she stopped paying rent a year ago. I liked their pizza a lot, and really wanted there to be another side to this story, but I just don't see how anyone can justify not paying rent for a whole year and then trashing the place in violation of a signed stipulation.

thefacts

Does anyone know if she is related to Kenny Marino?

whitecastlerock

Were any rats injured?

texinyc

They're not known as 'rats' anymore. PETA put out a press release letting us all know that from now on they should be referred to as 'squeezy, fluffy, urban co-habitants'.

PTG in nyc

Isn't rat proofing the landlords responsibility as much as the tenants? I could see why taking a measure like that is good for everybody and warrants giving her more time, but if she really knows someone on the co-op board, it seems as though her connection got her that space in the first place and next time she should stick to finding space that better fits her needs.