Touristy pastrami palace Carnegie Deli is still closed nine months after Con Edison inspectors found improper gas piping installed in the Midtown eatery's basement. The discovery led to a stop work order by the Department of Buildings that has remained in place despite repairs by the ownership to get the building up to code. In light of the longtime closure, the 79-year-old deli has vowed that it will reopen.
A note shared with Jeremiah's Vanishing New York insists that the deli "will re-open in 2016...we are ONLY temporarily closed." The note gives no further indication of when exactly they'll start serving their coronary-inducing sandwiches, but at least tenants in the deli's building have finally gotten their heat turned on, so things appear to be moving in a positive direction.
The troubled eatery isn't just dealing with Con Ed and the city. At the time of the illegal gas hookup discovery, owner Harper Levine was embroiled in a messy divorce with husband Sanford Levine, who was responsible for a multi-million dollar wage theft settlement the restaurant paid its workers and accused of adultery and recipe theft to start a rival business.
