What if Don Quixote had knocked over the windmill or Sisyphus had gotten over the hump? It wouldn’t be more inspiring than the news that Andy Spitz, owner of the New York Magazine building’s luncheonette, the Inhouse Nosh Café, has won his fight against City Hall. According to Spitz, he made such a powerful case before the Department of Health that they reversed themselves and let the Nosh Café reopen just days after being given 110 points.

“I looked it up. It was illegal what they tried to do!” Spitz tells us emphatically. He claims that according to the code, a request for new equipment (in this case, a new sink) is not cause for an immediate shutdown. “They wouldn’t acknowledge that it was illegal, but they knew.” Inhouse is up and running, but Andy still doesn’t understand why the young inspector who came last week treated him “like an enemy.” He remains outraged: “It’s like the storm troopers in the thirties! They think they can do anything with impunity.” He isn’t satisfied with reopening, either. Spitz says he is considering filing a suit against the city with famously publicity-seeking divorce lawyer Raoul Felder. Maybe the city should just take out its checkbook now.

Earlier: Shuttered Mom-and-Pop Spot Pleads to Powers That Be

Because Even in the High-Rent Chain-Clogged Heart of Manhattan You Can Still Find a Mom-and-Pop [NYM]