Business & Tech

HHPNC Supports Charcuterie's Application for Beer and Wine Sales

Recess Eatery on York Blvd. has been "forthcoming to the community with their project" and "we want to encourage this kind of up-front communication," the HHPNC says in a draft letter to the city planning department.

The Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council has written the Los Angeles Department of City Planning in support of an upcoming York Boulevard restaurant’s application for a wine and beer license under certain conditions.

The communication follows a unanimous 13-0 vote that the HPPNC took during its Dec. 5 board meeting to back the efforts of Food Prodigy Corp., a Glendale-based company, to secure a Conditional Use Permit for wine and beer sales in an upcoming restaurant to be located in the vacant space on 5022 E. York Blvd. occupied until 2011 by Verdugo Pet Shop.

Food Prodigy Corp. is the owner of Recess Eatery, a café on Brand Boulevard that is launching a branch on York Boulevard.

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The HHPNC noted that the owners of the proposed charcuterie on York’s most bustling, restaurant-lined section between Avenue 50 and 52 have conducted exemplary outreach with the community regarding their Conditional Use Permit application for wine and beer sales.

“The applicant has been forthcoming to the community with their project and has engaged the community early on,” reads a draft of the HHPNC letter to the planning department’s zoning administrator.

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“We want to encourage this kind of up-front communication with the community on future projects that come before the zoning administrator,” the letter goes on to say, adding: “Furthermore, the proposed project will bring a needed resource for high quality, healthful family-style dining into the neighborhood.”

The letter notes that the HHPNC’s support is, however, dependent on certain conditions that Recess Eatery has agreed to in its discussions with the council.

Recess Eatery has pledged to the council that it will serve wine and beer in the upcoming 150-seat restaurant only when food is also being served, thereby ensuring that the business does not end up becoming a pub, At-Large Director Harvey Slater told the council meeting last week.

The upcoming restaurant will remain open from 7:30 a.m. until 11 p.m., and food will be served during that entire time, says the HHPNC letter to the zoning administrator.

Because Recess Eatery’s application before the zoning administrator has not yet been processed, nor a case number assigned to it, the HHPNC “reserves the right to review the project again after receiving the application and case information,” the letter says, adding:

“At that time, we may make a different or additional advisement to the ZA, based on the information forthcoming.”


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