On an unseasonably warm Monday night recently, several restaurants – including Mithaas, an Indian restaurant near Kennedy Blvd. – were teeming with customers who were out for an evening of good local cuisine. But a night manager at Mithaas, who gave his name only as Raj, said that business could be even better.
“You know, there are the working people; they come home late and they want a nice dinner to eat. They come here,” he said. “We don’t serve liquor. Maybe the owner doesn’t want to. But it might be nice to offer wine or beer to the people who want it.”
Raj thinks that some people go elsewhere, including downtown, because they know they can have a beer with their meal.
“We have to compete with them,” he said, “and it’s difficult.”
Since Mithaas is on a block chock full of restaurants, some of which serve liquor, the establishment would currently have a hard time getting a liquor license from the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board. Under current city law, businesses with liquor licenses must be at least 520 feet apart from each other – unless they are in the city’s designated Restaurant Row, which is downtown.
This week the City Council could vote to expand Restaurant Row to include the portion of Newark Avenue where Mithaas and many other restaurants are located.
“This is an area that is in need of a little attention and needs some revitalization.” – Nidia Lopez
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Specifically, the council is weighing an amendment to a city ordinance that would expand Restaurant Row to include Newark Avenue between Kennedy Blvd. and the Pulaski Skyway.
Inclusion in the city’s Restaurant Row zoning law would exempt restaurants like Mithaas, and dozens of additional watering holes at the other end of Newark Avenue, from the 520-foot rule.
In other words, all of the restaurants on Newark, between Kennedy and the Pulasky Skyway, would be eligible to apply for liquor licenses from the ABC Board, even though they are less than 520 feet apart.
With the expansion of Restaurant Row, the city’s hope is to attract more bars and restaurants to the Newark Avenue corridor and to support the bars and restaurants that are already there.
“This is an area that is in need of a little attention and needs some revitalization. So, I support this,” said Nidia Lopez, the Ward C City Councilwoman. She represents the Journal Square community that includes the portion of Newark Avenue that would be included in the expanded Restaurant Row.
The expansion is part of a trend the council began last summer when the scope of Restaurant Row was doubled in size downtown.
Before the change last August, Restaurant Row essentially covered only a five-block radius on Newark Avenue between Grove Street and Jersey Avenue, Jersey Avenue between Newark Avenue and Columbus Drive, and Grove Street to First Street.
The vote to expand Restaurant Row further is slated to take place at this Wednesday’s council meeting at 6 p.m. in City Hall at 280 Grove Street.
Comment at www.hudsonreporter.com. E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.