Restaurants

The Boston Licensing Board voted last week to cancel the liquor license for a still unopened restaurant at the 45 Province luxury high-rise project, as reported by the Universal Hub website. 45 Province spent $225,000 for a liquor license in 2008 in anticipation of finding somebody to operate the three-story restaurant included in the housing […]

Good piece in Wine Spectator about corkage laws, and whether it makes sense for more states to allow people to “BYOB.” Massachusetts is one of the states that permits BYOB and corkage only at establishments that do not have their own liquor license.

In back to back liquor violation hearings that took several hours to resolve, selectmen last week meted out punishments to the Mansfield Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3264 and Sake Steak House, reports the Mansfield News. The Sake restaurant received a letter of reprimand and agreed to a make a $1,000 “voluntary donation” to the […]

The Martha’s Vineyard Times reports that the Oyster Bar Grille in Oak Bluffs has operated year-round without the required license to serve alcohol, according to town officials. Oak Bluffs police have told the financially troubled restaurant’s owners that the establishment cannot reopen as scheduled, February 10, without proof of a valid year-round alcohol license. The […]

Some area restaurant owners say legislation supported by 20 state senators and representatives that would eliminate the state’s 6.25 percent meals tax on food and alcohol for a week in March would give local restaurants much-needed attention, reports the Worcester Telegram. Multiple snowstorms have kept people stuck inside, and the proposed meals tax holiday March […]

North End residents are criticizing a proposal by two North End restaurants to stay open an hour later, saying the change will spark more noise in the close-knit neighborhood. “I’ve lived in the North End for 37 years and I love city living,” said Mary McGee, a member of the North End Waterfront Residents’ Association, […]

The Sun Chronicle with a unique story on a Mansfield Japanese restaurant getting into some hot water for its free squirts of Sake. Sake Steak House in Mansfield Crossing has reined in part of its popular “hibachi” dining performances after the restaurant received complaints from the parents of a 19-year-old customer. Mansfield Police Chief Arthur […]

Interesting piece in the Patriot Ledger about how a new auditing service helps restaurants keep track of how much alcohol it is selling, and also potentially wasting. The service is designed to help businesses reap additional profits.

Haverhill Fire Chief Richard Borden has lost his attempt to close the Blue Finn Grille and force the owners to install an expensive fire sprinkler system. Restaurants like the Blue Finn Grille that seat fewer than 100 diners are not typically required to have sprinklers. However, Borden contended that the building had sprinklers at some […]

The Sun Chronicle (Attleboro) reports that Toby Keith’s yet-to-open Patriot Place bar needs new a liquor license because of state law created after The Station nightclub fire took 100 lives on Feb. 20, 2003, in West Warwick, R.I. Keith’s “I Love This Bar & Grill” was scheduled to open in August at 275 Patriot Place […]

The city of Lynn’s License Commission has voted to approve the transfer of a beer-and-wine license to Lupita at 18-20 Munroe St, a 48-seat Mexican-style eatery, formerly home to the Pho Lynn restaurant, which opened in September but did not have the necessary license to sell beer and wine. Since then, it has operated under […]

The Lawrence Eagle Tribune published an editorial last week theorizing that if police accounts are accurate, the Capital Cafe & Grill in Lawrence should not be granted a liquor license. Police say owner Juan Carlos Ramirez has been running an illegal after-hours club, serving alcohol without a license and providing exotic dancers for entertainment. Ramirez’s […]

A yet-to-open pizza restaurant in Allston will have its recently approved liquor license revoked because of a zoning discrepancy, according to boston.com. The decision comes after neighbors complained about the proliferation of beer-and-pizza establishments in the area. The business, Stone Hearth Pizza on Western Avenue, applied for and was initially approved in mid-November under the […]

Three years ago, The Exchange at the Wenham Tea House was issued Wenham’s first liquor license. Soon, the Salem News reports, the restaurant may have another first: selling bottles of wine with its quiches, potpies and other takeout meals. The Legislature recently greenlighted a home rule petition for the town to change its liquor license […]

Falmouth Selectmen reduced its suspension of the Cape Verdean Club’s liquor license this week from 60 days to two weeks after conducting its second hearing related to several parties that have taken place there leading to noise complaints, fights, a stabbing, and a police officer being injured, according to the Cape Cod News. At the […]

Patrons can now order alcohol at the Ramada Inn and DiParma Italian Tables Restaurant, according to patch.com, an online local newspaper. After the Board of Selectmen suspended the liquor license of Seekonk Hospitality Group Inc. in November for not filing correct paperwork and failing to rectify legal requirements, business has been tough. But board members […]

At the Nov. 3 Seekonk (MA) Board of Selectmen meeting, members suspended Seekonk Hospitality Group’s liquor license until they filed updated paperwork with the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC). The snag forced The Ramada Inn and the adjacent Di Parma Restaurant – which uses the license to serve patrons – to remove all alcohol from […]

The Patriot Ledger reports that the Norwell police department has gotten all but two of the liquor license holders in town to agree to participate in its new designated driver program, which it hopes to launch before Thanksgiving. Officer Tim O’Brien, who has spearheaded the effort, told the Ledger that nine of Norwell’s bars and […]

The Boston Globe reported that the head of the city’s Licensing Board said that the Lansdowne Street bar where a man was killed by a broken beer mug last week will retain its liquor license and that the board will support the pub’s right to use glassware. I reported in this blog yesterday that the […]

The Lansdowne Pub in Boston, where a man was killed by a broken beer glass early Saturday morning, will switch to plastic cups and non-glass bottles until a city licensing hearing next month, the Boston Globe reports. Patricia Malone, Boston’s director of consumer affairs and licensing, said the bar will not use glass at least […]

The Wellesley Townsman had an intriguing piece about a good, old-fashioned Wellesley mystery — College Square Pizza has closed, seemingly for good, and its owner has vanished. Reporter Teddy Applebaum details the November 2008 incident in which Wellesley restaurateur Theofanis “Theo” Tsitos careened off a Natick road and proceeded to crash his black Mercedes, while […]