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Sewage Causes Stink Outside Carnegie Deli

By DNAinfo Staff on December 22, 2010 6:48pm  | Updated on December 23, 2010 5:44am

An unpleasant odor on the sidewalk greeted customers walking into Carnegie Deli on Wednesday.
An unpleasant odor on the sidewalk greeted customers walking into Carnegie Deli on Wednesday.
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DNAinfo/Jennifer Glickel

By Jennifer Glickel

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN — Hungry sandwich seekers at the popular Carnegie Deli were greeted outside the restaurant's entrance by a pungent smell on Wednesday — and it wasn't the pastrami on rye.

A sewer pipe was steaming just below the sidewalk outside of the restaurant at West 54th Street and Seventh Avenue, causing an unpleasant odor to permeate the area just outside the restaurant.

"There are lots of hotels, restaurants, and high-rise buildings around here that contribute to the huge amount of waste that flows through the sewers and, once in a while, gets backed up and smells awful like today," said Carnegie Deli owner Sandy Levine.

Levine told DNAinfo that he called 311 to report the odor and ask that it be fixed immediately, but no one responded for nearly two hours. When he called back to complain, he was transferred to the FDNY, who came to the scene at 4:49 p.m. to check out the situation.

Firefighters went into the restaurant's basement to check meters and ensure that the issue was not gas-related, according to FDNY officials. The FDNY notified Con Ed of the steaming sewer pipe, and, according to Levine, Con Ed workers were expected to arrive to fix the problem about 6 p.m.

Carnegie patrons weren't deterred by the smell and no one complained, Levine said.

"To be honest, the customers here are tourists and they don't know the difference," Levine said.

"They think that New York always smells bad."