In a way, the episode was just one of the many trivial bureaucratic proceedings that happen routinely before the licensing board. And yes, it’s also indicative of the Boston Puritan pattern: Universal Hub has documented a couple of recent instances where restaurants have been denied later closing hours and seems to have created a category for such news: “The City That Always Sleeps.”
But La Neta’s request and subsequent approval shed light on another dynamic: how often we tend to forget about a population that ought to be considered a key stakeholder in these matters.
I’m talking about the workforce that keeps Back Bay’s businesses functioning: the back-of-the-house restaurant workers, the waiters and waitresses, the janitors and service workers in the area’s hotels, and other employees in the retail industry.
Allan Rodriguez, La Neta’s chef-owner, told me that many of his clients belong in that group. He doesn’t want to turn La Neta, a fast-casual Mexican restaurant that’s been in business for over a year, into a nightclub, he said in an interview in Spanish. But he often hears from workers who have finished their shifts at a nearby restaurant and want to eat at La Neta. “It’s very difficult when they come in at 10 or 10:30 p.m. and they ask for three tacos and a cheve [beer] and we have to say sorry, we’re closing soon.”
It’s also employees from real estate offices or stores such as CNCPTS, the luxury fashion and streetwear footwear retailer nearby, who want to unwind after their own workday and wished they could stay longer at La Neta, Rodriguez said.
Indeed, Rodriguez’s lawyer made that point before the licensing board. “Mr. Rodriguez gets constant requests for staying open later, especially from a lot of the people who leave work in the hospitality industry and want to come and have a later meal” at La Neta, said attorney John P. Connell at a hearing last week. “We think there’s a public need to extend his hours.” Connell also said that a 1 a.m. closing hour is consistent with the neighborhood and that he had a list of about 10 establishments nearby with licenses to stay open that late. “We’d like to remain competitive with those restaurants,” Rodriguez’s lawyer said.
Both the fairness and public-need arguments are on point. But whose public needs do we tend to focus on when weighing requests such as La Neta’s? Sure, the impact on the neighbors must be considered. But it’s limiting and unfair that the voices of an association of neighbors are often the loudest ones. So you end up with a process that’s not truly representative and inclusive of the public that will feel the effects or benefits of having an after-hours taco place.
Rodriguez, a Mexican immigrant who moved to Boston two decades ago without knowing any English, employs 15 people at La Neta and roughly 25 more at his two other Mexican spots, in Dedham and the South End. He said it took about two months to get approval for the late hours for La Neta. It was rough, he said, even though he was expecting the typical neighborhood opposition.
The 1 a.m. closing time will go into effect in about two weeks. “We’d like to serve a demographic that has other needs,” such as the Back Bay workforce, said Rodriguez. At a time of labor shortages, after-hours dining should be seen as an added bonus to working in the Back Bay retail and hospitality sectors — and not as something to throw obstacles at. The licensing board did the right thing with La Neta and should approve more after-hours establishments.
Marcela García can be reached at marcela.garcia@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @marcela_elisa and on Instagram @marcela_elisa.
Read More: Who wouldn’t want tacos at midnight on Newbury Street?