My Fist, Your Gastropub

The Villager takes an in-depth look at the closed* E.U. gastropub:

Last month, Giraldi tried opening with a bring-your-own-bottle policy. But this lasted just a day after the S.L.A. notified him that this was illegal without obtaining a license. (According to Bill Crowley, an S.L.A. spokesperson, only restaurants with 20 or fewer seats can operate B.Y.O.B. without a license; E.U. has more than 80 seats.)

Nevertheless, for a month, E.U. stayed open, and foodies flocked to enjoy its European-based cuisine, such as beef cheek with sauerbraten, branzino with paella and tea-marinated lamb chops with mint. E.U. was open all day and also served breakfast and lunch. The menu, based on what Giraldi calls “the best dishes of the mother countries of Europe,” has been cooked up by chef Gwenael Le Pape, a native of Brittany, formerly of Les Halles restaurant.

But without alcohol, it wasn’t profitable to stay open, and three weeks ago Giraldi closed E.U. — only temporarily, he hopes. Meanwhile, the tables remain set, complete with disposable brown-paper menus, and plates and wine glasses are neatly stored in their racks.

Giraldi has applied for a beer and wine license — a lower-level license — and expects a decision from the S.L.A. in as soon as a month. However, after the S.L.A. rejected E.U.’s application for a full liquor license in March, Susan Stetzer, Community Board 3 district manager, said the opponents would also oppose the beer and wine license.

“I don’t see anything different about it,” Stetzer said at the time.

. . .

In September 2004, E. Fourth St. between Avenues A and B was designated a moratorium area for new liquor licenses, meaning C.B. 3 issues an automatic denial for applications for both full liquor licenses and beer and wine licenses on the block. However, if the block association now decides to work with Giraldi, then C.B. 3 — while still issuing its automatic “No” recommendation under the moratorium — wouldn’t fight the application at the S.L.A., Stetzer said.

At the same time, it’s a little hard to see how the restaurant will be a raucous bar:

“I am a co-owner of 12 legitimate restaurants — not clubs, not bars — legitimate food establishments with legitimate, highly praised and acclaimed chefs,” [Giraldi] stressed. “That’s what turns me on: good food, good wine, good talk. And my places are usually closed well before what you would call ‘nightlife,’ and especially on weekends.”

Giraldi says his Gigino Trattoria in Tribeca, for example — unlike its more upscale neighbors, Nobu and Bouley — doesn’t cater to the black-car crowd from Uptown, but is a “neighborhood restaurant.”

His other restaurants include August, Diablo Royale, BREADTribeca, Jean Georges at Columbus Circle, Vong, Mercer Kitchen and Prime in Las Vegas. None of his restaurants have ever received any complaints from neighbors, he said.

*As reported by Florence Fabricant.