Community opposition to an upcoming liquor license request for the controversial restaurant Tilted Kilt reached critical mass Thursday evening as an online petition exceeded its target goal of 100 signatures.
More than 130 residents – many asking for an outright denial of the license application at Tuesday’s liquor control board meeting – signed the public appeal as of 8 p.m. Tuesday night.
Their complaints about the Celtic-themed sports bar center sharply on its risque, Hooters-like dress code. On the restaurant’s website, waitresses are pictured wearing outfits that reveal bare midriffs and cleavage.
This controversial aspect raises a red flag for Evanston lawyer Cynthia Farenga, who launched an organized effort against the Tilted Kilt proposal Thursday morning. Along with fellow attorney and Evanston resident Kathleen Flaherty, Farenga started the online petition, and both are gathering Tilted Kilt opponents to persuade liquor control board members in person Tuesday.
Farenga said she has a vested interest in the potential sports pub because her law office is on the second floor of the Fountain Square Building, 1600 Orrington Ave. Local businessman Ted Mavrakis has advanced plans to fill a street-level tenant space in the city plaza with the Tilted Kilt.
This proximity to downtown passers-by is even more concerning, Farenga added.
“I didn’t move to Evanston – which is a progressive community – so that my three kids could walk down the street and look at barely dressed women,” she said. “And just so Ted Mavrakis can make a buck.”
Farenga claimed the Tilted Kilt is “basically selling sex appeal” after perusing various sections of its website. She said she understands proponents’ freedom-of-speech defenses, but asserted Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl, who acts as the city’s liquor board commissioner, must consider the community good in formulating a final decision.
Evanston resident Liz Reeves, the petition’s 100th signee, agreed that the Tilted Kilt’s business model promotes questionable morals. She said Evanston youth already struggle with image issues and the eatery’s mission is “putting it right in front of their faces.”
“I think it’s awful,” she said. “It’s terrible. What they’re marketing is frankly offensive and counter to our community values.”
But the Irish establishment has moderate allies in the community, including long-time Evanston resident John Brinkman. He admitted to not being fully familiar with the restaurant’s nature but said it could not be entirely worse than any given night at local bar The Keg,. At that Evanston staple, he described an NU student mentality of “how little I can show off.”
“I don’t really see what the point of any opposition is,” Brinkman said. “It makes no sense. It’s silly to deny the enterprise that license.”
ASG off-campus senator Steven Monacelli also described the liquor license request as far from alerting.
“There’s not that many options for students to go get a drink off campus,” he said. “I can see how it could be a good thing for students.”
Farenga rejected similar sentiments that any business can be a healthy addition to the local economy. She said Evanston developers might as well transform the downtown area into an “adult entertainment venue” if that’s the mind-set Tilted Kilt backers are willing to express.
Regardless, she hinted at likely triumph for the restaurant’s critics at Tuesday’s meeting.
“If even a fraction of those people appear and comment, there’s a very good case (Tisdahl) will deny the license,” Farenga said. “It’s all her discretion now.”
Tuesday’s liquor control board meeting is at 6 p.m. in room 2200 of the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.
