For Tony Anton, a new liquor law could increase and decrease his business at the same time.
Anton, the owner of 1800 Club, 1800 Sherman Ave., and Mark 2 Lounge, or the Deuce, 7436 N. Western Ave. in Chicago, could gain customers in Evanston and lose them in Chicago if Evanston City Council votes April 22 to bump up the alcohol-serving hours in downtown.
The proposal call for hours to extend to 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday and to 2 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday.
“Because (1800 Club) is primarily a Northwestern bar, it’ll help us,” Anton said, noting that some NU students don’t go out until about 11 p.m. “Initially, it might hurt the Deuce a little bit, but the Deuce has been open for 43 years. In the long haul, I don’t foresee any problems.”
Anton said the Deuce is one of a handful of Chicago bars that can serve alcohol after 2 a.m. New customers from Chicago should replace those lost from Evanston, he said.
Alcohol can be served until 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday in Evanston. Some residents and NU students head to bars in Chicago, such as the Deuce, after Evanston bars close.
The Administration and Public Works Committee voted 4-0 Tuesday to recommend to City Council that Evanston extend bar hours. Initially, the committee debated a 3 a.m. closing time that applied only to Friday and Saturday nights. Jonathan Perman, executive director of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce, lobbied at the meeting for a 3 a.m. closing time every day of the week.
“From a marketing standpoint, it’s a lot easier to advertise your hours as 3 a.m. throughout the week,” Perman told the committee.
But Ald. Ann Rainey (8th), the committee’s chairwoman, said she had reservations about leaving bars open late all week.
“We have some places in downtown Evanston that have some significant social issues late at night, especially when closing,” Rainey said.
The committee accepted Perman’s argument that Thursday was a big night for business and merited a later closing time. This was an important victory, said A.J. Randhava, manager of The Keg of Evanston, 810 Grove St.
“(Thursday is) our busiest night of the week,” said Randhava, who attended the council meeting and said he believes the measure will pass.
While the restaurant community welcomed the extra hours for serving alcohol, several owners said more changes are needed to the city’s liquor laws.
A kink in the proposal is an Evanston law that makes all restaurants offer full meal service as long as they serve alcohol. Restaurants outside the central downtown area must actually serve a meal to customers who order alcohol.
“It’s kind of unfair,” said Pete Rodriguez, co-owner of The Firehouse Grill, 750 Chicago Ave., a restaurant outside the downtown area. “It kind of puts me in an awkward position because the customer sees this as an absurd rule, and I have to enforce an absurd rule.”
Rodriguez said it costs “a substantial amount of money” to keep kitchen staff around late at night. He also said the law makes it difficult for him to take his business in new directions.
“I would love to do jazz music upstairs,” Rodriguez said. “But it’s not beneficial to me if I can’t serve alcohol up there.”
Randhava said the law could help or hurt restaurants depending on how much they spend to keep a kitchen staff on-hand and how many of their customers order food late at night.
Perman said the chamber wants the food service requirement to be dropped late at night.
“We’re trying to examine ways we might be able to change that law,” Perman said. “We’d like to see the restaurants outside the core have the same privileges as those inside the core.”
