Pot Farm Under Neighburrito Had 'Nothing to Do With' Neighburrito

By Rebecca Marx Thu., Oct. 21 2010 at 11:57 AM

Categories: Marx, Restaurant News and Notes

Eating in Translation/Flickr

This morning brought one of the more amusing bits of news we'd heard in a while: Last night a pot farm was reportedly discovered in the basement underneath Neighburrito, the tiny takeout shop at 127 Rivington Street.

According to Bowery Boogie, which received the tip from a neighbor who claims to have seen the whole thing go down, firemen discovered 127 Rivington Street's field of green after being called to the building by a resident reporting a steam leak. Their reported discovery of an impressive "150-200" pot plants yielded a call to the police, which resulted in some arrests.

Neighburrito, however, is open for business as usual. We called the place a few minutes ago and spoke with a worker there who said that reports of the restaurant's owner being arrested were "lies. The pot plants had nothing to do with us."

Other residents, however, haven't been as fortunate: After discovering that the back half of the building had no fire escape, the FDNY declared it uninhabitable, forcing half the building's tenants to vacate their apartments until the situation is rectified. We're guessing that more than a few of them would appreciate a bit of the basement's cash crop right now.

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