The City’s Quiet Crackdown on Kava Bars

A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines. [Curbed]( MONDAY, JULY 15 CAVA BARS [The City’s Quiet Crackdown on Kava Bars]( The businesses selling kava and kratom have found themselves in a legal no-man’s-land. Photo: Here & Now/ Co-owner Tobly McSmith Tobly McSmith has had his kava bar, [Here & Now](, shuttered by inspectors from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene twice in the year and a half since it first opened on Allen and Bowery. “We’ve been scared of everybody who walks in,” McSmith says. In addition to pour-over coffee and espresso and pots of tea, McSmith sells kava and kratom teas that his employees brew themselves, both plant-derived substances that his clientele consider natural options for anxiety and pain relief and the health agency deems “poisonous,” “injurious to health,” and “unsafe.” This difference has led to the bureaucratic tug-of-war plaguing his business — from DOH violations for selling kava to a cease-and-desist letter to closure orders, two hearings, a trial, and a denial of his application to renew his food-service establishment permit. He’s not alone — the city’s other kava-bar owners are by now very familiar with the bright-yellow signage announcing a shutdown: “Closed by order of the Commissions of Health and Mental Hygiene.” [Continue reading »]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( The Latest [Do You Know Mr. Mango? “It’s like a surrender — shopping there means I am opening myself up to whatever Mr. Fruit is telling me.”]( [This Week’s Worth-It New York City Apartment Listings Wraparound windows on the Upper West Side and arched casement windows in the West Village.]( By Nora DeLigter [Why the Third Avenue Bridge Got Stuck Aging infrastructure? Global warming? Not exactly.]( By Christopher Bonanos [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Read More From Curbed]( [Sign up to get The Listings Edit](, a weekly digest of the most worth-it apartments in New York. [GET THE NEWSLETTER]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe]( | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2024, All rights reserved