March 3, 2014 By Michael Florio
The Dutch Kills section of Long Island City maybe getting its first sidewalk café.
Dutch Kills Centraal, a bar and restaurant that opened at 38-40 29th street in September, was recently given the go ahead by Community Board One to establish an unenclosed sidewalk café with seven tables and 28 seats.
The bar, however, still has to receive the green light from the Department of Consumer Affairs later this month.
Owner Dominic Stiller said that his establishment is likely to be the first restaurant to receive a sidewalk café license in Dutch Kills.
“Other areas like 30th Ave, Ditmars and Broadway have 10 sidewalk cafes per block,” said Stiller. “We don’t have one outdoor café for ten blocks. We will be the first.”
Stiller, who is also an engineer and the president of the Dutch Kills Civic Association, wants to bring a new aspect of dining to the Dutch Kills community.
“There is a great need for something lively,” he said.
He hopes to have the sidewalk seating ready by late April.
Stiller said he has been receiving a great deal of support from local residents since he has opened.
“People on the block come in all the time,” he said.
The Dutch Kills neighborhood, which was rezoned in 2008 to allow for residential development, has been slow to offer locals a lot of eating and drinking options.
Stiller opened Dutch Kills Centraal to meet that need by restoring an old building, which was a neighborhood pub until the 1980s.
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