In 2015 Bloomfield Development Corporation adopted a liquor license transfer/sale Community Process in order to create community consensus around new businesses and to keep problem establishments from moving into Bloomfield. When the Liquor License Application Sign goes up a building, staff invite the applicant in for a meeting to talk to them about the business, then set up a community meeting to allow the community decide to support or not the applicant.
BDC recently received notice that a liquor license transfer had been applied to for 4428 Liberty Avenue, the former Del’s Restaurant, buy Over Easy LLC. Unfortunately, BDC staff did not find this out until Wednesday, July 14, and the applicant’s hearing was on Tuesday, July 19.
Although we could not complete our standard process, we are pleased that the owner has been extremely responsive to our inquiries. Sam Furman, the owner of the building as well as the business applying for the liquor license, owns the Sammi’s restaurant chain as well as several properties in Bloomfield on Penn Avenue. He has carried up to three liquor licenses at a time, one of which was on Penn Avenue, and has never had a violation.
The concept for the restaurant at the former Del’s site is a family-friendly barbeque with smoked meats and fish. The parking will be handled exactly as it was for Del’s, with overflow parking in Shur Save’s parking lot. While the bar will be functional, the focus will be on the food, Mr. Furman pledged. The restaurant may open as soon as early October.