[Allan Martorana]: Okay, so I guess let's, um, let's start. It's 102. I want to thank my two other commissioners, Commissioner O'Sullivan-Pearce and Commissioner Della Fano. Thank you guys. I was reading the minutes or the agenda, I should rather say, so I get it. It makes perfect sense. We did on February 9th, we did address the alcohol requirements. So there was a lot there. So what we'll do is we'll table The voting of approving the minutes to the march 15 meeting so that's pretty easy so that that makes perfect sense that gives you more time to get that in order for us to review again. So thank you for that i'm going to exercise. Oh, let me see here. I was thinking of a jumping order. Sergeant Lakowicz, do you have to take off? Or I wanted to address the new license request first before we jumped into. OK, thank you. All right, I just want to accommodate. I thank you. Out of all of us, you're probably the busiest. So I'm going to exercise chairman prerogative and I'm going to jump right over to Matsuba Asakaya. I hope I, Ms. Chen, I hope I'm not mispronouncing the name incorrectly, but let's look at that one. The new license at 38 Riverside Ave. I believe it's for malt and wine only. It's not an all alcohol request. So Ms. Chen, are you there?
[Unidentified]: You're on mute. Can you hear me?
[Allan Martorana]: Yes, yes. How are you?
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: Good, how are you?
[Allan Martorana]: Good, good. Thank you for jumping on with us. We have looked at your license and we always ask our new license holders, hey, tell us a little about your plan, what you're doing. Give us a little background on yourself if you don't mind, please.
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: Okay, so I kind of in the restaurant field for like more than 10 years. And myself, I have a Chinese restaurant that's located in one town right now, and it's already making profit. So, and then, so this juicy place is gonna be me and my husband, and then couple of his partners. So my husband, he's been in a social job for like more than 10 years. So I think he's really experienced. and I think we will be doing good if all the staff is replaced.
[Allan Martorana]: I see, I see. But you will be the primary person, correct? Because I see that, I see your name on the application. Let's see, I saw, and you have the majority of ownership in the, The company at 40%, correct?
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: Yes, I'd be 40%. And my lawyer, she's trying to get into this meeting as well. Can some of you guys let her in?
[Daria Tejera]: I'm sorry, I'm trying to get in. I would have gotten a notification.
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: Oh, oh, well. OK, let me see. She's just trying to get in.
[Unidentified]: Yeah, Daria's our host.
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: Let me tell her to unmute herself. She's trying to say something. She's trying to say something, but I don't think she knows how to do unmute. OK, she says she's trying to log in. OK. Okay, so will that be again, sorry.
[Allan Martorana]: No, so no, I was just saying that you're the primary, you have 40% percentage of ownership and you will be the, from what I see, it's a Japanese quality seafood, correct?
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay. And did you say, Ms. Chen, did you say that you just started a new restaurant in Watertown? Is that what you said, or no?
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: I already had one in Watertown. It opened up in 2019, so it has been there for a few years already.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I see, I see. Okay. So is this new business, you're purchasing an existing business?
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: And wanting to add liquor to this existing business?
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: I apologize, I, for some reason I wasn't able to speak. Now I log back in.
[Allan Martorana]: Good. We can see you.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Good afternoon.
[Allan Martorana]: Good afternoon, Tony. Yes. We would just ask Ms. Chen to give us a little background bio, because it's a new license. She's new to the community. So we always want to know a little about our new license holders. We have looked at the application. We can see that it's malt and wine, 36 seats. It's Japanese quality seafood. So again, we're just looking to just get a feel for, our new license holder.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Absolutely, absolutely. Ms. Chan has been a really hard worker. She's been my client for over 10 years now. Her family are all one way or the other involved in the restaurant business. This is a venture with her and her husband mainly, but her auntie is still also on board. So food and the front, like the entire dining room management They are, they have them both covered. Ms. Chen will comply with all the service, all the rules and regulations surrounding alcohol service. So I have high confidence that she'll do a good job. And the food, there's no question. I mean, the family, entire family's been in the sushi Japanese food. restaurant business for over 20 years now. So I, I am highly confident that she'll bring a valuable service to, to the, to the matter area. And I'm very excited about this.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, very nice attorney we, we are to the, we, this commission we welcome all, you know, all alcohol licenses malted wine we, you know where our quest is to help the city grow and become a destination and, and you know we have the Chevalier theater that has a number of great performances there. On show nights, there are hungry patrons all roaming around the square looking to eat. The more establishments that we can get placed into the square, the better it'll be for the entire community and all the business owners too. You know, it should work for everybody. Yes.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Thank you for your encouragement. And as you know, that food actually is the strong area of our service. We apply for alcohol license. We really just want to enhance the patrons dining experience. You know, we're never going to be over serving customers.
[Allan Martorana]: No, that's, that's correct. And I saw, I saw the tip certified. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for including that in there. We, we reviewed that also. We looked at the Corey checks, um, uh, commissioner Delfano, uh, Oh, Sullivan Paris, any, any questions, any, any, uh, I, I, I looked through the package to me. It looked fine. I, I read through the lease. Oh, um, You have until February 19th to act on the line of credit. Will you be acting on the line of credit with Coast Credit? The letter says it's for five days. It says the offer expires in five days. Being a banker, I'm very familiar with this stuff here. So I was just wondering if you were exercising or taking Coast Credit up on their offer.
[L-hLu0ibDYc_SPEAKER_17]: Yeah, absolutely. That's actually the ND's line of credit. She's already withdrawn from the account.
[Allan Martorana]: Perfect, perfect. I'm sorry other commissioners questions.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Um, yeah. Go ahead, then, I guess just my basic question was, is there, there is no, I think I'm familiar with this place I know the building. There's no bar in there because there's no alcohol served. There's not going to be a bar, say, So where would the, do these plans show, the plans are sort of, there's a big packet and they've been like, you know, they've been like scanned in. Where are you going to keep the liquor? And how are you going to keep the liquor at this new place since this is not an existing, you know, setup?
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: I believe there is a basement. Yep, they said storage in the basement. So we're going to keep the boxes of wine or beer down in the basement. And then we do have a cooler coming up that we're going to put it in the front. So when we need to serve customers, we bring it up from the cooler, like a refrigerator.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Like a refrigerator. OK. And then this is just so Commissioner so next door to not to know similar situation right beer and wine they a couple doors down I mean, yeah, and wine, keep it in the refrigerator. So same concept.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, it sounds like the same format. I see right on the application, it says basement for storage and food preparation. Is it a secured site? Is it locked? Are there doors down in the basement? If you were to store all the beer and wine into this area, is there a secured area in the basement or no? Or is it just all open?
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: There is an office place that with the door, we can put the beer wine into that if that's what the requirement is.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, it's just that, you know, we we just don't like, you know, the alcohol store and it's against the wall there, you know, so we'd like some controls. And I think that's where I don't mean to put words in your mouth. Ben, but I think that's kind of where we was going. If it, if we know it's in a kind of secured location in the basement, not just on the pallets there.
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: Yes, of course.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay, good. Anything else? Commissioner Delfano, any questions on your mind?
[Robert Delafano]: No, I basically just had a question. I was curious. It really has nothing to do with the liquor license, but I noticed it's Japanese, you know, sushi bar and grill. Is the grill, is it like in traditional Japanese restaurants, some traditional Japanese restaurants that they grill right at your table? Is that the type of facility this is? Or it's more like a Chinese restaurant that it's grilled in the kitchen and made in the kitchen and then brought to your table?
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: It's gonna be going to kitchen and bathroom table.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. Okay, great. Terrific. Yeah, and I have no other further questions. Everything looks like it's an order to me. Okay, yeah, no, I concur with that.
[Allan Martorana]: Just, Ms. Chen, could you pronounce the name of the restaurant so I can hear it correctly?
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: It's Matsuba Itakaya.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay, okay, it's a kaya. Okay, thank you. Well, I don't have any questions. If you guys would like to, one of my fellow commissioners to make a motion, we can move forward.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I can make the motion to grant the new license for Malton Wine to Matsuba Isaac Kaya, associate director at 38 Riverside Ave in Medford.
[Allan Martorana]: All right, guys. You need a second? Ben, can you second that?
[Robert Delafano]: I think we lost Ben.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I'm here again.
[Robert Delafano]: Oh, I'm sorry.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: I didn't see you. I'll second that. And that's great. Good luck.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay, good. Then hearing and seeing no objections, the motion carries. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Very good. Congratulations. You're off and running. Welcome to the community. We can't wait for you to get going and then we'll all come and visit and have supper. So thank you. Thank you very much. Good luck.
[MCM00001434_SPEAKER_03]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon.
[Allan Martorana]: Thank you guys. Let's, uh, a very short agenda, just two items on the, on the list. Uh, but the second one is, uh, is of most importance. Um, uh, Mr. Correa, are you still with us?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: I am still here. Yes.
[Allan Martorana]: All right. Thank you. Thank you for attending. You know, um, uh, we, uh, I, um, I recognize your efforts to keep your establishments moving forward. I mean, I applaud you. That's exactly what we want. We want all our owners to you know, make their establishments bigger and better and successful. And this is exactly what we want. We ask of all our, you know, license holders. But I have to tell you, it appears like you have gone off the rails a bit, okay? And it was brought to our attention that some Method residents had seen your advertisement on the internet, and it was looking and appearing as a restaurant versus a club. And you currently hold a club license with the city, with the License Commission. But it just, like I said, for whatever reason, it looked like it went off the rails and you were acting as a restaurant. And that's, like I said, that's kind of what it appears. Sgt. Lakowicz, do you want to add anything at this point or do I, or how should I keep moving forward with what I was thinking?
[Rory Lockowitz]: Everybody hear me okay?
[Rory Lockowitz]: I mean, procedurally in the past, just kind of go through how did we end up here? I don't think, based on the complaint, I have a whole lot to say. Just procedurally, I received communication from City Hall about at least two different complaints that Casa do Benefica was operating as a restaurant versus a club. I looked into the matter, focused on Internet searches and the services of a Portuguese-speaking officer within the department. And I submitted a report, which I'm assuming everybody, including Mr. Correa, has a copy of? I don't have a copy of it. You do not have a copy? I do not have a copy of this. I believe Darius sent a copy to you.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: And was it an email or through the mail?
[Rory Lockowitz]: An email.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: Email? I didn't get it.
[Daria Tejera]: Sorry, guys. We just have somebody in the office. No.
[Rory Lockowitz]: I'm sorry. Procedurally, I think you get... My apologies. You and I, Mr. Caraviello, we both received the letter to come in today. Yes. And then I present my report here and now. Yes. I'm just going to summarize from the report, without redacting anything that's important, that began to look into the matter. The internet showed a Facebook page from Cambridge Benefica, which appears to be operating at 29 Linden Street in Medford, which is your establishment. Yes. Some 3,000 people follow the site. It appears to advertise for different restaurant specials and karaoke nights. I had a Portuguese-speaking officer from our department go in on off time in plainclothes. She was greeted by a server who explained to her that there were There were specials in the restaurant that she could order takeout. She could use credit cards. She said she was treated very well. She did, in fact, order a meal and was able to take said meal to go. She said it was a sauteed shrimp in a tomato-based soup. gravy, she said it was delicious. She came back with photographs of the menu and the receipts. And the conclusion of our investigation was that there is in fact restaurant service open to the public as opposed to specifically club only members where you have some sort of prior proof that you've been vetted and are a member of the club. Because of these facts, we're summonsed here today for the catch-all article of 204 CMR 205, which is permitting any form of illegality. And that illegality is more on the Board of Health side of the fence as opposed to any other liquor concern. which there was none brought to our attention at this time. I hope that's a fair. No, it's fair.
[Allan Martorana]: Thank you, Sergeant Lockowitz. Ruben, you know, my predecessor always used to say, let's give all our patrons one bite of the apple. And he was always adamant about that. And even with our conversations with the ABCC too, because we kind of reached out and they said, well, once in a while, everyone does make a mistake, but things can be corrected. It's not the end of the world. We're not gonna take your license away and say, leave the city. It's nothing like that where everybody makes a mistake. I just, I wanted to hear from you how, how such a such an event did occur because you you know you are a club. I mean, it's only, it's only members are supposed to be any gas that they want to bring a guest in but not the general public so we, you know, from what such a lot of which is explaining yes we We did get a full report and it come to it did come to our attention by a couple of residents in the city. And so that's why we asked you come in. Let's talk it through. Tell us what what's going on. What happened? How did it? How did it evolve to where it is now?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: What's what's happening is the thing is like we we moved from Cambridge, which was a A club in the basement, you know, I mean, it's in the basement, the first thing when you walk in you greeted by the smell of urine. Okay. It wasn't a very good club. We had like around like 80 members in there. So it wasn't like an extremely big club. We had like pretty much everybody the same people there every day. And what's happening here is that We get an out of hand as our members are not showing like like each member has to have this to get in. We do have a card. You do have to show this to get in. It's has your name, your. your, your, your member number and everything. Now the thing what's happening is, since we didn't expect it to be like this thing that through other proportion. What's happening is like the members come in with a guest. And then like that guest sometimes brings another person with him. Now that person that brought the member that brought that person in. Now that person goes in without the member and bring somebody else with them. And it's just like, what it is, it's like, it's just poor management management of like asking for an ID. All our staff are supposed to ask for this ID, show us your ID, even if we know you or you don't know me. That's the thing that they got to follow. What's happening is they're not following the rules that we set with them. Now, do we need better training? Of course we do. I mean, we are only members club. We don't want to be a restaurant. It's just right now, it's just overwhelmed. Like when somebody sees like a new place, everybody wants to go in and check it out. And what's happening is like members are bringing guests and guests are bringing their guests. It's just continuously like not becoming a members club because we do have members. We started with 80 in Cambridge and went out like over 200 on this one. We have members with these cards going in every time, showing us the cards. Whenever I'm there, I'm asking, like, even though I don't know the person, I'll ask them, like, do you have a membership here? What's happening is, like, the people that work there, well, not work, the people that, I'm the treasurer, I'm the custodian, I'm the dishwasher, I'm the manager. I mean, I do a bunch of things in there. It's just like, I cannot be there all day long just checking everything that goes in and out. I have a job to do. I don't get paid to be in there. It's just I volunteer to be in there. And what's happening is, like I said, it's just getting out of hand. We just need to sit down and have a stricter way of just make sure that the person that's walking in there that is part of the club, that is paying their dues, they're meant to be in there. And if they're not in there, they can become a member. by filling up the application, filling up everything that we require them to fill up. Because each member has to fill up an application, has to sign a piece of paper saying the rules that we set to them and everything. So if a police officer walks in there with plain clothes, it goes to show me that we're doing a mistake of not checking it, not making a harder way of checking people when they're walking in there. I mean, that's our fault. Go ahead.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: So thanks for that explanation. What about the advertising of it on Facebook?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: That's the thing we got to change, like wording. Wording is is really wrong on online right now. We got to change the wording, everything online, say it's a member owns club. If you want to become a member, you have to apply and all that stuff. It's just the person who ever makes the web and made the Facebook and stuff did it without my permission. Like it's it's kind of like. I do, I do my part, and somebody else does their part, and then like somehow like we don't have a, we don't meet in the middle like there's no communication sometimes. And that's what's missing in our club, a lot of communication between each other, because I don't have Facebook. people don't have Facebook. I don't have a Facebook page or anything like that. So I don't even know if we have a Facebook page. So we do know, obviously, because the officer did mention that. And unfortunately, we do have a Facebook page. But I just, like I said, I don't have a Facebook, so I don't check Facebook.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. About 3,000 people do follow that page.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: Yeah, 3,000 people follow it. But like I said, I don't have a Facebook page.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, yeah. Commissioner Delfano, any questions on your side or anything? I understand what Mr. Carrera is saying. I'm actually proud of you. You've gone from 80 to 200 members. I mean, that's quite awesome actually, but you're absolutely right. It is out of control because you're not, you guys aren't following the proper procedures because you are a club. Attorney, I'm sorry, Commissioner Sullivan-Peirce is absolutely right. I mean, it's like, come on, you know, you're out there on Facebook, you're advertising your, you know, your menu and for all intents and purposes, it kind of looks like a restaurant. So go ahead, Commissioner Delfano, did you have some questions or thoughts?
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, well, after listening to Mr. Correa, it doesn't sound like he has any plans on making this a restaurant. I mean, if they do have plans on it, I'm sure we can instruct them on what they need to do liquor license-wise, and then they're gonna have to find out through the city what else they're gonna have to do for, you know, other permits and licenses. I got a couple of questions. Is there a membership fee to belong to this club?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: The membership fee as of right now is $50 a month.
[Robert Delafano]: 50, how much? Monthly. Monthly?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: $50 monthly. $50 monthly, yes.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. And how do you apply for something like that? Are there certain qualifications you need?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: Basically, you have to love the sport of soccer.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, hence the hence the name right aren't they in the playoffs right now aren't they playing now.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: They're, they're in first place on the division in Portugal right now. Yeah, one of the biggest teams, like if you if you go on Google and you type in Casa Bifica, there's over 200 and worldwide. It's not just us. Okay, like the look that all over the world, what happens is the Bifica, the club from Portugal, they allow us to use their name. And it's kind of like they make like their own little clubs, but they're not affiliated with anybody. Everybody's by themselves.
[Allan Martorana]: OK, so 600 a year for membership. I'm sorry, Commissioner Delphine, I didn't mean to cut you off. Go ahead.
[Robert Delafano]: No, that's OK. And now basically anybody can apply as long as they like soccer, correct?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: Yes, sir. Soccer, respect people and just share the sport enthusiasm with each other.
[Robert Delafano]: Okay. And does the, um, $50 monthly fee include anything? Is it like a, um, golf country club, you're required to spend so much money a year and they give you a credit in the restaurant or anything like that? Does it include any benefits like that?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: Benefit wise? We have a, what we do is a, um, every three, three to four months, we have a members dinner. What we do is we sit down, like the people that are members just sit down, they eat for free. Well, not technically free, they eat the food for free, but they have to pay for the drinks. And it's kind of like we're just, as of right now, we're trying to like give them something back. But it's like we said, we just started, so we don't have that much. we haven't built that much yet so it's like we would try to give back as like as little as possible because it's like saying like thank you for being part of the club here's a free dinner on us it's just something kind of like just like a friendly thing that we gift back to them I mean to do stop by watch tv get away from their wives I mean and and stuff like that so I mean, just the club to relax on.
[Robert Delafano]: Are alcoholic beverages or any type of beverages served at a discounted price for members? No. Okay. So it's not that you go in there and get 50 cent beers or anything?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: No, no, no, no, no. That doesn't exist.
[Robert Delafano]: No, I was just kind of wondering whether there's a $50 monthly fee. What is the capacity of the club?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: As of right now, we have about 50 seats in there.
[Robert Delafano]: 50 seats.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: Yeah, 50 seats.
[Robert Delafano]: And I mean, you know, you answered one of my questions where you actually have a card made up that members were supposed to have. Yes.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: So it's supposed to show every time you walk.
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: Well, it's just not doing their job. And we're not doing our job carding them. So well, with a lot of.
[Robert Delafano]: What some places do that are private clubs, and it's just a suggestion that you may want to consider, is obviously you have a list of all members on the premise. What some places do is they have a member sign-in sheet, and when they come in, they sign in. If they have a guest, they have their guest. The time in, time out. And obviously, the guest has to leave with the member. The member doesn't necessarily have to leave the same time the guest leaves, obviously. But it's a way for you to control it and just to keep it as a club only versus open it up as a regular restaurant. I mean, I'm sure the chairman of the commission would tell you that we don't have a problem you know, granting a regular restaurant section 12 license for it, but it doesn't appear that you want to go in that direction. So, you know, I think we're going to, like you say, you're aware of it. And, you know, you're going to be on top of it now. And And like the chairman said, you get one bite of the apple. And we're going to hope you're going to do the right thing from this point on. Obviously, there's going to be inspections, I would imagine, here or there that you may or may not be aware of. So as long as you're doing the right thing, there's nothing to worry about. But those are my feelings on it. The other commissioners may feel a little different. Whether we want to mandate a sign-in sheet, or I don't know if those cards actually get scanned, that there could be a recording of who's coming in and what time.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: We're trying to build a scanning system. When you walk in, you scan your cards.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: Behind the counter will be a TV saying that this person has paid their dues, they're okay. It's just like, it's a lot of money to like, kind of like, kind of like a system, but we're working on it. So like a way to like show that they're actually part of being there.
[Robert Delafano]: I mean, if anything else, if nothing else, maybe you could just have a, where you already have the cards and somebody at the door to check the cards, you know, people coming in. Maybe you can just have a guest sheet that if a member brings in a guest, they'll put their name, their guest name, time in, time out. And that clears it, you know, it clears it for everything as far as now you're not running as a restaurant.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: That's a great idea. Thank you. Very good.
[Allan Martorana]: Dario, did you have a question, comments?
[Daria Tejera]: Yeah, just on behalf of the city itself. Yeah, got a comment. And just an FYI for you Ruben as well. In order to do the karaoke, you would have to do the entertainment license category. It's called patrons. Right now you're only allowed to do it by devices. By devices. Karaoke falls under patrons. Okay. Just FYI for you. We can change that.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, apply for it. So, um, you know, final Oh, I'm sorry. This is a zoom thing.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: How long have you guys been in an operating operating there?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: I'm about a year now, like short, short of a year.
[Allan Martorana]: And then in Cambridge, how long were you in Cambridge?
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: In Cambridge, we were there from 1990 until 2019. Okay.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: So it's a year do you think that the whole time there was sort of an issue with the membership and maybe you may have been serving the general public, and maybe you may not have you don't know, it's like it's like I said at the start,
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: It's a new place. Everybody wants to come in and see it. Our old members obviously got their cards right away because they've been there since the 90s. And some of them have passed away. Some of them are still living. And so we give them their cards. And then after that, it's just like people started walking in. They're like, the place, oh, how to become a member, how to become this. And then we just made people as they walked in, which I would think it was a bad idea to do that, because in a way, that's what happens to the problem that they're incurring now, that people just keep bringing other people in. Members bring in guests. And then when the member's not there, the guests think that they have the right to go in there and bring more people with them. And that's the place, that's what's like trying to take out of balance.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, like on that same street, I mean, we had a restaurant, you know, open up the Ford. And so he spent about $2 million on his renovation. And he's in a brand new building. I mean, I'm just I'm just, you know, somewhere I'm actually across the street. Well, is maybe right across from wagons.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: I mean, I know.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: So sorry. So on the other side, is that when you are operating as a restaurant in this capacity, you're basically undercutting other restaurants in the area who have done it right, who pay their taxes, you're not charging meals tax. sales tax for any of this. So by just having, you know, a place and saying like, oh, I don't know who we're serving, what you're basically doing is that we're here to serve to equally, you know, be fair to all, you know, all establishments in the city. And so by having that, you're kind of like skirting all the rules. No, I don't want you to, we or myself, I don't want you to be a restaurant if you don't want to be a restaurant. But if you're going to be a club, you have to follow those rules and you can't undercut restaurants and take their hard earned business away from them by doing what you're doing. And if you're advertising on Facebook to 3,500 people that you have, you have meals and stuff like that. To me, it's just kind of like this was sort of waiting to happen and you're going to see when you guys get caught. So, um, you know, Hopefully we don't have, and I speak for myself, but we don't see that back here. Because now you know that you know what you're doing, not one it doesn't pay the city and then also it undercuts the other restaurants in the area. So there's just just a couple things that you know we definitely have an issue with. Yeah, yeah.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: Thank you. I mean, I want to follow the rules so I don't want to break the rules. I'm the guy that came here and changed the time on the club, and I could have done it behind the city's back and I didn't. I showed up here, we agreed to change the hours on the club, and so I'm not going to try to do anything behind the scenes, trying to get something advantage of anything.
[Allan Martorana]: You're supposed to do that. But now, Ruben, I kind of agree. I don't want to say you cannot advertise on Facebook, even though I am not a Facebook person myself. But I get it. But should somehow tailor those Facebook ads to mention that this is a members only club. And if you'd like to join, it's got to be all of that in there. I don't want to say you cannot advertise.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: You know, but you're sure I couldn't put it. I'm sorry. Put it on my manual on Facebook. That's we can't do that. Is that something that we're not allowed to or?
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, no, I don't know. I don't know.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: Because like because what happens is if we don't have anything on Facebook, people are going to just start calling in as well. What's the date today? And our phones are going to get jammed. So.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. I'm not, I guess I'll just say the answer that I'm not, I don't know that that's not right. But if, but if you're, but the, the way it's advertised, it's average. I mean, look, if you put your menu in what you're doing at the club out, out online, and it's a club and you're following the rules, I don't think there's any problem with that.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: It's only at the bottom. Always keep reminding people to some members only clubs like that. People don't get attention that as a restaurant.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's probably a good idea, but I wouldn't say it's our place to tell you that you would advertise it.
[Allan Martorana]: But I think that you're right. I think that would be wise to put some language in there that it's a members only club. And if you'd like to join, if you'd like to, I think that would be wise. We don't want to tell you you cannot because I don't think that's right. But you got to make sure that you don't run into this again because David Ensign, PB – He, Him, His.: : You know the next bite might not be as pleasant, if you know what i'm saying so so that that we want you to act like a club i'd like i'm Commissioner telephone those recommendation about some kind of a sign in book some kind of a. You need to keep track of who's coming in, what guests are coming in, because we're coming back. I'll be honest with you, sometimes we call them control compliance checks and we'll, you know, out of the blue, we'll be back for a visit and I don't want to see you again on this infraction, if you know what I'm saying. Okay, so I guess we're all on the same page where we understand what happened it just out of their own diligent effort things got out of control and the controls got kind of lots of days ago and we see what happened so. Okay, Commissioner Delfano, Sullivan-Pearce, anything more to add before we kick Reuben loose with kind of a warning, you know, to be a club, stay a club, be a club, okay?
[Robert Delafano]: Yeah, I feel comfortable with what we've done today. I feel as though we've accomplished something. And, you know, Mr. Correa knows the rules and what we expect. And from this point forward, I'm sure that they'll be doing the right thing.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I think, you know, we've discussed the point enough. And, you know, so that's, it's clear. And I think like what you said, Ruben, is just tightening up your whole operation. It's just important because you can't be everywhere at once.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: So that- I already do enough for you.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[Allan Martorana]: Okay. All right, sir. Well, thank you. Thank you for coming on. And like I said, one bite of the apple and let's get your controls in place to make sure none of this happens again. And good luck. Keep growing. Thanks.
[MCM00001452_SPEAKER_17]: All right, guys.
[Unidentified]: All right. Yeah. Sgt. Lakowicz, anything to add?
[Allan Martorana]: Were we too soft? Were we not hard enough? What do you think?
[Rory Lockowitz]: Let's see. Darius, you still on the call? I would love to see the what what the Board of Health regulations would be that define what a restaurant is. Like when I when I first started looking at this situation, I was like how much of this is is is is in liquor and police versus like, OK, well, if they're You know, if they're not abiding by health code violations, where is that my business? And any place that has a liquor license kind of falls under us. But I think moving forward, that would be the ultimate concern is Mr. Correa. He wants to continue to have someone in the kitchen preparing food. Right? It sounds like he's still going to have food specials to his membership, which is fine with me. I just don't know what the liquor, excuse me, I don't know what the board of health regulations are, where it goes from the VFW and somebody's wife goes in the kitchen and makes food for some of the membership versus they're selling food to the membership and it becomes a restaurant because They're selling 150 meals. I don't know where that line is. That's kind of outside my area of expertise. The liquor stuff is easy, right? Can somebody who's not a member walk in the door, like my officer did, and be greeted and be served and hang out without any form of membership, right? That's the liquor concern is they're a club or not a club, right?
[Allan Martorana]: If I go to the liquor- Right on the report, it says, it asked me if I wanted anything to drink. So as soon as he sat down, it says in here that they asked if he wanted anything to drink. So that lets you know that they are serving non-members who come off the street.
[Rory Lockowitz]: No doubt about that. I'm glad this was 100% justified, necessary, this complaint. My officer went in there after communicating with other members that are primarily Portuguese-speaking in the community who had already been in there. The word was out, texted their friends and said, hey, you ever been to Cafe Benfica? I believe it's like the House of Benfica of New England is what the translation is.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Rory Lockowitz]: And the response was, yeah, the place is cool. They got great food. Like it was immediately like, yeah, this place is open to the public. Obviously, the niche being the Portuguese speaking community. So, you know, it may be not every Medford resident was, was this was on their radar. But, but definitely, you know, quite a number. So the point the point is, I would love to see if there's a An easy cheat. Sorry, my thoughts got a little jumbled there.
[Allan Martorana]: Health code violations, anything like that?
[Rory Lockowitz]: A checklist of what makes a restaurant versus can grandma come in and cook pasta in the kitchen? Where is that line as far as where one would need to go and apply? or, you know, restaurant licenses and border health inspections. You know, like, I just keep thinking of like the American Legion, you gotta get buzzed to get in there. They have kitchen equipment, but they don't usually serve food. Same with, you know, same with the VFW, same with the Elks, right? They're all capable of sort of acting like restaurants, but it's generally not part of their business model, right? They're just sort of open to their membership. But one could rent the place out. You could bring food. That's fine. Where's the line when somebody's preparing food at, you know, $10 or $20 a plate for the membership? Where does that become a restaurant? What if there's a big soccer event, let's say, and there's nothing wrong with them saying, hey, soccer game at, you know, at the VFW. Are you a member? Great. You know, sign up here, you know.
[Allan Martorana]: So, yeah, I am. There's a big playoff game on February 20. So, I, I wonder if they'll have a full house on February 20.
[Robert Delafano]: Because again, yeah. I mean, at 50 seats, it's not going to take much to fill up his house. Yeah, it's trouble. That's kind of another thing. But to answer your question, Rory, I would imagine the best place to start is Mary Ann O'Connor. She's the director of the Board of Health. She'd have all that information. I'm sure if they're preparing and serving meals to their members, On the premise, they most likely have a commercial kitchen that they have to comply with border health regulations, hood cleaning, everything. But Marianne, she'd probably be able to give you the fine details on, like you say, what justifies. I mean, as far as a restaurant, the reason I think the whole big thing is them selling meals to the public and not being a restaurant is they're beating the state and the city out of taxes. That's a biggie. And as you saw on that receipt, there was no sales tax charge. So that was for a reason.
[Rory Lockowitz]: God forbid. you know, something that would fall under the Board of Health. That's not a control that we have now because there is no Board of Health involvement. Let's make some sort of sanitation issue. And, you know, then all of a sudden we get a phone call and, you know, one person's sick. And then over the next hour, we have a hundred people sick. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that would never take place in in your eyes, you know, soccer party at our home. So, you know, there's definitely a responsibility to make sure that type of potential mass casualty incident. Yes. Yeah.
[MCM00001210_SPEAKER_04]: like if the Board of Health checks every year, a commercial kitchen and ask if it's serving. But anyway, okay.
[Daria Tejera]: So I just looked over quickly over the rules and regulations for the clubs while you guys were talking. We don't have anything on there in regards to food, which I think might be important because with everything else we have, you know, for all alcohol restaurants for wine and beer we have in there that they need to have food, right? So maybe, cause this is very outdated. The one that I'm looking, the club one is worse than any other that we have. So I think something in there has to be said because partially I feel like it is, if we're, I don't know, I feel like there has to be some kind of clarification with what club because
[Allan Martorana]: It's a it's a it's a good point and and that's why you know we started what we did we we wanted to get all the rules and regulations wanted to start reviewing them all in getting them into the 21st century, whether. There'll be good clauses in there or bad clauses in there, but nevertheless, we want to get them all current. As you saw, we started with the all-alcohol on February 9th. We'll get to the clubs, we'll go through malt and wine, we'll revisit entertainment, we'll revisit the pub, the pouring license, the club. We're going to make our way through everything and like I said, get it all into the 21st century. Okay, so anything else? Sergeant Larkowicz, I thought I saw Lieutenant Larkowicz. I'm confused.
[Rory Lockowitz]: It is Lieutenant Larkowicz.
[Allan Martorana]: I thought so. I thought so. But then they told me you were doing roll call. And I'm like, roll call? Lieutenant doing roll call? Because I had called looking for you.
[Rory Lockowitz]: So I was Detective Larkowicz probably the last time we gathered or Maybe I had one in person, I don't know. But yeah, I was lieutenant, I was sergeant, and this past October I was promoted to lieutenant. Nice, nice. So I worked the midnight shift, I come home, I sleep a little bit, and then I go back in for the 3 to 11.
[Allan Martorana]: I see. But when I call, he goes, oh, he's doing roll call. I'm like, all right, all right, OK. So I'm a lieutenant? OK.
[Robert Delafano]: I got a chance you got to change your zoom thing to Lieutenant instead. Yeah, yeah.
[Rory Lockowitz]: All right, that's a good change.
[Robert Delafano]: I had to spell it for about 30 years in front of my name on the fire department. So once you learn how to spell it, then you can put it on Zoom.
[Rory Lockowitz]: I could not spell the word lieutenant to save my life.
[Robert Delafano]: I know the feeling, Rory.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Bobby, this is going to blow your mind. You ready? A fellow sergeant said to me, oh, it's easy. Just remember this. L-I-U-10-ANT. L-I-U-10-ANT. L-I-U-10-ANT. L-I-U-10-ANT. L-I-U-10-ANT. L-I-U-10-ANT.
[Unidentified]: L-I-U-10-ANT.
[Rory Lockowitz]: L-I-U-10-ANT. L-I-U-10-ANT. L-I-U-10-ANT.
[Allan Martorana]: Oh, Rory, thank you very much. We appreciate your time and helping us out. And, and we appreciate that. I enjoyed reading the report very thoroughly. This is years of writing, you know, I can say. So thank you. Thank you very much. Okay.
[Rory Lockowitz]: I look forward to, I look forward to one day meeting in person.
[Allan Martorana]: Yes, yes.
[Unidentified]: March soon. Could be after March.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Daria, if you want to be on the list, I'd love to be a little bit more involved. And I actually spoke, if I can have the floor for two seconds, I spoke with Captain Covino, who's our operations captain now. And I mentioned how, you know, years ago, we did do compliance checks and inspections, and there were some results of issues and things that helped us move forward in a positive way. And talked about the fact that I'm a night lieutenant now, and maybe we should get other people involved, other officers involved. And he was totally receptive to that. So I don't have a definitive plan, but if we start meeting monthly, I'm sure that'll help get the ball rolling in my arena to maybe bring on another officer or two that could go before the commission and request, you know, request to be blessed as agents of the Liquor Commission so that we you know, uh, be more active and proactive. Uh, yes. We hear there's a problem. We'll look at it.
[Allan Martorana]: Yeah, no, this is, this is great. I thank you for this. Um, also, uh, one of the, um, takeaways from our February 9th meeting with, uh, Ralph's sacramonies, uh, at ABCC, um, he wants, um, to come over and, and, and do, um, He basically said, we're not agents. Mr. Flynn always used to say we're agents at ABCC, but Raul says we're regulators and we have to know the law and abide by the law. He'd be more than happy to come and sit with us and give us educational training. I figured once we get through February, we get into the warmer days, the longer days, we'll figure out how to have educational training at City Hall. And in in Rory lieutenant locker with you, you're more than welcome to come and said he says it's about 45 minutes so it's not a ton of time, but I think. I think we should get into start learning from them because we're all fairly new. And Lieutenant Lakowicz, I've always said, I love Jim Flynn. He was great. But Jim had like 18, 20 years of knowledge. And we just kind of followed his lead. He'd be like, let me lead. And you guys want to ask questions, chime in. And we went from there. So now that he has retired, son of a bitch, He, you know, we're all kind of learning together and Daria also is fairly new. So, you know, we're going to need all the help in Ralph at ABCC is more than happy to come and train us and train all the different departments on what to look for and what's expected from ABCC. So I thank you.
[Rory Lockowitz]: I would love to get that.
[Allan Martorana]: Cool.
[Rory Lockowitz]: Cool.
[Allan Martorana]: All right, so guys, can we have a motion to adjourn? I think we're good. Dara, no more, right? There's nothing else on the agenda? Good. So want to do a motion to adjourn? All right. Sure. I'll make a, yeah. Are you done? All right. And Bobby, you second that motion? Okay. All in favor to adjourn, say aye. Very good. Two o'clock, not bad. All right. All right, ciao everyone. Bye-bye. Thanks everybody. Thank you. Okay, thank you Dara.