NEW YORK — New York Mayor Eric Adams enjoyed a two-hour dinner with Andrew Cuomo at a popular Italian restaurant in Manhattan on Tuesday night, raising eyebrows from critics of the former governor, who resigned last year amid a flurry of sexual misconduct accusations.
Fabien Levy, Adams’ press secretary, defended the lengthy dinner at Osteria La Baia in Midtown, saying that the mayor regularly hobnobs with various former government officials “to talk about governance, which is particularly important in these unprecedented times.”
“There was nothing political about the conversation, and the mayor stands by his earlier comments that the former governor should have stepped down, as he did,” Levy said Wednesday.
According to two people familiar with the matter, Adams and Cuomo dined in a private room.
The former Democratic governor enjoyed pan-seared skate while Adams, who identifies as vegan, ate a plant-based dish.
A source close to Adams said the outing did not come at the mayor’s request.
But Cuomo critics questioned why Adams would agree to a meeting with the ex-governor, who resigned in August after State Attorney General Letitia James released a report corroborating allegations that he sexually harassed 11 women, many of them younger staffers.
“Why would Eric Adams even think about taking this meeting?” tweeted Bill Neidhardt, a progressive political strategist who served as former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s press secretary. “Taking policy advice from someone who killed progressive policies is frustrating, but hobnobbing with a serial sexual assaulter is just straight up disgusting.
“A staggering misjudgment from Eric Adams,” Neidhardt added.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi declined to comment about the dinner — but took withering aim at Neidhardt, whose former boss was often at odds with Cuomo.
“That’s an outrageous and defamatory lie from the handmaiden to the worst mayor in New York City history,” Azzopardi said. “He should be ashamed of himself or at least know what slander is.”
Adams’ sit-down with Cuomo came after he earlier in the day attended the wake at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for NYPD Officer Wilbert Mora, one of two officers killed in a shooting in Harlem last month.
The mayor is known to frequent the recently opened La Baia — where the cheapest plate of pasta costs $23 — sometimes dining there several times a week, according to a source close to Adams.
It was not immediately clear when the Cuomo-Adams tête-à-tête was first planned.
Since his resignation, Cuomo has split his time between Manhattan, the Hamptons and Westchester County, says a source close to the former governor.
The former governor and his team have been taking a victory lap this week after the Oswego County district attorney announced it would not pursue charges against him over allegations that he groped an energy company worker at an event in 2017.
The Oswego prosecutor was the fifth DA in the state to not bring charges after opening an investigation into Cuomo over sexual misconduct allegations laid out in James’ report — and Azzopardi used the announcement to slam the AG as being politically motivated.
“The attorney general is a serial liar whose touted 11 cases have now been reviewed by Democratic and Republican district attorneys across the state and have resulted in zero cases being brought,” Azzopardi said in a statement Monday.
In contrast to Azzopardi’s combative tone, Cuomo apologized to his 11 accusers when he announced his resignation last year, saying he took “full responsibility” for his actions.
“I do hug and kiss people casually, women and men. I have done it all my life. It’s who I’ve been since I can remember,” Cuomo said at the time. “In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate.”
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