May 1, 2003 - There's a new twist on the eat-and-run. 

It's the smoke-and-scram. 

Bar and restaurant owners say some customers are taking advantage of the new ban on smoking in city bars, grills and pubs by ordering, drinking, excusing themselves for an outdoor cigarette -- and then skipping out without paying their bill. 

"I would say on a busy night, it would happen a couple of times," said Andreas Lee, manager of the Jekyll and Hyde Restaurant and Bar on Seventh Ave. South. "You can't tell them they can't go outside." 

In a few of the worst cases, Lee said, whole groups of patrons ordered food and drink, downed most of it -- and then said they were going to catch a quick smoke. 

"They'll start slipping out one by one, and then they'll disappear," Lee said. "We don't have anyone we can just put outside to watch people." 

As the city began enforcing the smoking regulations at midnight yesterday, similar stories were being heard at other spots around town. 

At Merchants NY, a spacious spot at 62nd St. and First Ave., manager Don DeWitt said it has happened more than a few times. 

"The customer orders a second drink," he said, "steps out for a smoke, and the next thing you know, the guy doesn't come back. What are we supposed to do, watch our tables and patrol the sidewalks? You can't be in two places at once." 

At the Subway Inn on E. 60th St., manager Rod Williams said a couple recently left to catch a smoke and never returned to pay the tab. 

But Williams warned other customers not to get the same idea. "I can run. I can jump the bar. I can chase them down the block," he said. 

Others said the new smoking law is a good excuse for anybody who wants to dodge a check -- which they said leaves the bartender or waiter responsible for the tab. 

"All of our waiters are ... college kids," said Lee. "Any table that walks out on them, they have to pay that check. That's general practice in most parts of the industry. That's the sad part. If they get shafted even once, that pretty much blows their whole night." 

The ban went into effect four weeks ago, with the Health Department doing about 3,000 inspections and handing out 71 violations. But those were only warnings during a 30-day grace period. 

Starting today, inspectors can hand out tickets with hefty fines to owners: $200 to $400 for a first offense and $500 to $1,000 for a second. Repeat offenders' licenses could be revoked. 

Department spokesman Greg Butler said inspectors will be looking for ashtrays, no smoking signs and people smoking. He said 331 public complaints have been sent to the department on the city's 311 phone line or the Internet. 

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(c) 2003, Daily News, New York. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.