East Village Resident Takes Legal Action Against Bottomless Brunch

Gerry Shalam, <a href="http://gothamist.com/2014/07/02/does_nyc_have_too_many_belligerent.php">an avatar of bottomless brunch</a> from a bygone era

An East Village resident whose tolerance for NYU kids jacked up on their own sense of youth-driven invincibility and endless Bloody Marys has reached its limit, is asking the State Liquor Authority to put an end to the practice of bottomless brunch.

The Real Deal reports that Robert Halpern, an attorney and East Village resident, is challenging the legality of bottomless brunch offers, claiming they violate a rule against selling all-you-can-drink booze for a set time and price. According to a previous ruling by the State Liquor Authority, bottomless brunches skirt that rule because they're classified as "events," and "there is a limited exception in the statute when the service of alcohol is incidental to the event, such as in the case of certain brunch specials."

The bottomless brunches, which to be clear are the kind with unlimited alcohol over a set time as opposed to the kind where people don't wear pants, are leading to too many people drunkenly wandering around the East Village according to Halpern, especially NYU kids.

With 679 active liquor licenses in the East Village alone, Halpern told the Real Deal that the neighborhood culture has "become more and more of a drinking culture." Of course, it's not just the East Village—never forget the depravity Flatiron residents endured not so long ago.

Halpern could face an uphill battle, however, as the law in New York City and state has tilted more towards good-time brunches than away from them. In 2013, Council Member Stephen Levin helped overturn a law banning restaurants from operating sidewalk seating before noon on Sundays, and in 2016 the state legislature made it legal for New York City restaurants to serve booze starting at 10 a.m. on Sundays.