There’s nothing temporary about this overdone dining shed.
A West Village’s posh “supper club” is called 4 Charles Prime Rib took full advantage of the city’s pandemic program allowing streetside dining shacks, furnishing its compound with richly upholstered booths, air conditioning, ceiling fans, floral wallpaper and hardwoods – the shed the most most luxurious in the Big Apple.
Gold-framed paintings of dogs and landscapes decorate the walls, and the exterior is tastefully decorated with shrubbery and lanterns. Translucent glass windows blur the outside world, allowing diners to eat away from the prying eyes of the hoi polloi.
“With crystal chandeliers, plush leather seating, and paintings lining dark wood walls, this late-night dining room nods to a lost era,” boasts its website.
“It was more than likely what was reasonable,” admitted owner Brendan Sodikoff, declining to say how much he spent on the shed.
“Part of what we wanted to do was build something that could be an example of what they could be – incredibly clean and well maintained and an addition to the neighborhood,” he said.
4 Charles opened in 2016 and is one of many upscale locations for the San Diego-born restaurateur. Reservations are hard to come by and those who manage to score one can expect to lose a lot of money. A pound of Alaskan crab legs and claws will set you back $176, while the house’s signature bone-in prime rib is $145. You can wash that down with a $2,440 bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild from Bordeaux. A wagyu cheeseburger with thick bacon is $44.
Sodikoff said the structure was built in full compliance with city regulations and he would like it to become a permanent addition to the neighborhood.
The city is currently working on streamlining a permanent outdoor dining program which would be administered by the Ministry of Transport.
“If you just sit outside — which I do sometimes — and just watch how people interact with the restaurant, there’s a lot of positive interaction,” he said.
Others, however, pushed back saying even beautiful huts like the one at Sodikoff must have disappeared.
“Some of these shacks may be executed very well, but we cannot legislate on the basis of exceptions, and the fact is that the the vast majority are magnets for rodents, homeless and generally not very well maintained,” Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino said. “The simple fact remains that the street is for public use. Other businesses that share a block with these restaurants are entitled to have the streets around their business available for customer parking and deliveries.
