New laws ban smoking in all NYC restaurants and bars

The Serafina Sandro restaurant has unveiled its "Tobacco Special" menu to satisfy the cravings of some of the city's estimated 1.3 million smokers.

They can no longer light up in the city's restaurants, following Mayor Michael Bloomberg's anti-smoking laws which came into effect last Sunday.

Delicacies such as filet mignon with a tobacco-wine sauce garnished with dried tobacco, gnocchi made with tobacco and even tobacco panna cotta desert are the result of two months' strenuous testing by the restaurant's chef, cigar-smoker Sandro Fioriti.

The city authorities are also to give smokers free nicotine patches in an attempt to help more people to quit smoking.

'A new spice'

Under New York City's new smoking laws, the city's 13,000 bars and restaurants must now ban smoking on their premises.

NEW YORK SMOKERS City is still home to Philip Morris USA and 30% of North America's cigarettes were once produced in NY area Now has some of the highest cigarette retail prices in the US

As well as fines, owners of offending establishments could eventually have their business licences suspended under the new laws introduced by Mayor Bloomberg, himself a former smoker.

But co-owner of the Serafina Sandro restaurant, Vittorio Assaf, said that he was glad the city mayor had imposed the ban, saying it had encouraged the restaurant employees to produce more inventive dishes.

"It took Mayor Bloomberg to make us finally cook with tobacco in the kitchen," he told Reuters news agency.

"It's the invention of a new spice into the cuisine."

'Wasting funds'

New York City's health department is also planning to give six-week supplies of nicotine patches to smokers who want to quit following the introduction of the smoking ban.

The patches will cost around $100 per person and are only available to the first 35,000 people who put in a call to a specially set up help line called 1-866-NY-QUITS.

City health officials say that they hope at least 7,000 people - one-fifth of the number patches will be offered to - will give up cigarettes, and say they intend to keep in regular contact with those attempting to quit in a bid to offer them support.