With liquor licenses loosened, restaurants choose county
Baltimore Business Journal - by Julekha Dash Staff
Restaurateurs are taking a bite out of Baltimore County.
Two new steak chains are among several new restaurants staking a claim in the area, which county officials attribute to revitalization efforts and a loosening of the county's liquor license laws.
Filings with the county's liquor license board show 15 liquor license transfers and three new liquor licenses granted since September. While county and liquor board officials did not have data to compare those figures with previous years, that number is higher than the previous three months in which 12 transfers and one new liquor license were granted.
The Original Steakhouse and Sports Theatre, a Davie, Fla., chain, is opening its second Maryland location sometime before Christmas on Joppa Road in Perry Hall, said John Bruno, one of the local franchise partners. The franchise group, responsible for opening restaurants in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, opened earlier this year in Edgewater.
Filings for liquor license applications in the county show that LongHorn Steakhouse is opening a 6,000-square-foot restaurant on Pulaski Highway in Rosedale, its seventh Maryland restaurant but first in Baltimore County. LongHorn's parent company, Atlanta-based RARE Hospitality International Inc. (Nasdaq: RARE), also operates the upscale Capital Grille, which recently opened an eatery in downtown Baltimore.
In 2004, the General Assembly made two key changes to Baltimore County's liquor license regulations, easing some of the complaints that the area's growth had been limited by its Prohibition-era liquor laws. Because of the liquor license changes, Maryville, Tenn., chain Ruby Tuesday opened its fourth Baltimore County eatery in Essex this year.
The changes in the liquor license laws have prompted greater interest in the county among chain restaurants, said Joan Hatfield, president of the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce.
In 2004, the state increased the number of licenses granted to a single owner from three to four. Owners can obtain a fifth license in the county, provided one is in the Liberty Road area, a western part of the county that had been targeted for revitalization.
While that has yet to materialize in any new chain restaurants, Baltimore County officials are aggressively marketing the area to national restaurants, said Fronda Cohen, a spokeswoman for Baltimore County's Department of Economic Development.
The county's low unemployment rate, just under 3 percent, and commercial revitalization efforts, are also spurring the restaurant boom. For instance, the extension of Route 43 has led to commercial growth in Perry Hall, Hatfield said.
Meanwhile, the area's development has prompted existing restaurants to expand as well. Downtown Towson restaurant San Sushi Too/Thai One On is taking over a former Ritz Camera store that closed in 2004, with the expansion slated to be completed in a couple of weeks.
The growth enables restaurant owner Vandhy Sesum to dedicate a separate area for a bar and lounge where patrons can order food until 1 a.m. and cut down on wait times on Friday and Saturday nights.
"We have a nice crowd at the bar who always wanted us to stay open later," Sesum said. Sesum operates two other San Sushi eateries: one in Cockeysville and another in Canton. The restaurateur, who has been in Towson for eight years, is investing $165,000 in the expansion, which will add 100 seats to the eatery, to a total of 245.
Other new restaurants slated for Baltimore County are:
- 9610 Restaurant, which is opening an eatery at Pulaski Highway and Middle River Road. Owner Thomas Leon Lam is transferring the liquor license from Becker's.
- Patrick's Sports Bar & Grill, which is replacing New Midway Cafe on Eastern Boulevard in Essex.
- The Promenade, a new restaurant to be constructed on West Kenwood Avenue in Catonsville. Owners Stephen W. Whalen Jr. and Ann Brady Whalen are transferring the liquor license from the former Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurant on Baltimore National Pike.
In recent years, some of Baltimore County's older shopping centers have gotten new owners who have pumped money into facade improvements, making areas such as Essex and Rosedale more attractive as whole for restaurant owners, Cohen said.
LongHorn Steakhouse, for instance, is located across the street from the Centre at Golden Ring, a center that underwent redevelopment in 2003.
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