The Boston Licensing Board said today it will approve a liquor license for a proposed replacement for the Fenway Cantina on Boylston Street that will feature sophisticated "American comfort food."
Although the board doesn't formally vote until Thursday on Sweet Caroline's application to buy a full liquor license from Petit Robert Bistro in Kenmore Square (which wants to downgrade to just beer, wine and liqueurs), members Suzanne Ianella and Michael Connolly said they would vote to let the place stay open to 2 a.m., at least three nights a week - over the objections of a neighborhood group and city officials, who didn't want to see it open past 1 a.m. Board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer did not indicate how she would vote.
Sweet Caroline's attorney Karen Simao said the restaurant would be similar to the owner's Battery Park in the Financial District - and definitely not a sports bar like Remy's or the Baseball Tavern.
"It's sit-down seating; you're not in a crowded sports-bar environment," she said. Referring to other baseball-oriented restaurants in the area, she said, "none of them are providing the quality of food [Sweet Caroline's owners] are providing."
She said the menu would be very similar to Battery Park's - which, like Remy's features a number of burgers.
She said fairness demanded the restaurant be allowed to stay open until 2 just like those two establishments.
She added the owners specialize in taking over failed bars and restaurants and classing them up. Battery Park was formerly a bar called Cosmopolitan's, which, she said, caused no end of trouble for police. 1260 Boylston, she said, has been the site of three failed restaurants.
City Councilor Mike Ross and the mayor's office both wanted a 1 a.m. closing time, because the restaurant would be on the "residential" side of Boylston. Connolly noted the Baseball Tavern is on that side, too; Ianella noted that people now live on the other side of the street.
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