Allston fried-chicken place turned nightclub has liquor license suspended until owner shows up to explain herself

The Boston Licensing Board today indefinitely suspended the liquor license for Crave, 128 Brighton Ave. in Allston, because its owner neither showed up nor sent anybody to represent her at a hearing this week over a growing list of problems cited by police, from violence to traffic-clogging double parking outside.

Board members added that once owner Susan Cheng or a representative does appear before them, they will not only bring up the issues raised at that hearing but consider rolling back the place's current 1 a.m. closing time, because it seems that's currently the time when BPD District D-14 reports having most of its problems there.

Also at issue is whether there's anybody even really in charge there. At Tuesday's hearing, a D-14 sergeant said that when he responds there for a problem - such as running nightclub-like entertainment without an entertainment license, he is often told Cheng is "in Thailand." Board rules require license holders to have a designated manager either on premises or available to respond quickly in an emergency.

"The person who is accountable to us is nowhere to be found," board member Liam Curran said. "We can't let them continue to operate and serve alcohol under those circumstances."

Crave, just around the corner from Harvard Avenue, started as a Korean fried-chicken place, but over the past year has been more frequently run at night as a nightclub, often with a DJ and with valet parking - in which the valet often just double parks cars outside. Crave doesn't have a formal entertainment license. Over the past year, it has gotten a number of short-term temporary entertainment licenses, but none since July, according to the city's licensing database.

Watch the licensing-board hearing: