The Madison Alcohol License Review Committee will meet Wednesday, March 19, at 5:30 p.m. As detailed in its agenda (PDF), here are some of the new establishments seeking licenses and other key orders of business.
The new revival of the Tip Top Tavern continues, with a request for outdoor patio space to hold 60. The Tip Top is also requesting a 21-plus entertainment license to include "open mic, jazz, poetry, DJs, small group performance, blues jam, acoustic music."
A new tenant appears to be in the works for the former Talula, 802 Atlas Ave. Now, it is a proposed Mexican and South American restaurant, to be called Lagartos. The plan is coming from Dale Beck, who also runs the Locker Room, Murphy's and the Bayou restaurants in Madison. (Murphy's currently hosts a Latino-themed nightclub on site Thursday through Saturday, which is similarly named Largarto.) Also being requested is an 18+ entertainment license for DJs, Latin music and mariachi bands. Anticipated opening date is listed as November 2014.
In a previous incarnation, which gave the building its hot-salmon pink exterior, it was Mexicali Rose, a branch of the Mexican restaurant located in Wisconsin Dells. The building has also housed CJ's and was originally built as the Pig's Ear supper club. Last April, a "full service catering and special event hall" was proposed for the space from former participants in the troubled My Buddies sports bar, but that failed to materialize.
The new cocktail spot proposed by Hastings Cameron, Josh Swenzel and Gilbert Altschul for an old house at 1380 Williamson St., next to Grampa's Pizza, is on the agenda for this month's ALRC meeting, but it will likely be deferred due to a letter from the Marquette Neighborhood Association. The organization hopes to talk at greater length with the proprietors at its board meeting on March 20. Plans for "Two Straws," as it will be called, are for bars on the first and second floors, and "snacks" as the only food; the projected opening date is listed as July 15.
World Buffet has applied for a license for the former Pedro's space at 499 D'Onofrio Dr. There is a another World Buffet in Monona. There are no plans for a sit-down bar and projected alcohol sales are estimated at 5% total revenue. The owner of the High Point Shopping Center, which under an easement shares some of its parking lot with the building, has filed a letter in protest stemming from the owner of the building (not the operators of World Buffet) failing to pay costs for snow plowing. Its projected opening date is April 1.
An item that's just a little bit different from the usual is "Amending Section 11.06(7)(j) of the Madison General Ordinances to prohibit alcohol consumption while operating a pedal-cab or as a passenger of a pedal-cab." This is in regard to businesses such as the Capitol Pedaler, a.k.a. the Big Red Bike, which feature multiple bike seats/pedaling stations and have been known to pub-crawl, but up until now have not been able to serve alcohol on board. With state regulations loosening, the city will be firming up its own rules, as the item is sponsored by Mayor Soglin.
