Results tagged “tavernonthegreen”

Channel 7's Tappy Phillips wants answers about that Tavern on the Green debacle that went down on Halloween night. To recap: the restaurant pointed the finger at the promoters, who in turn pointed the finger at scalpers who pushed the event over capacity and advertised the wrong start time. As a result, thousands more than expected showed up to the restaurant and stood around for hours trying to get in. Because what else are you going to do in New York City on Halloween? The cops eventually shut the party down at 1:30 a.m., about an hour after it started. But don't worry, Tappy's on it!

The Tavern on the Green seems to be cursed lately, so it's fitting that they housed a Halloween party from hell over the weekend. The Daily News reports that the restaurant was a frightening scene on Saturday night "when thousands of extra revelers showed up — many of whom bought bogus tickets online" for a party that promised to begin at 9 p.m. and include an open bar and an all-you-can-eat buffet.

After threatening to lay off some 400 employees during the lucrative holiday season, Tavern on the Green has been granted a reprieve. The city had ordered owners to vacate the premises on January 1st and turn over the lease, but owners insisted that deadline would have required them to close down in December, in order to conduct an onsite auction of their assets, which were valued by an appraiser at $8.171 million. Though Tavern's owners had wanted three months for the changeover, a US Bankruptcy Court judge in Manhattan said "two weeks to a month" in January would be "a reasonable transition period." But will the new occupant play along?

The 400 union employees at Tavern on the Green are facing the prospect of joblessness during the holiday season, because the restaurant's owners says they can't turn over the lease on January 1st without closing before December. So Tavern's operating company has asked for a temporary restraining order in US Bankruptcy Court that would permit them to delay the changeover for 90 days after January 1st, enabling the restaurant to operate during the lucrative month of December, and then conduct an onsite auction of their assets, which were valued by an appraiser at $8.171 million. But the new leaseholder isn't having it.

Would a Tavern on the Green by any other name fare just as well in Central Park? The NY Times digs into the latest debate over the restaurant's name, which is reportedly appraised at $19 million.

The union that organizes restaurant workers at Tavern on the Green is spoiling for a fight with the new leaseholder, who's trying to renegotiate the union's contract. The new operator, Dean Poll, was awarded the license by the Parks Department last month, but he's under no obligation to honor the previous labor contract. So he wants the workers to agree to a pay cut, agree to no advance notice for layoffs or reduction in hours, and a change to the banquet staff to a vague new hourly rate, without tips. They're currently paid $5.26 an hour with tips.

Noooo! When the old sheepfold occupied by Tavern on the Green is taken over by a new operator in January, the notoriously mediocre tourist trap will lose the one thing that justified its existence: immaculately maintained public restrooms. The alternative, for the uninitiated, is the gross public restroom in Sheep Meadow, but since the '70s Tavern's facilities have served as a idyllic alternative. A spokeswoman for Tavern tells the Times, "We’ve always had the position we’re on public land, so certainly the bathrooms are open to the public." The new leaseholder, Dean J. Poll, who runs the Central Park Boathouse, isn't such a populist, but he actually spins the upcoming privatization as a thoughtful gesture for the bathroom-starved rabble: "Going past the bride or groom or people dressed to go to dinner, maybe that’s not what someone wants to do, and feels uncomfortable about it." Also, he adds, "the people in the restaurant feel uncomfortable." Good Heavens, Thurston, hoi polloi are in the powder room wearing short pantaloons! As a sop to the masses, Poll promises to construct a food concession stand outside the building with public restrooms, but nothing will ever, ever replace the satisfaction of using Tavern for its toilets.

Just days after failing to win the right to continue running a mediocre overpriced tourist trap in a 19th century Central Park sheepfold, Tavern on the Green is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. CEO Jennifer Oz LeRoy tells the Times it's "our only alternative given the current situation." In four months, Central Park Boathouse owner Dean Poll will take over the location, and in the meantime Tavern will attempt to burn appease some 20 creditors, such as the New York Hotel Trades Council, which is owed $1,778,764. Tavern also owes the Parks Department—which declined to renew its lease—$76,923, and one imagines LeRoy's gonna love shrugging off that one. Meanwhile, the dining industry paroxysm is even hammering celebs like Mario Batali—the Crocs-wearing chef was a partner in the far-out seafood restaurant The John Dory, which just went belly up after nine months. The landlord is now suing Batali for $75,000 back rent. Oh, and Café des Artistes, the Lincoln Square restaurant that just closed after 90-plus years, is also jumping on the bankruptcy bandwagon. Expected to be screwed in that filing are the restaurant's employees, who are owed $116,471 in benefits through their union.

The NYC Parks Department selected a new operator for that touristy chestnut, Tavern on Green. By picking Dean Poll, who already runs the Central Park Boathouse, the Parks Department is kicking out the restaurant's current operator Jennifer LeRoy. The Post says Poll's bid (apparently offering to spend $25 million to restore the space) was better than LeRoy's and adds, "Although it had revenues of $36 million in 2008, Tavern paid just 3.5 percent of that amount in rent to the city following a generous contract originally signed by LeRoy's well-known dad, Warner, during the depths of a fiscal crisis in 1973." (Poll pays 16.5% to the Parks Dept. at the Boathouse.) Poll's lease is for 20 years and the NY Times reports that besides updating the plumbing and kitchen facilities, his "proposal calls for an outdoor cafe and bike racks. The Crystal Room, often used for weddings, will be reconceived as a conservatory-style dining space." Plus, there will be two entrances—one for banquet dining and the other for the restaurant and a new bar—in an effort to make it more welcoming to casual dining. Poll also said he wants to keep the union employees.

Can you believe it's the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz? New York will get a little taste of Kansas Emerald City this September 24th, when the Tavern on the Green is transformed into the magical land. Here's the full press release, which explains the Emerald Gala, which will take place at Manhattan's historic Tavern on the Green, and will be hosted by its owner and CEO Jennifer Oz LeRoy, granddaughter of The Wizard of Oz producer Mervyn LeRoy. "The entire restaurant and surrounding grounds will transform for a night into the Emerald City, replete with a winding Yellow Brick Road. The Emerald Gala will feature a musical performance by Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter and actress Ashanti, who recently made her theatrical debut as Dorothy in the City Center Encores! production of The Wiz. In addition, Lorna Luft, the daughter of Judy Garland will honor her mother's legacy with a special musical tribute." Here's our favorite scene from the film.

Gaudy Central Park restaurant Tavern on the Green may be an overpriced tourist trap, but it's still the #2 top earning restaurant in America, grossing $34,221,691 last year alone. But plenty of restaurateurs think they can do better, and when the LeRoy family's 25 year operating license expires December 31st, the former sheepfold may fall under new ownership. The city, which owns the property, also thinks it can do better; as it stands now, the LeRoys are only required to pay 3.5% of their gross receipts to the city, while licensees at other Parks Department properties like the Central Park Boathouse pay up to 16.5%. City Room tagged along during a recent tour of Tavern for potential bidders, and learned that should the LeRoys lose the bidding war, they'll be stripping the place of every last bit of its "fantasyland décor." They'll even be keeping the rights to the restaurant's name, which they've had appraised at a value of $19 million. Given Tavern's notoriously mediocre reputation, you'd think the new owners would be paying the LeRoys to take the name with them on their way out.

The Parks Department, which controls the lease to the notoriously mediocre and tacky restaurant currently known as Tavern on the Green in Central Park, has finally stepped in to yank the place back from Jennifer Oz LeRoy, who inherited the business from her late father Warner. As promised, Parks officials are now seeking potential operators with "imaginative and thoughtful proposals that will respect the architectural intent of the original building and its location within the park landscape." Last year it was rumored that Donald Trump, Nobu owner Drew Nieporent, and Danny "Shake Shack" Meyer were "circling the restaurant like vultures." But it's doubtful that LeRoy, whose grandfather Mervyn produced The Wizard of Oz, will let go without a fight; her father brought the place back from the dead in 1974, and she recently promised Page Six that she will "refuse to sell the soul of Oz." Of course, the only catch is that it's not hers to sell.

Page Six has a long profile on Tavern on the Green owner Jennifer Oz LeRoy, who inherited the place from her flamboyant father Warner LeRoy in 2001 at the age of 22. She currently pays $1.3 million a year in rent to the Parks Department, but the city will be putting the lease up for bidding when it expires in the fall. Donald Trump, Nobu owner Drew Nieporent, and Danny Meyer are rumored to be "circling the restaurant like vultures." Seeing her family lose control would be devastating for LeRoy, who calls herself "the Dorothy of Tavern," and has a major thing for The Wizard of Oz, which her grandfather produced. "I added Oz as my middle name. A lot of people call me Jenny Oz." She also shares her West Village one bedroom with three Toto-like Yorkies. So she's prepared to spend millions to renew the lease, declaring, "I refuse to sell the soul of Oz."

Last month Tavern on the Green settled a discrimination lawsuit for $2.2 million dollars; today the Times has a detailed profile on the lead complainant, an East African immigrant who grew up in refugee camps before escaping to the U.S. as a teenager. She says that while working at Tavern as a hostess, “I was asked to perform sexual favors in great detail by this manager. And when I refused, I was told that I was not going to get the schedule I wanted.” In case anyone needs more reasons to shun Tavern, she goes on.