An Italian eatery at a shopping center next to the Moorestown mall wants to serve vino with its Fruitti di Mare.
But when Moorestown voters approved alcohol sales in the dry township, they restricted liquor to mall restaurants. The townsfolk didn't want bars on the corners of its quaint Main Street.
But Mitchell Grayson, the lawyer for Al Dente, a restaurant at East Gate Shopping Center, says this is not fair. He won't say if he'll sue, but he has warned the town that its actions could be challenged. (See details of the dispute here:http://bit.ly/wkPYLo)
Al Dente, in the East Gate Shopping Center off Nixon Drive, is a BYOB that opened two years ago. (See its menu here: http://bit.ly/xA5R4q). The restaurant owners are considering buying a liquor license and then holding onto it for 3 years. At that time, the town council would be free to lift the restrictions.
The liquor license is expected to be held in March.
how can you allow liquor only in one area, where it will disproportionately benefit one land developer and all those who pay rent to that one landlord? seems like a back room deal to me. this guy is right to be outraged, and he should sue.— tockeyhockey- Envelopes stuffed with cash works every time.— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- Where was the owner of Al Dente during all of the discussion before the vote(yes, this was approved by a public vote)? Gee, let's wait until it passes, then challenge it and sue. Perhaps a move across the street would be benefit Al Dente.— 50_buick
- They were in the same place as the politicians and Mall owners. They all knew that the restriction based on zoning was unenforceable, but that the referendum would not pass without it. Therefore, the pols broke the question into two parts, so that when the lawsuits on location came and the courts struck down the location restriction, there would still be liquor sales permitted in Moorestown. This whole episode has been characterized by lying and disinformation from the elected leaders of Moorestown, PRIET management, and paid pro-liquor instigators in town, from day one. — Charles B
- Moorestown councilmen and PREIT management knew that question 2 would likely be deemed unenforceable. When asked if he would pay the cost of a legal challenge to question 2, Joe Coradino said that PREIT would pay for the legal challenge as it pertained to the mall (which it conveniently will not). Moorestown will have to foot that bill. Perhaps we can include it in the cost of the licenses that PREIT will buy? The people behind the liquor questions, council and PREIT, could easily have waited until next year when the "liquor by the glass" question could legally be asked again. That way the question would have been straight forward. The inclusion of wording about packaged goods, liquor stores or even question 2 would have not been necessary.— Cragar
- The restaurant should move to Reit locations.Preit paid for the opprtunity, the El Dente restaurant did not.The Town had the approval for one location not every where in town.— hannigan
- Main Street is nowhere near the Mall area. This is just silly politics. The mall still sucks and adding a few more restaurants won't change the attitudes that Moorestown Mall isn't The Promenade.— SouthJerseySteve
- Higher end restaurants wiil attract more traffic to all the stores and generate jobs and revenue— hannigan
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