Governor Hochul sneaks in with a proposal to ban the sale of gas stoves, causing outrage in New York.

Here’s what will leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.

Gov. Hochul quietly slipped a proposal to ban new gas stoves into the “New York City Housing Pact” she unveiled during her State of the Union address on Tuesday, leaving angry chefs across the city fearing the plan could lead to the reopening of eighty-six gourmet restaurants in the Empire State. .

“This is just a farce designed to calm the movement of the awakened ones,” restaurateur Stratis Morfogen was indignant on Wednesday.

Hohul’s plan calls for a ban on gas stoves, water heaters and oil-fired stoves in both new residential and commercial construction by the end of the decade. While the plan may irritate the home chef, Morfogen said that for professional chefs, it will “stop growth and destroy our industry.

“Electricity can work for a quick casual. However, gourmet food is impossible to work with an electric kitchen,” said Morfogen, COO of Brooklyn Chop House and founder of the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop eateries. “Imagine a guest orders a whole fish weighing between 2 and 3 pounds. It usually takes 40-50 minutes to cook. Now it will take two hours.

“Can’t wait to see Yelp reviews if this happens!” he added regretfully.

Hochul’s move away from gas cooking was not explicitly stated in the speech, but made a vague reference to halting “the sale of any new fossil-fueled heating equipment by 2030”.

If that happened, the goose in New York would be cooked because chefs would not be able to achieve the precise control needed for cooking, said restaurateur James Mallios.

“I never looked at electricity because it could never do the same job,” said Mallios, managing partner of Civetta Hospitality.

“I have cooked with electricity in open markets like Urbanspace and it sucks. It takes forever and people don’t like the results. You can’t get charred – it doesn’t work that way.”

Andrew Righi, chief executive of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, which represents more than 24,000 eateries, also criticized Hole’s plan.

“Not to mention whether chefs choose to cook with gas or not, the cost of opening a new restaurant will skyrocket if someone has to convert existing gas equipment to electric, which can be further complicated by whether the building has an appropriate electrical load. ” he said.

People who prefer home cooking will also be affected, including old-timers and millennials obsessed with cast-iron pans that are difficult to use on electric stoves.

A longtime resident of Sea Gate in Brooklyn, who identified himself as Victor K, said: “I think banning gas stoves is a stupid idea.”

“We had power outages before, during Hurricane Sandy,” said the 70-year-old Russian translator. “The only thing we needed to heat up the food was gas. What if it happens again? It’s just stupid.”

In addition to banning the sale of gas stoves, the Hohul plan requires “all new construction to be zero-emissions starting in 2025 for small buildings and from 2028 for large buildings.”

The governor’s office confirmed on Wednesday that the proposal, which Hochul outlined in terms of helping “residents struggling with high energy bills,” covers residential, commercial and mixed-use buildings with no exceptions.

“Gov. Hochul has made it clear that we must take bold climate action to protect the health and safety of our children, and that 30 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings,” her spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hayes said. reiterating that this only applies to new construction.

“This proposal will not apply to existing gas stoves in existing buildings, such as these restaurants, and will begin the process of identifying appropriate regulations to best protect our planet, our health, and our economy.”

In December 2021, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation to phase out fossil-fueled city heaters, with all new buildings required to be fully electric starting in 2027.

But this law specifically exempts commercial kitchens, in addition to emergency and backup power generators.

Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Fulton) accused Hochul and her fellow Democrats of “promoting a delusional environmental agenda that will bring harsh realities to New Yorkers.”

“She is taking outrageous steps to eliminate gas stoves in new homes and tells people how they can heat their own homes. Natural gas has been a safe and reliable part of our energy portfolio for many years.

“People need to realize the gravity of New York’s overhaul before it’s too late,” he warned.

Hohul’s proposal came a day before President Biden opposed controversial comments from Commissioner Richard Trumka, Jr. of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, who said the new gas stoves could be banned nationwide because of research that links them. with respiratory diseases and other diseases.

“The president does not support a ban on gas stoves,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.