By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WEST VILLAGE — Restaurateur Gabriel Stulman cleared a hurdle Thursday night in his bid to take over the historic Fedora eatery, as Community Board 2 unanimously approved his liquor license application.
The woman for whom the restaurant is named, 89-year-old Fedora Dorato, spoke out during the CB2 meeting’s public session in support of Stulman.
“Let’s give them a chance,” said Dorato, who is retiring. She asserted that Stulman and his fiancée, Gina Falero, are “the same kind of people that I have always been. I truly believe that.”
Dorato family members said they chose Stulman because of his pledge to maintain the eatery’s historic character and record as a good neighbor. They selected him over other would-be operators, including bar proprietors, who they said would have paid more for the lease.
But some neighbors on the block near West 4th and West 10th streets— many elderly, some battling chronic diseases — expressed concern that Stulman would bring crowds and noise to the street and shared backyard garden space, at great cost to their quality of life.
“Fedora was a quiet local restaurant serving an older crowd,” said Reverend Mark Price, a West 4th Street resident who said he lived just 20 feet from the site. Price, an interfaith minister and AIDS activist, explained that he is homebound and takes medication that makes him “very sensitive” to chemicals and odors that he feared might emanate from the new restaurant.
Others spoke about the ongoing encroachment of noisy bars and restaurants into traditionally calm, tree-lined sections of the Village.
CB2's support is contingent on Stulman’s agreement to operate only as a restaurant, and to move his closing time up to 2 a.m. from 4 a.m. Final meals must be ordered by 1 a.m.
Speaking with DNAinfo after the vote, Stulman said he was “very happy” and “excited” to move forward.
“I just urge everybody’s who is in opposition to get to know us,” Falero, his fiancée, said during the public session. “We’re not trying to ruin the block. We’re here to keep a peaceful place for you.”
