David Kaplan

David Kaplan, owner of embattled East Village cocktail cathedral Death & Co., is suing the State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) over its refusal to renew his liquor license.

Mr. Kaplan had formally requested a reconsideration of that potentially business-killing decision this past February—a request the S.L.A. has since denied.

In court papers, Mr. Kaplan and his attorney have argued that the proprietors “never defrauded nor made misrepresentations” to the S.L.A.—despite what some critics in the neighborhood have alleged.  read more »

Death & Co. co-owner David Kaplan contacted me to express a few concerns about today's Observer article on him and his ongoing liquor-license saga. (Read it here.)

One of his complaints involves my use of the term "bar" to describe his business.

He prefers the term "restaurant lounge," partly because it's more accurate but, perhaps more importantly, also because saying otherwise has the potential to worsen his plight.  read more »

David Kaplan was delighted to open his “dream destination” on East Sixth Street. But never again!

“I’ll never open another bar, another restaurant, a deli, a fucking bodega—I’ll never open up anything ever again in New York,” he said. “It’s awful.”

Typically more of a “no worries” kind of guy, Mr. Kaplan has become rather jaded since first setting out to open a restaurant with an “old-world sort of feel, that sense of permanence,” as he put it, a place that “doesn’t look new” but “looks elegant, classic, comfortable.”  read more »