Update: Nicky Rottens Confrontation Includes Anti-Semitic Slurs

For developments in this story from March 2012, see Restraining Orders issued in Nicky Rottens Dispute.

Update, 9:25 p.m. The City Council voted to approve the parking plan offered by Nicky Rottens, in partnership with a hardware store. The Planning Commission rejected the plan last month (see link below). Valet service will be required though, according to a city official.

A video depicting the owners of Nicky Rottens in a confrontation with a neighbor includes anti-Semitic and homophobic language, though it is unclear who is being targeted.

Nick Tomasello, one of the owners, maintains he is. His mother is Jewish and he says when he told Tom Wucherer, who owns a condo behind the restaurant, of his heritage, Wucherer directed the racial epithet at him.

Critics of Tomasello and his business partner, Tim Aaron, arranged gatherings over the holiday weekend to show the video, and have implied that the owners are using the language. Tomasello denied the allegation.

An attorney for Wucherer, Jihan Murad, said her client did not use the anti-Semitic term.

“I think you have to listen carefully again to hear what people are saying,” she said. “There are lot of people talking at once, but it is not my client who said it.” 

The video, viewed by a Patch contributor, was shot following in an attempt to meet city parking requirements for restaurants. The council will review the decision Tuesday.

The footage shows co-owners Nick Tomasello and Tim Aaron arriving at their Orange Avenue eatery. They join Tomasello's father Domenico. 

The trio head behind the establishment, where they confront Wucherer, a persistent critic of the restaurant.

The exchange is filled with profanity. At one point, the words “a f---ing f-g” and “a f---ing Jew” can clearly be heard. Someone says, “Don't touch me.” 

Murad alleged in a letter to the city that her client was threatened during the confrontation, but no threat can be heard.

Tomasello denied making the homophobic remark and said he didn't recall hearing the words. Murad said her client didn't use that term either.

Wucherer, an architect who lives in Las Vegas, did not return calls.

The footage of the confrontation is spliced together with a video from November showing Tomasello arguing outside the restaurant with another critic, Steve Rauber. The confrontation turns heated and Tomasello has to be held back from Rauber by Aaron.

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Critics say there should not be another business serving liquor on the block; supporters maintain a restaurant is better than a dedicated bar, one of the storefronts Nicky Rottens replaced.

Tomasello's mother is the former Karen Silberman, daughter of Richard Silberman, a Jack-in-the-Box co-founder. His uncle Jeff Silberman was the president of Temple Beth Israel in San Diego. 

Tomasello accuses critics, particularly Wucherer and Rauber, of trying “to bait us into confrontations.”

“It makes it quite difficult to come to work every day when I know I will be faced with unsettling threats from my two immediate neighbors that seem to think it's appropriate to threaten myself and my family with comments (about) bankruptcy, being called a f---ing Jew, and miscellaneous lawsuits and verbal wishes of failure,” he said.

He and Aaron also say they have not been shown the video despite numerous requests for a copy.

Rauber said other business owners have complained about Tomasello and Aaron, including those behind the Coronado Brewing Company, one of the area's most prominent eateries. 

The brewery's co-owner, however, denied that he had concerns.

“It's not true,” Ron Chapman said.