Board doles out full liquor licenses to lucky North End restaurants

The Boston Licensing Board this week granted valuable full-liquor licenses to several North End restaurants that say they need to fend off advances from fancier places on the waterfront.

But with only a total of ten of the new licenses to dole out - and several of those already awarded - the board also denied requests from several restaurants in the North End, on the waterfront and in some other neighborhoods.

The winners of one of the new licenses - which are worth more than $300,000 on the open market - include Cantina Italiana on Hanover Street, possibly the neighborhood's oldest restaurant, Frank DiPasquale's Mare on Mechanic Court and Monica's Trattoria on Prince Street.

Also winning the valuable licenses: Antonio's, an Italian restaurant on Cambridge Street at the foot of Beacon Hill, Earl's in the Prudential Center, which promised Bar Boulud quality food and drinks at Cheesecake Factory prices, Lolita at 253 Summer St., Yotel, an impending hotel on Seaport Boulevard and Scorpion at 25 Northern Blvd.

Losing their bids are the still unopened Ben Cotto on Hanover Street - whose owner said he needed a license to help recoup the life savings he's poured into renovations - Ducali Pizzeria on Causeway Street, which has a beer and wine license, Antico Forno on Salem Street, which also lost a bid to transfer its beer and wine license to a cafe further down the street.

The board is still considering a full-liquor requests from Carmelina's on Hanover Street. And the board deferred action on a request from Scopa, 319 Hanover St., making its third attempt to win a beer and wine license.

Non-North End losers include Nicki Greek Kitchen on Brookline Avenue, which has a beer and wine license, Aloft Lounge on D Street and Haley Henry, a proposed restaurant at 45 Province St. downtown whose owner, Haley Fortier, said would be Boston's first wine-bar restaurant featuring locally sourced beers, wines, meat and fish.

The board deferred action on requests from the Retreat, a proposed restaurant on Sumner Street in Jeffreys Point, East Boston, whose owner says she needs the license as collateral for a loan to complete the upscale, 75-seat restaurant.

Restaurants that did not get a license can try to buy one on the open market, or wait until next January, when the board will get the authority to issue another five all-alcohol licenses.