North End restaurant owners who once charged mayor hates Italian men quietly file to make their outdoor-patio suit go away

The owners of five North End restaurants who claimed a fee only North End restaurants had to pay to serve diners on public property was proof Mayor Wu hates White Italian men, even though two of them are women and another of Hispanic origin, this week asked a federal judge to let them drop their lawsuit over the fee.

The owners of Vinoteca di Monica, Monica's Trattoria, Antico Forno, Terramia Ristorante and Rabia's Dolce Fumo filed a motion on Wednesday asking US District Court Judge Indira Talwani to dismiss the case without prejudice in "the interests of justice." In a reply today, Boston Corporation Counsel Adam Cederbaum said Mayor Wu has no objection to the case going away.

The restaurant owners sued in April, 2022 over a $7,500 fee the city imposed on North End restaurants that wanted to continue the previous year's program to allow outdoor dining on sidewalks and in parking spaces - a measure initially developed when Covid-19 forced limits on indoor dining. Officials said the fee, applied only in the North End, was required because of the North End's unique conditions, which included the need for extra attention to sanitation and traffic details - and to pay for garage parking for residents of the densely packed neighborhood who would lose access to on-street spaces.

The restaurant owners said this was all a violation of their rights to due process and equal protection, but that $1.5 million each would make them whole again.

The four owners did not initially charge Wu with being prejudiced against White Italian men, but filed a revised complaint after Talwani expressed skepticism over their case last October. As proof of the mayor's alleged seething hatred against White Italian men, they cited a joke she made about "white" snow at the 2022 St. Patrick's breakfast in South Boston and the fact the city started a tourism campaign aimed at Black and Brown tourists.

For two of the owners, Carla Gomes and Jorge Mendoza, this is the second time they've failed to get any money out of the city over its policies related to Covid-19.

In January, another federal judge threw out a lawsuit by them and several other people over a city requirement between Dec. 20, 2021 and Feb. 28, 2022 that people show proof of vaccination to enter certain indoor public spaces, including restaurants. They and the other plaintiffs in that case had sought $6 million apiece from the city, but the judge said all of them failed to show specific individual harm from the order.

In both cases, the restaurant owners were represented by attorney Richard Chambers of Lynnfield.