Crusader Sandy Berger has won the battle against IHOP’s persistent bacon smell, at once bucking the city’s rich tradition of Smelling Committees and depriving future generations of kids of what might have been some serious Proustian associations. The tenacious chain pays roughly $46K each month to flap its jacks on 14th Street and also signed a 49-year lease in the West Village earlier this year. Berger was devastated by the aerosolized grease and made it an issue, so IHOP installed a $40,000 custom-made “smog hog.” The smell is gone. Now, what about that eyesore of a smell-busting machine? “I just wish they’d make the thing look better,” says Berger. [Local EV, Earlier]
