“It was not just the potential increase in rent,” he said. “It was the increase of the small business — City Hall — trying to stay in business because of the increase in operating costs. Everybody is going to be facing that in 2016. I mean, there’s going to be a 50 percent increase in the tipped employees’ salaries. The cost of labor is a determining factor, and so is the cost of goods. When I started, salmon was $1.65 a pound. Now it’s at $3.95 a pound.” (Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced in February that the minimum wage for restaurant workers who receive tips would increase to $7.50 an hour, from $5 an hour, starting on Jan. 1.)

Mr. Meer said new city requirements for benefits such as paid sick leave had also made it more difficult to make a profit.

“City Council people, I jab them” when they come in, he said. “They’ve never had to make a payroll.”

Mr. Meer said the developers of the luxury Westfield World Trade Center mall had approached him about opening a restaurant there. But he said that his other passion was wine and spirits, and that he planned to open a wine store in the new mall, which is set to open in spring 2016. (The opening of the mall has been delayed by problems like leaks.) Mr. Meer could not have a wine store with a restaurant because the State Liquor Authority forbids retailers that sell liquor from also selling food prepared in an adjacent kitchen.