Hudson code enforcement officer Peter Wurster recently dismissed complaints filed by several neighbors against Fish & Game, Zak Pelaccio’s South 3rd Street restaurant in Hudson which opened this Spring.
This site has seen copies of the original complaints, now both stamped DISMISSED and initialed by Wurster in red pen “PMW” with the date 8/8/13. The restaurant made changes to its mechanical exhaust system per the specifications of an engineer with New York State Code Enforcement.
While complainants from two Warren Street businesses, Lick ice cream and Lili & Loo, have been airing out grievances online and in the press, representatives of Fish & Game have kept mostly silent during their ordeal.
A source close to the restaurant broke this silence, noting that its principals had tried in good faith to satisfy neighbors—making a host of voluntary changes, and agreeing to upgrade its exhaust systems a second time. But, this source says, three neighbors went ahead with filing formal complaints before the upgrade could be completed, leaving Fish & Game feeling they’d been a victim of a bait-and-switch.
“There have been offers from at least eight other neighbors to go on record saying how they can’t smell anything and the Lick folks are being ridiculous,” the source added. And now that the exhaust claims have been resolved, “they are complaining about the wattage of a light bulb in the alley way,” he said.
Another source inside the restaurant said that “friends from New York City, like the folks at Freeman’s, have been interested in opening Hudson branches. But I have had to warn them that based on this experience, it doesn’t seem like some in Hudson are in any mood to welcome other small businesses.”
Ironically, Lick offered to this site in 2011 a series of humorous suggestions for their shop during the cold-weather months, including “a rowdy nightclub,” “a laundromat” and “firewood!”
In another twist, it was noted by a Warren Street businessperson that Lili & Loo hosted Steve Walsh’s popular Brazilian barbecue grill set up in the shop’s back yard last summer—without any complaints being raised. Lili & Loo’s backyard abuts Fish & Game on the alley.
