
Civic gurus blast East Flabush restaurant’s
late-night scheme for New Year’s Eve
BY JESSICA PARKS
State liquor honchos must
rescind permits allowing an
East Flatbush watering hole
to serve revelers until 8 am on
New Year’s Day, according to
local civic gurus, who claim
the owners tricked community
members to get their approvals.
“I think it was very bad
faith,” said Dottie Turano on
Dec. 18. “These people are not
nice people, they are not honorable.”
Kwame Mack, the owner of
Carribean-Asian fusion joint
C’Zen set to open soon on Avenue
H, fi led an application
with the State Liquor Authority
requesting his restaurant
stay open from 4 am to 8 am
on New Year’s Eve night — after
telling members of Community
Board 18 at a meeting
on Nov. 20 that he would close
shortly after midnight.
Due to his proximity to
nearby homes, Mack’s liquor
license only allows him to stay
open until 12 am, but the restaurateur
COURIER L 24 IFE, JANUARY 3-9, 2020
came to board members
in November seeking
their endorsement for a special
New Year’s party permit
to stay open until 4 am, while
claiming he really just wanted
to allow time for a quick toast
after the ball drops.
“We asked for an extension
from 12 am – 4 am, we have
no intentions of serving liquor
past 4 am,” Mack said at
the Nov. 20 meeting to which
Turano told him that he had
then fi led a “faulty application.”
However, Mack actually
applied for a special permit
to stay open from 4 am – 8
am, and while he’s legally required
to close from 12 am to
4 am, board members think
he’ll just risk a violation on
the busy holiday and stay open
all night long, according to one
local, who emphasized that
C’Zen was riling up residents
before it had even opened.
“You have to work with
the community, and you have
not opened,” Violine Roberty
The State Liquor Authority approved a permit request for incoming East Flatbush restaurant C’Zen to stay
open until 8 am on the night of New Year’s Eve. Google
said. “But the fi rst thing that
we get before you even open
is this, so then automatically
the community is assuming
you are not operating in good
faith.”
Mack’s acquisition of the
New Year’s permit comes after
Community Board 18 denied
the restaurant’s original
liquor license application last
April, but that didn’t stop the
State Liquor Authority from
doling out the permit on Oct.
25, 2018.
Neither Mack, nor the State
Liquor Authority responded
to requests for comment.