Brew House Owner Says Bar Targeted by Some Braintree Officials

Although Alex Kesaris said he is satisified with a recent decision by the state to overturn an alcohol violation lodged against The Brew House, the bar owner is rethinking plans to open another restaurant in Braintree because he feels targeted by two members of the license board.

In a recent interview, Kesaris accused Marybeth McGrath, Director of Municipal Licenses & Inspection, and Inspector of Buildings Russell Forsberg of exhibiting a "double standard" when it comes to his establishment versus others licensed by the town, particularly those at the South Shore Plaza.

The negative attention began even before The Brew House opened last year, Kesaris said, and has included an unwarranted level of scrutiny during the building process, during follow-up visits by inspectors and when the alleged alcohol violation came before the Board of License Commissioners.

"To me, I’m getting singled out," Kesaris said. "I pay taxes just like everybody else."

McGrath denied having a double standard, saying that Kesaris's claims are "completely unfounded and untrue." Forsberg declined to comment.

The day after the decision came down from the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission last month, Kesaris said a health inspector appeared at his Granite Street bar and gave his manager a hard time about the sanitizing sink and the back entranceway, which customers use but which also goes past the kitchen, separated by a partial wall like those in many restaurants.

"He has to meet the same requirements as everyone else," McGrath said.

She said that the inspection was routine and that her inspector, Amy Carey, set the schedule. Like all businesses deemed "medium risk," The Brew House is inspected at least twice per year, McGrath said. Places like schools and hospitals are visited at least three times. The Brew House's last inspection had been in October 2012.

During its alcohol hearing last September, The Brew House also received intensified scrutiny, Kesaris said.

After the board found that the bar was in violation, Forsberg made a motion to suspend The Brew House's all-alcohol license for one day, to be served two weeks later.

Forsberg said that he made the motion, despite the board typically issuing suspended sentences for first offenses, because the violation was "egregious" and involved possible alcohol poisoning.

That motion was not voted on, and was replaced by another in which McGrath put forward the one-day, suspended sentence. The vote was unanimous in favor.

Forsberg has pushed for stronger penalties for other establishments in the past. In November 2011, for example, he advocated for a three-day suspended sentence for the D.A.V. Hall after the board found it had allowed criminal acts on its premises.

Earlier this year, Forsberg suggested a two-day suspension for The Landing Pub, even though the bar's record was technically free of a first offense. The board's decision in that case is currently under appeal and the penalty has been put on hold.

The SouthSide Tavern, on the other hand, was , based on a motion by Forsberg. Similar to The Brew House incident, the newly-opened SouthSide had a clean record.

In other situations, involving businesses at the South Shore Plaza but not alcohol violations, Forsberg has sided with the license holders, voting against the majority of the board.

Both Forsberg and McGrath voted against putting off the approval of a food license for Cheeseboy at the Plaza after officials learned that the grilled cheese eatery had opened without the permit. They argued that all other permitting was in order at the time.

When the board denied Nordstrom a one-day alcohol permit for its annual customer appreciation party in 2011, Forsberg was the sole vote in favor of the retailer. He said that even though Nordstrom had not filed its request in time to for the board to adhere to state open meeting law, the employees had good intentions and denying the license might have impaired the party's charitable endeavours.

Several weeks before The Brew House opened early last year, Forsberg told fellow board members that he had run into trouble with the restaurant, saying that the owners had a new floor plan that showed a significantly different setup than originally proposed, more akin to a bar than a restaurant.

At the time, The Brew House's attorney, Thomas J. Cavanaugh, said the shifts in the floor plan were meant to "maximize their space" by changing foot traffic flow and also adding handicap access at the bar and more bathroom space.

The board ultimately voted 3-0 that the changes were not significant enough to require a hearing on the restaurant's alcohol license.

That flare-up is one example why Kesaris and his business partner Eddie Cochran may decide not to pursue opening another restaurant with a different style in the Granite Plaza, Kesaris said.

Kesaris and Cochran have opened other restaurants in the Boston area. In particular, the Kesaris family runs the Clam Box at Wollaston Beach in Quincy, and Kesaris and Cochran operate The Ocean Club at Marina Bay.

"Now I have to go in front of the board and deal with these two people?” Kesaris said. "I’ve dealt with Mayor Menino in Boston, I’m not dealing with Marybeth McGrath and Forsberg in Braintree.”