By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — Tavern on the Green could become Central Park's newest beer garden.
The city is considering a plan to put four vendor carts in the now-closed restaurant's patio area, including one that would sell alcohol, a parks official said.
Tavern on the Green closed in January after its owners filed for bankruptcy. The city is looking for someone to take over the legendary restaurant.
Until a new owner can be found, however, officials don't want "one of the jewels of Central Park" to "lie fallow," Charles Kloth, the Parks Department's director of concessions, told Community Board 7 members on Monday.
The landmark is currently surrounded with yellow caution tape as workers fix a leaky roof and other problems at the 76-year-old restaurant.
The vendor carts would bring some life back to the deserted building at W. 67th Street and Central Park West, Kloth said.
One cart could serve desserts and another could serve beer, wine or liquor, Kloth said.
The booze cart idea could ruffle feathers along Central Park West, where residents are already lining up against a plan to open a wine bar on the ground floor of The Century, an apartment building at W. 62nd Street.
Neighbors there worry a bar could attract a rowdy crowd. Those fears could resonate across from Tavern on the Green, too.
Some say the restaurant's closure has made the neighborhood more peaceful.
"There are already people who live across (from Tavern on the Green) who say, this is great, not having a restaurant," said Community Board 7 member Klari Neuwelt at Monday's parks and environment committee meeting.
Kloth said the city is sensitive to those concerns and doesn't want to disturb neighbors. Plans for the vendor carts are far from final, he said, and the city will solicit community feedback before it moves forward, Kloth said.
West 70th Street resident Beata Dalton, 34, said she's not worried about noise — she just wants the restaurant to open again.
Until that happens, Dalton likes the idea of an outdoor area where people could sit, eat and drink.
She said she's not concerned about an alcohol vendor setting up shop at the site.
"I think people who want to go to Tavern on the Green will go for one glass of wine," Dalton said. "It's not people who are out partying."
The city is also looking at opening a Bike and Roll bike rental location in the Tavern's parking lot. The Central Park Conservancy will run a visitors center in the former restaurant until it re-opens.
Before it closed, Tavern on the Green was the second highest grossing independently-owned restaurant in the United States, socking away nearly $40 million a year, according to Restaurants and Institutions magazine.
