In a city with a shortage of liquor licenses, one East Boston restaurant's travails could be another's salvation

The Boston Licensing Board, which had already given John Tyler one last chance to prove he could actually run a restaurant in the Maverick Square building he co-owns with his ex-wife, voted today to schedule a revocation hearing for its liquor license as soon as possible after receiving word his latest restaurant has failed.

Also today, the board voted to approve a full liquor license for the re-opened Italian Express, just a short walk away at 336 Sumner St., "subject to the availability" of a license.

The board doesn't currently have any licenses to dole out, because the state legislature keeps stomping on requests from Boston for more, so Italian Express and the more than 1,000 people who signed petitions over just three days supporting its bid - including state Sen. Lydia Edwards - will have to wait. But if the board agrees to yank the license for Tyler's 154 Station, it could possibly award it to Italian Express.

Back in August, the licensing board told Tyler it was giving him one last chance to re-open a restaurant in the former Welfare building he and his now ex-wife bought at a steep discount from the city in 2011.

Since they began divorce proceedings in 2016, Tyler and his ex-wife have been battling in court over ownership and operation of a restaurant in the building - with a total of four separate lawsuits in Suffolk Superior Court, including actions in which the LLC they jointly own to run the restaurant has sued both of them separately.

In August, with the Maverick House restaurant shut, Tyler, in a plan opposed by his wife, Melissa, proposed bringing in a local restaurant owner to run a new restaurant in the building. The board approved the plan, even after a contentious hearing at which Melissa accused John of locking out the separate operator she had hired to re-open the space.

At its meeting this morning, as soon as Executive Secretary Danny Green read the agenda item to discuss a letter from Tyler that his latest effort, 154 Station, was closed and that he was attempting to find yet another third party to run a restaurant there, board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce simply said "Please schedule a non-use hearing immediately."

The Maverick Street space has a restricted "neighborhood" license, which means that it can only be used in certain designated parts of the city, and cannot be resold.

That might be good for Italian Express, whose owner, James Ianuzzi was forced to sell his non-restricted beer-and-wine license he had when the pandemic destroyed his business and forced him to close.

Ianuzzi, who recently re-opened, said he was seeking to obtain a full liquor license - which would let him sell hard liquor in addition to beer and wine - based in part on the fact that other nearby restaurants have such licenses and because people have asked for it.

He said that to go along with such a license, he's installed an 8-seat bar to go with the existing 22 table seats, and expanded his menu.

Edwards, who lives in East Boston supported his bid, saying she had been a frequent customer in Italian Express's previous incantation. Its closing "was very devastating to a lot of us in East Boston," she said, adding Ianuzzi had created a neighboring gathering spot and that before he closed the restaurant, he had turned his kitchen into a source of meals for local non-profits hard hit by pandemic issues themselves.

"They fed a lot of people," she said, adding that not only was the restaurant a neighborhood gathering spot, it was particularly welcoming to the LGBTQ community.

A liaison for the city's Office of Neighborhood Services said that Jeffries Point residents who attended a meeting on the proposed liquor license unanimously supported Ianuzzi.