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Are Rumors of Death & Co.’s Death Exaggerated?

Death & Co. during “happier” times.Photo: Ben Ritter
Earlier today Eater all but smacked “Deathwatch” status on Death & Co., speculating that contrary to an outgoing message saying the restaurant is closed for the remainder of the week for “spring cleaning,” State Liquor Authority issues are to blame. What exactly are those issues?

We’ve discovered, for one, that the restaurant-or-is-it-a-bar’s liquor license expired yesterday. According to an SLA spokesman, Bill Crowley, the Authority won’t renew the license until it decides whether or not Death’s most visible owners Dave Kaplan and Ravi DeRossi violated the law by waiting until January 10 to notify the Authority that they were partnering with owners of the boîte’s former incarnation, Raga. Kaplan says he applied for the corporate change well before Raga became Death and that the confusion will be cleared up in time for a Monday reopening. “We’ve been in contact with the SLA, and we don’t have any reason to be concerned about it. We should hear back from them early today or tomorrow.” In the meantime, he’s using the time off to train his bartenders, do minor repairs, and tweak the menu. Yes, though the community board isn’t really buying the whole “restaurant” thing, there is a menu. —Daniel Maurer

Update: Moments after this post, Dave Kaplan wrote in: “Heard from SLA, again, and they did receive our corporate change in November. Not sure if we’re calling different offices, or what. They assured us there was no problem again, just that the director was out and coming back from vacation tomorrow.”

Earlier: Neighbors Accuse Death & Co. of Noise, Evoking Nazism

Are Rumors of Death & Co.’s Death Exaggerated?