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Liquor License Delays Add to Restaurants' Pain

August 6, 2009
Featured in The New York Times

By: GLENN COLLINS
Published: August 4, 2009

ORHAN CAKIR, the owner of Pierre Loti Cafe and Wine Bar in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park, absolutely knew that his two-year-old establishment was quaint enough, romantic enough and popular enough to engender a sibling. Et voilà: his dream was realized last month, when he opened a second diminutive restaurant six blocks west that is also — of course! — slyly named after an Istanbul-smitten French novelist who was elected to the Académie Française in 1891.

But it is likely to be six months before Mr. Cakir can secure a liquor license for the new 36-seat Pierre Loti Restaurant on West 15th Street, given current realities at the New York State Liquor Authority. Read the full story