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To anyone in the NYC area.

D

Dave

Padilla Lanceros, yum yum!!
Joined
Nov 9, 2006
Messages
1,398
Location
Brooklyn, NY
Last night after work, my co-workers and I decided to relax with a nice steak dinner at Peter Luger's and then hopped on over to the Velvet Lounge next door. First off, Peter Luger's wasn't that great, limited selection in the choice of cuts (sirloin, chopped steak/left over scraps, or porterhouse), so the value wasn't there. Then we stopped off to the Velvet next door full of saturated fat and gristle only to find out that the NYC Health department shut down Velvet from allowing indoor smoking.

The story the owner spun to us sounded kinda fishy, it included a kitchen sink*, a rotating brush, and he wanted to start selling food to keep the place open. Yes, both locations were prohibited from indoor smoking as of Friday 1/12//07 at around 11:00 PM (so the owner told us). They still serve beverages and cigars, but you can't smoke inside. Apparently from the owner's words, this isn't the first time it happened.


Just wanted to let you guys know if any of you were interested in frequenting the establishment. I shall wait for further developments.

edited - meant to say kitchen sink, they wanted to serve food.
 
Damn! Thanks for the heads up. Some friends and I were actually going to be running that same route in a couple weeks.

The Sunday in between conference championships and Super Bowl we have made a holiday. We head out, get nice and fat, and then retire somewhere (usually home because of the screwed up laws in NY) for some drinks and cigars. With Velvet opening up next door, we were going to do that this year.

It would have sucked terribly to get there to find out about this.
 
Thanks for the heads up about Velvet as I was going to go down there this week to check it out. The number of places are dwindling rapidly. It is amazing how culture changes so rapidly. My grandfather would not believe it!!
 
Ok, went to a B&M and met a guy who rented a box at the Manhattan location of the Velvet Cigar Lounge. He said that the place is pad locked down, closed up, finished for now. Luckily he had no cigars in his box, where as others who still had cigars in there don't have any access to them, the poor bastards.

Realistically, I don't see Velvet reopening again any time soon, or at all. By July, if Velvet closed its doors for good, then I can safely suggest the location be removed from the CP list of cigar friendly establishments (reliability is a big issue here).
 
Dave said:
Ok, went to a B&M and met a guy who rented a box at the Manhattan location of the Velvet Cigar Lounge. He said that the place is pad locked down, closed up, finished for now. Luckily he had no cigars in his box, where as others who still had cigars in there don't have any access to them, the poor bastards.

Realistically, I don't see Velvet reopening again any time soon, or at all. By July, if Velvet closed its doors for good, then I can safely suggest the location be removed from the CP list of cigar friendly establishments (reliability is a big issue here).
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Yikes. That is shocking and ominous.

Wilkey
 
roscoe said:
What about their other location in the village? Did they close down that location also?

Roscoe
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As far as I know, both locations are closed down. The gentleman I talked to had a box in the Manhattan location at 80 East 7th St. 1st Ave.

Strange thing I noticed as I walked into the Brooklyn Williamsburg location two weeks ago. there were no ashtrays.
 
Update. Made a phone call. Made a visit.

Velvet aquired the proper licenses, they are now open again, indoor smoking included. However, they can no longer serve unbottled beverages, so no more coffee. Atleast there are several Starbucks in the surrounding neighborhood, and yes, you can bring them in to drink.
 
Dave thanks for the update. I guess we need to make a visit!
 
Dave said:
Update. Made a phone call. Made a visit.

Velvet aquired the proper licenses, they are now open again, indoor smoking included. However, they can no longer serve unbottled beverages, so no more coffee. Atleast there are several Starbucks in the surrounding neighborhood, and yes, you can bring them in to drink.
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Thanks for the legwork, Dave.

Wilkey
 
Is this for both locations?

No coffee sucks, especially since I refuse to buy Starbucks. But, at least it's one more place in NY open for indoor smoking.

And thanks for the update.
 
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