Celebrity chef David Bouley just opened his new, much-delayed, Japanese restaurant Brushstroke but his neighbors could care less. In fact, one neighbor of Bouley's Duane Street mini-empire has gone and sued the chef over the rancid garbage his staff leaves on the street, claiming it has led to "an infestation of fruit flies, blood-sucking bugs, bugs that just raise welts, odors of rotting garbage, seeping black ooze through the floor and dangerous waste piled high in front of 155 Duane Street."
This is not Bouley's first run-in with trash troubles. In 2009 his late Bouley Bakery and Market, then across the street, got in trouble with the Health Department over, among other things, "five full trash cans without tight-fitting lids in the garbage storage room in the basement." When the Bakery closed the trash moved to the street, which quickly led to complaints from the neighbors. Bouley promised he would address the problem so when he didn't, neighbor and lawyer Robert Curtis decided to sue.
Beyond trash, Bouley has had quite a few other legal issues over the years. After 9/11 his insurance company claimed he failed to report $5.8 million in Red Cross money, which he got for feeding rescue workers at Ground Zero, when he filed a claim for $2.3 million for damages related to the attack (he settled). In 2009 his landlord sued over nearly half-a-million in unpaid rent (the case was dismissed). Also in 2009 employees of his restaurant Japonais sued claiming that portions of their tips were illegally distributed to managers and other salaried staff members. And last year rumors swirled that his condo was facing foreclosure.
Beyond all that, however, the lunch prix fixe at his eponymous restaurant, however, remains a great deal.
