Deciding where to escort your sweetie to eat can be a battle that escalates into a World War III fracas: French versus Mexican! Steakhouses versus tapas! Now consider the fireworks if loved ones decided to work in or—egads—co-own a restaurant. It’s either a powder keg waiting to explode…or business and pleasure mixed in the finest fashion.

Here are the stories of four couples, from Applewood’s Laura and David Shea to Clinton St. Baking Company’s DeDe Lahman and Neil Kleinberg, who have turned pressure-cooker restaurant gigs into a labor of love.


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Alicia Nosenzo and Jason Liebman

Jason Liebman and Alicia Nosenzo have been married for five years, but they never meant to meet. “We had a mutual friend who wanted to set us up on a blind date,” says Nosenzo, co-owner of the West Village’s Perilla.

“But neither of us were interested in a blind date,” adds Liebman, a waiter (at Market Table) and actor (currently in the flick “Arranged.”) Then, one party-hearty eve they crossed paths and ended up together until sunrise, grabbing a 6 a.m. diner breakfast. Two years later to the day, they eloped—to City Hall. That was easy. Working together? Trying.

A year into their relationship, when Nosenzo was general manager at Red Cat, co-owner Danny Abrams decided to open The Harrison. Abrams wanted to hire Liebman as a Harrison waiter. “I said, No way,” Nosenzo recalls. “I had no idea if he was a good waiter.”

Still, he nabbed the job, and a year later, Nosenzo became the Harrison’s manager of operations. “It was challenging, because he’s very opinionated,” Nosenzo admits, “and my job was to keep the staff in line.” Even the simplest gesture was loaded. “I’d put my hand on her shoulder, and she’d be like, ‘Your hand is on my shoulder,’” Liebman recalls, smiling.

Nowadays with Perilla, the duo’s trying a different tactic. He stays off Perilla’s payroll, and they spend downtime cooking, catching movies and walking their pooch. Yet that doesn’t mean that Perilla is off-limits. “His birthday was the day before Perilla opened,” Nosenzo says, “and he was in here putting together the bar and unpacking boxes,” Nosenzo.

“She needed me here,” Liebman says. “It was the least I could do.”

Fave date spots: Babbo, Lupa, Hasaki, Franny’s 


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DeDe Lahman and Neil Kleinberg

“Neither Neil nor I set out to have a love partnership turn into a business,” says DeDe Lahman who, along with her hubby of seven years, Neil Kleinberg, runs Morningside Heights’ eco-conscious Community Food & Juice and Lower East Side brunch mainstay Clinton St. Baking Company.

Their collaboration began with a chance encounter at the West Village’s A Salt and Battery that, 10 months later, turned into marriage. And a business venture: When they met, Kleinberg was opening Clinton St. “with a real crum,” so Lahman—then a freelance writer who ran an apparel company—bought him out.
    
At both restaurants, Lahman handles back-end duties (bills, press), while Kleinberg controls the kitchen. Constructing the menu, however, is a two-way street.
    
“The way I used to do it is, I’d be getting stoned with chefs over a drink and talking about recipes,” Kleinberg quips.
    
“Maybe I’ll come up with an idea about something seasonal, write it down and send it to him,” adds Lahman.
    
“Then we kind of fight, kind of yell, go back to the drawing board, revise and that’s it,” Kleinberg says.
    
They’ve also found a way to keep their sanity and not work 100-hour weeks. “We’re at the point where he doesn’t have to cook every night, and I don’t have to stand at the host station every night,” Lahman says. “Neil and I can fight the good fight and still go home and love each other.”

Fave date spots: Pearl Oyster Bar, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Flor de Mayo


LAURA AND DAVID SHEA + KAREN AND DAVID WALTUCK —>


Photo by Elizabeth Weinberg