Jerry Remy's hauled before licensing board after city inspector breaks a picture frame there

The Boylston Street restaurant had to send a manager and a lawyer to the Boston Licensing Board today to explain why police on a routine inspection on June 9 found its various licenses in a binder at the hostess station, rather than prominently posted on a wall as required by law.

The pair explained that the licenses had been posted in a custom picture frame by the front door, but that earlier in the day, an inspector from the city Inspectional Services Department managed to break the frame when taking it down to look at one of the certificates during his own inspection. Workers cleaned up the glass and then put the paper into a binder for safekeeping until the manager could go to a nearby CVS to pick up a temporary replacement frame. Unfortunately for him, police arrived that evening for a random inspection.

This is just the latest example of local restaurants and bars being forced to hire lawyers and send employees before the board to defend themselves against citations issued because of ISD actions - or inaction. The board's Tuesday hearings now typically include two or three involving businesses that had paid for ISD certificates but didn't get them before police showed up for random inspections.

Also today, the owner of the Sevens, 77 Charles St., told the board that the reason police didn't find a valid ISD inspection certificate on his wall on June 14 was because even though he had paid for it back in November, he never got one from ISD.

He said this is actually nothing new - it's been a routine in the 36 years he's operated the bar. In this case, he said he probably forgot to at least post a copy of his canceled check - which police now also know to check for - because last fall, when he sent it in, he was taking care of his wife, then dying of cancer.

Last year, the board had to order several restaurants to shut immediately because they didn't have food-serving licenses.

In all the cases, the restaurant operators, most new to the business or to Boston, said that when they had gone to the ISD offices at 1010 Mass. Ave. and paid for their health and occupancy permits, ISD never told them they'd also need a food-serving license from the Licensing Board, which operates out of City Hall.