Eisenhower Park restaurant to be run by D'Amato client

                                                                       

       

A Manhasset group with ties to the food service business has won its bid to run a county-owned restaurant, cigar club, and golf concessions in Eisenhower Park,  replacing longtime operator Anthony Capetola.

Capetola, a colorful Republican lawyer, has operated Carltun on the Park since 1995 through various license agreements and extensions under four different county executives, Republican and Democrat.

But the county selected EGB Hospitality LLC of Manhasset from two proposals for a new 15-year operating license that begins this fall, with another five-year option, according to the deal submitted to the county legislature for approval on Monday.

Lawyer Elias Trahanas, of Great Neck appears to be the lead principal in the five-member EGH group, along with his brother Bobby. 

EGB Management Team

Both Elias and Bobby trace their food service roots to the family-operated Golden Reef Diner in Rockville Centre, started by their father Jimmy soon after he arrived in New York in 1976 as a 16-year-old Greek immigrant, according to a story by Northwestern University news service.

Elias Trahanas reports in his county disclosure that he contributed $250 in 2019 to former Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas, a Democrat and fellow Greek American, and $500 to State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Long Beach Democrat,  in Oct. 2020.

Those are the only political contributions disclosed by the group, which cynics might think made it an unlikely choice for the new Republican administration.

But EGB did have a hook:

The group hired Park Strategies as its lobbyist for the license. 

Park Strategies is a Manhattan consulting group founded by former Republican U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato, who still has significant clout in Nassau County and the state.

Brother Armand D'Amato, partner and managing director, is listed as the Park Strategies lobbyist in this deal to help EGB obtain "permits associated with operation of a catering facility."

It also probably doesn't hurt that Trahanas LLC, owned and operated by Elias and Bobby Trahanas, hold New York State contracts to provide food service at Robert Moses park and Jones Beach, according to the application.

Capetola was set to get another license extension last year to operate Carltun through 2023 under then County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat who was defeated in November, until the legislature's inspector general in April criticized the deal as non-competitive and suggested the county was being short-changed.

The county subsequently issued requests for proposals.

It's not clear if Capetola, who is now in his 70s, made a bid to continue operating Carltun, which will be renamed by the new operators.

But Capetola had weathered many criticisms in the past and always successfully rebutted the complaints.

He said in his proposal last year that Carltun had generated $70 million in rents, capital improvements and sales taxes to Nassau and the state since it started and "is considered the Gold Standard in catering and dining for over two decades."

The Carltun, known for its Palm Court restaurant and Havana's Cigar Club, also hosted many fundraisers for both Republicans and Democrats.

The new operators say the restaurant will soon be called "The Devereux." 

 

But first EGB is supposed to make a minimum of $1.5 million in capital improvements to the facility.

Then they will pay a fixed fee of $504,000 a year or a variable fee based on percentage of revenues, , whichever is greater.

And, for the first time, EBG will pay the county for all utilities, rather than the county bearing some of the costs  -- a long-standing complaint from Carltun critics.

The deal does not appear to clear up a long-standing dispute between the Carltun and the county.

The license calls for EGB to pay for maintenance while the county will be responsible for septic system and structural repairs. For 30 years, Capetola and the county argued over what constituted maintenance and what comprises structural repairs.