Babalu, the bar on N. 45th and Wallingford that has been shut down for more than a month because of a liquor license dispute, will reopen in a couple of weeks.
Owner Michael Prineas told us that the city wanted to revoke Babalu’s license because he wasn’t meeting the city’s food requirements for bars. Prineas signed a deal to transition to a new cabaret/nightclub license (which doesn’t require food service) but was stymied because that requires a capacity of at least 143 people. Prineas said that Babalu fell one person short.
Prineas decided to reapply for a liquor license, and, SeattleCrime.com reported last month, “City Attorney Pete Holmes’ spokeswoman Kimberly Mills says the city doesn’t consider Babalu to be a public nuisance or public safety issue, so the city’s newly-formed five-person liquor license review panel won’t seek to block the bar’s application for a new license.” He’s agreed to expand Babalu’s food options beyond $99 TV dinners.
We wondered how Prineas felt about Mayor Mike McGinn’s proposal that bars not be required to close at 2:00 a.m. “I don’t think it’ll fly,” he said. “It’ll take more police enforcement,” he conjectured and added, “Bar owners will make more money, but is all money good money?”
