ANC1B Committee Protests Indulj Liquor License, Approves Many Others

The liquor-licensing affairs committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street will recommend a protest of an application by Indulj Restaurant and Lounge (1208 U Street NW) to renew their liquor license. The decision was taken at a meeting of ANC1B's Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Committee last night, October 22.

Indulj in December 2012 (Luis Gomez Photos)

Commissioner Jeremy Leffler (district 02), chair of the committee, reported that, according to ANC1B's newly adopted guidelines on liquor license renewals, more than three liquor-license-related infractions by an applicant would cause the committee to debate protesting their license renewal application. Indulj had had five infractions related to their liquor license during the last three years.

Much of the discussion of Indulj centered around a December 3, 2012, incident where three men were shot outside the bar. The incident caused DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier to close Indulj down for several days. Indulj reopened, and DC liquor-licensing authorities took no further action against Indulj as a result of the shooting.

The committee voted unanimously to protest the liquor license renewal application until Commissioner Zahra Jilani (district 12) can discuss what additional steps, if any, Indulj has taken to modify the establishment's security plan. Indulj is located in Jilani's ANC district.

No representative of Indulj was present at the meeting.

It is the season for ANCs throughout the city to consider the renewal of tavern licenses. This means quite a bit of work for ANC1B. A long list of local restaurants and taverns received ANC support to liquor-license renewal with little or no debate at the same meeting. These included: Cafe Saint Ex, Bar Pilar, Mockingbird Hill, Twins Jazz, Ben's Next Door, and Dodge City, among others.

Applications for renewals by DC9 and Bohemian Caverns generated some discussion at the meeting, because, like Indulj, they had had more than three infractions in a three-year period. Also like Indulj, these clubs had had recent high-profile brushes with the law. Unlike Indulj, both DC9 and Bohemian Caverns sent someone to speak at the meeting.

The committee decided to support the renewal applications for these two establishments.

The recommendations made by the committee will come up for approval before the full ANC. The next scheduled meeting is November 7, at 7pm, at the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets).