It’s no secret that there’ve been massive delays in liquor licenses lately. To take just two examples, Motorino has been waiting about six months and La Superior about the same. Turns out, it’s not just the slow-churning wheels of bureaucracy that are to blame — a Harlem SLA office was just raided on suspicion of bribery. An employee of the inspector general, which performed the raid, told WCBS, “We believe employees are fast-tracking liquor licenses in exchange for gratuities, at the expense of legitimate applicants. Our goal is to level the playing field and make the State Liquor Authority more responsive to the community.” Let’s hope this ultimately makes it easier for restaurants to score liquor licenses. Good news for restaurateurs and cocktail lovers, bad news for those who’ve been enjoying this golden age of BYOB.
