SAY GOOD BITE!
The Carnegie Deli, a New York institution since 1937 but rocked by sex and money scandals in recent years, will soon serve its last “Woody Allen.”
The iconic home to gigantic Jewish-style sandwiches — like the four-inch-high, pastrami-and-corned-beef “Woody” — will close its doors forever on Dec. 31.
Owner Marian Harper Levine broke the news to heartbroken employees Friday morning after her two-year struggle to save the beloved but embattled eatery came up short.
Levine, 65, said, “I’m very sad to close, but I’ve reached the time of my life when I need to take a step back.”
The news will also sadden New Yorkers who loved Carne- gie Deli’s belt-popping sandwiches and kitschy confines — even as a seamy drama unfolded behind the pickle jars.
The Carnegie Deli boasts hundreds of celebrity photos — including of comedians for whom it was a second home, such as Sid Caesar and Jackie Mason.
But although Borscht Belt banter filled the air, there were few laughs for Marian in recent years.
Her late father, Milton Parker, bought the business in 1976. But when he retired in 2002, he turned control over to son-inlaw Sandy Levine, who wed Marian in 1991. She trusted him to run the business.
Then, in 2012, employees claimed in federal court that Carnegie had cheated them out of $2.6 million in wages.
Two years later, Marian sued Sandy for divorce when she discovered he was having a longtime affair with a waitress, Penkae Siricharoen, to whom Sandy gave a free apartment upstairs.
Marian also accused him of conspiring with his girlfriend to embezzle $10 million from her and from the restaurant. She even charged that Sandy let Siricharoen steal Carnegie recipes that she allegedly used in her family’s copycat eatery in Thailand.
Next, Con Ed discovered in April 2015 — soon after a fatal gas explosion downtown — that Carnegie Deli had hooked up an illegal gas line to lower its bill. The city shut it down for nine months — which also left apartment tenants upstairs without heat or hot water for cooking.
Marian blamed her horny husband for the gas violation and a judge agreed, calling him the “shyster of smoked meat” and ordering the owners to pony up $2.6 million to the workers.
Reeling under the strains, Marian — who owns the six-story building at 854 Seventh Ave. — quietly sold its air rights last December to Extell Development Co. for $9.1 million.
She managed to reopen Carnegie Deli last February. But the morning-till-midnight pressure cooker became too much.
“Marian Harper hopes to keep her father’s legacy alive by focusing on licensing the iconic Carnegie Deli brand,” said her rep, Cristyne Nicholas.