Wine and cheese could be returning to Birch Street in Roslindale Square

Update: Approved.

The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to grant a packie license to Kelly Walsh so she can open Russ and Mimi's at 16 Birch St. in Roslindale Square.

The shop would go in the space where the wine shop used to be, next to where the cheese shop used to be, and would sell mostly "local and organic" beer, wine and spirits, as well as sandwiches, Walsh's attorney, Tyler Henseler, told the licensing board at a hearing this morning. Based on the depiction of items on its windows, its menu will also include coffee, food in bowls and jams.

"It's a unique concept for the neighborhood, currently undergoing a revival in the post-Covid landscape," Henseler said.

The shop's doors would open onto what is now a pedestrian plaza and seating area, where the city is currently installing permanent tables, chairs and planters.

Walsh has long experience in the Boston food world: With her then wife, Tiffani Faison, she has owned and operated restaurants that included Tiger Mama and Sweet Cheeks in the Fenway. She also operates a consulting firm that has "helped many small-business owners" in Roslindale Square, Henseler said.

Unlike restaurant liquor licenses, which the board generally no longer has available to simply issue, due to the state legislature's continuing efforts to limit the number of liquor licenses in Boston, the board is routinely able to give out packie licenses.

Nobody spoke against the proposal at today's hearing.