Avenue B lost a great outdoor garden when Joey’s closed, and this season it’ll lose another one. We hear that the reason Luca Lounge moved next door (into its lounge annex) and gave up its main dining room and garden (voted best in the city by Citysearch at one point) is that the landlord tripled its rent and put stipulations on use of the backyard, for instance that it could only be used till 10 p.m. Since Luca took its liquor license next door to 222 Avenue B and its original home falls within Community Board 3’s resolution area (where all new applications are pretty much immediately voted down), it’s going to be an uphill battle for anyone who wants to serve booze outside there. By the way, the downsized Luca tells us it’ll start serving food again (on a smaller, wine-bar-esque scale) in about a month.
