Chelsea’s liquor license snatched for now

Chelsea’s Café’s this week will close at 10 p.m., and the live music has been cancelled.

Here’s the back story: The state office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control raided the restaurant in January. After a court hearing in March, the ATC told owner David Remmetter he needed to change his zoning status within 30 days. Remmetter says he took steps to get rezoning through the Metro Council, but the process usually takes 60 to 90 days (read Councilwoman Tara Wicker’s reaction and about the “Save Chelsea’s” groups that formed as a result).

On April 21 around 4 p.m., ATC agents returned to Chelsea’s this time to yank the restaurant’s liquor license. Remmetter says he tried contacting the ATC, but the office was already closed. The next day—after Remmetter says he left several phone messages with the ATC and couldn’t get any response—Judge Trudy White granted a temporary restraining order so Remmetter could keep his business open. This prompted the ATC to immediately take steps to have the restraining order dissolved.

Remmetter and the ATC met this morning in a crowded courtroom filled with about a hundred young professionals, artists, Perkins Road Overpass-area neighbors and attorneys to show their support of the restaurant.

Brian DeJohn, attorney for the ATC, says the time to get rezoning had lapsed and now Remmetter asked the court to step in to allow this “illegal operation.”

“If it looks like a bar, acts like a bar, smells like a bar, it doesn’t matter what your numbers are,” DeJohn says about the ratio of food and liquor sales, a part of the permit which Remmetter had proven was in compliance. “You can’t thumb your nose at the system and ask for an injunction.”

Brandon Brown, attorney for Chelsea’s Café, says Remmetter had every right to file the order, according to the letter of the law. Brown told the court he and his client went into the March 19 hearing with “a spirit of cooperation,” to see if they could resolve the problem and understand these “poorly written rules.” Brown says Remmetter paid his fees and brought evidence of his rezoning proceedings to the ATC office. “We can’t force the Metro Council into speeding up the process,” Brown says. “I don’t think he (Remmetter) should be punished for that. You can’t take a business of 55 people and suddenly have a different opinion of the rules now. We don’t see this happening at Juban’s.”

After hearing both sides, Judge White decided to dissolve the restraining order. Remmetter must defend his case Monday at 9 a.m.

“It doesn’t surprise me that state government would trump a small business like myself in this particular deal,” says Remmetter. “But I do feel like in the end we still have a fighting chance.”

Remmetter cancelled this week’s music acts at Chelsea’s Café and is only serving lunch and dinner until 10 p.m. “I’m angry because we’re in compliance by the letter of the law, but not in compliance with what (ATC Commissioner) Murphy Painter thinks,” Remmetter says. “If there’s a problem with live music and a cover charge, that should’ve been addressed long ago, but there was no ticket for music. If Murphy Painter wants this place to stop doing live music, fine, give us our liquor license back and we’ll stop the music.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s patrons have created a new Web site, ilovechelseas.com, to garner support for the eatery. Remmetter says the restaurant’s Web site, chelseascafe.com, will feature contact numbers for Metro Council members and state legislators.