Barnard Professor: People Will DIE at La Esquina

La Esquina will be open at 6pm tonight. Let's see what she comes up with now.

As a neighbor of this woman, I know this is a personal matter for her (particularly directed towards Serge) -- she could care less about safety issues. She has been railing on against businesses in the neighborhood for over a decade.

@Manitoba - Haven for douchebags or not (i won't argue the point), what drives me nuts is that their business is being held hostage by one person with an axe to grind.

Replace Esquina with Kenmare, Cafe Select, Michael White's forthcoming place or even Ed's Lobster Bar, Veloce, Mexican Radio or Village Tart, where does it end? Does Ms. Fleischer become the sole arbiter of what businesses can or cannot open within a 2 block radius of her apartment?

+1

(click the red REPLY next to the date/time to, well, reply)

I've got to say that I feel so torn on this...

I have hated La Esquina since they first opened and part of me thinks that it is hilarious that they got shut down like this...

Another part of me would love for that place to stay open so that it can collapse on it's smarmy, douchey, B&T, Eurotrash clientele...

Ultimately though I find myself siding with Esquina on this issue. Having had several personal interactions with Ms. Fleischer I can confirm that she is an utterly repellent human being who has somehow convinced herself that interfering with several people's right to make a living and several others right to enjoy themselves in a restaurant is a noble pursuit. Unfortunately for Ms. Fleischer we all have to coexist and i hope that Serge Bercker and his gang, the sly foxes, that they are can figure out a way to bounce back and make her life even more miserable while staying well within their elgal rights.

@juliec lets talk about her "winning" for a sec. This woman, who DOESN"T even live in the same building (or for that matter the same block) as La Esquina, complained about a venting issue that has ZERO effect on her. Then she complained about the outdoor cafe, causing Esquina to close their cafe 2.5 hours early every night. Then she made several calls to the FDNY. At what point does this constitute harassment? Yes the DOB shut the place, but they were open for 6 years and never had an issue. Why now? Because of her. Why would any business owner open a business? EVER. Esquina employs 100 people, pays over $1million in taxes and is closed because of one grumpy old woman who lives in a gentrifying neighborhood and wants to hold on to her rent controlled apartment. I understand she's tried to get the city to hold La Esquina responsible for trash in Petrosino Square and now she's after Michael White. The guy is a James Beard award winner....it's only going to help that neighborhood grow, but please lets go back to 10 years ago when you could buy crack in Petrosino Square and no one even knew that there was street named Cleveland in NYC.

Sorry for the long rant...

Hey, Jake! I never meant to imply that Ms. Fleischer is right. Sure, La Esquina needs to follow fire codes and it is ethical for Ms. Fleischer to publicize this violation of law. If she's doing it because she does not like the noise instead of giving earplugs a chance, she's no better than the rest of us greedy jerks. But the fact that she is single-handedly shutting down a NY hotspot is impressive. It ain't right.

But, you haven't fully addressed the main issue here, which is that La Esquina is really only a haven for douchebags.

Lets at least get the taco stand back up and running, those tacos are amazing.

props to Georgette Fleischer for knowing exactly how the game is played. Even if you live in La Esquina, you've got to give this woman her propers for winning. Hard.

the real issue at hand is that this wonderful, graceful, aging granny is stuck living with youthful, hip, partying youngsters.

This is what happens when people are in basement areas without adequate exits:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/nyregion/10fire.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion

THANK YOU.

This B is literally taking food out of my mouth. Not cool.

looks like i hurt your hipster feelings. sorry. I'll ask your dad to wire you some more money.

what?

Actually I know this "stupid bitch" and she is paying less than $300 a month for her apartment which might explain why she’s not quite ready to up and leave for greener pastures as it were. She has been in the neighborhood for a LONG time and has made a lots of business owners lives miserable.

dear stupid bitch,

if you don't like where you live, then move out. don't try to turn lower manhattan into another supremely bland hellhole like morningside heights. if you want to live in morningside heights, then go fucking live in morningside heights. you made the decision to move to lower manhattan, now it appears that it isn't what you wanted. that was your fucking decision, now act like a big girl and take responsibility for it. quit trying to destroy the very things that make lower manhattan what it is. i can't fucking stand people like you.

It's interesting how Gothamist always spins these stories against the local residents (or "NIMBY gadfly" as the "reporter" of this piece of crap story puts it). Like you must be a crazy person to want violations enforced that could cause the loss of life.

as a person who lives in north tribeca I can understand. I mean I don't even live next to a bar but next to an alley and sometimes I hear complete drunk douches barfing it out and crying at 4 in the morning coming from a bar 2 blocks away. Imagine what a person who lives underneath a bar/restaurant must be going through. It takes all my strength not to hurl glassbottles from my window at these fucktards.

Well, then, you know, move to a location that doesn't have bars or a serious night life. You obviously didn't move to the area for the greenery - why, then, do you complain?

You want safety, you want quiet, go to Long Island.

The DOB violations they were caught on are big violations, in old code and new. Makes you wonder how they got away with it when they got their C of O.

They were within the law when they got their CofO, pre-2008, these conditions that they were sited for were legal when they were issued their CofO. I can't speak to this case as I have no involvement, but usually a building is not required to change conditions to conform to code changes unless they are doing major renovations or change of use that would require a new CofO. Otherwise every time the code was changed every single building would need to shut down until DOB could issue a new CofO. Not a practical solution, especially not considering the current condition of the DOB.

you're correct, any change in egress is much more difficult to approve, like a C of O change.

all it takes is one Happy Land type fire.

Holy shitballs. I was at gorilla coffee a day before they closed and now I was at Esquina a day before they went under. I have superpowers. it's funny how people think this is good mexican food when they can go to this other hidden mexican restaurant behind a bodega in sunset park called "deli & grocery" between 26th and 4th ave. It's a million times better than esquina and 3 times cheaper. for one thing, a jarritos costs a buck fifty in sunset park but esquina charges a mindboggling 3 dollars!!!! Esquina just takes advantage of dumb hipsters willing to pay any price for mediocre mexican food just cause it's a scene.

is your user name really burger lord? i mean i know my user name is pretty stupid too but fucking burger lord? holy shitballs!

Why would anyone want to eat there instead of a hidden location in Sunset Park? Maybe because they live in lower Manhattan and the couple of extra bucks they'll spend at La Esquina might be worth NOT taking an hour round-trip. God, that's some reverse-elitist foodie shit right there. Your post proves my theory that those who scream loudest against hipsterism are nothing but those same hipsters... albeit in probably looser-fitting jeans.

i wouldn't want to go anywhere where patrons use expressions like 'holy shitballs'

so only hipsters eat there? you sound like the hipster whose going to hidden secret locations in sunset park. hmm & 1.50 times 3 is 4.50, its clearly twice as expensive not three!

thank you. you just said exactly what i was thinking

so this old bitch wants to live in Manhattan, in LES AND have it be as quiet as PA farmland?

although I agree, she has a point about life safety...

Cafe Select (same owners) across the street is the hipper spot, and nearby Kenmare is also attracting the stylish.

btw - that neighborhood gadfly is also considered a neighborhood weirdo by a number of residents...

Is La Esquina still a hotspot? I thought that place fizzled like 4 years ago.