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Midtown's Iconic Carnegie Deli Will Close Just Shy Of 80th Birthday
By
Nell Casey
Published Sep 30, 2016
Modified Sep 30, 2016
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By
Nell Casey
Published Sep 30, 2016
Modified Sep 30, 2016
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The recently embattled Carnegie Deli will retire its monstrous sandwiches and close at the end of the year, just shy of the iconic eatery's 80th birthday. The shutter, first reported by the NY Post, comes after a tumultuous couple of years at the restaurant that included a divorce, lawsuits and a temporary shutter following an illegal gas hookup.
"At this stage of my life, the early mornings to late nights have taken a toll, along with my sleepless nights and grueling hours that come with operating a restaurant business," Marian Harper Levine, whose family has owned the business since 1976, told the Post.
The restaurant's 60 employees were allegedly informed just this morning about the closure. "They called us all in, but not everyone showed," a porter told DNAinfo. "They just said they were gonna close Dec. 31. They didn’t give us a reason."
Though Levine owns the building that's housed the restaurant since 1937, it's likely financial burden from recent legal entanglements played a role in the shutter. Multiple lawsuits had been filed regarding wage theft, recipe theft, and ultimately a divorce from Levine's husband Sandy, who had allegedly been having an affair with a waitress at the restaurant.
In the spring of 2015, Con Edison inspectors discovered improper gas piping installed in the Midtown eatery's basement, which closed Carnegie down for nine months and left residents in the building without heat and gas for nearly as long.
In the future, Hillary Clinton would have to travel to the Las Vegas or Pennsylvania outposts of Carnegie, which will remain open, to watch Stephen Colbert eat cheesecake. Others in search of mediocre, overpriced and overrated food will have to look elsewhere in midtown.
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Nell Casey
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