To paraphrase J. Walter Weatherman... and that's why you don't set your bar on fire.

Mr. Trummer, who is 40 and Austrian born, also gained notice for occasionally pouring alcohol along the bar top and setting it aflame. This delighted patrons, but not the Fire Department. Early Sunday, fire marshals arrested Mr. Trummer at the bar, at 9 Doyers Street, minutes after he drizzled various liquors and, apparently, ignited them.

"It was a huge fireball," said Robert Byrnes, the city's chief fire marshal. "It was in close proximity to decorations, curtains and combustible materials. This type of reckless conduct is not tolerated."

Apotheke, which is German for pharmacy, opened in 2008, and was featured -- along with Mr. Trummer's flame show -- in an episode of "The Real Housewives of New York City," when one of the characters, LuAnn de Lesseps, went there on a date.

Chief Byrnes said an anonymous tip alerted the Fire Department to Mr. Trummer's penchant for setting booze alight. Undercover fire marshals visited Apotheke in mid-May, but there was nothing on fire that night. Mr. Trummer was issued several violations anyway, the chief said, among them failure to have a permit for an open flame -- an infraction that could include lighting candles without a permit -- as well as overcrowding and having improper fire retardants.