- Credibility:
THE LOOP — The Bottled Blonde is putting up a $100,000 bond to stay open while it fights the city’s attempts to revoke its liquor license.
Attorneys for the River North restaurant and bar, 504 N. Wells St., brought a check to a Monday hearing in the case and told Judge Neil Cohen they’d post the bond after the hearing.
Cohen told the Bottled Blonde last week it had until Monday to pay the bond or else it would have to shutter during its ongoing legal battles with the city. The restaurant’s attorneys had said closing would cause an “immediate harm” to the business and could lead to the Bottled Blonde closing permanently.
“The River North is a vibrant part of the downtown Chicago business district and Bottled Blonde looks forward to being a positive addition to this neighborhood for many years to come,” the bar’s attorney, Jeannie Gallucci, said in a statement last week.
The city has twice tried to revoke the Bottled Blonde’s liquor license through months of hearings, with the second attempt coming Tuesday night.
The city has charged the Bottled Blonde with violating its agreement of operation, saying its patrons peed and vomited in the area, disturbing neighbors, and that the restaurant hadn’t done enough to stop this while also primarily working as a bar rather than restaurant. Attorneys for the Bottled Blonde argued the city was being unfair and its findings from the revocation hearings were flawed.
The Bottled Blonde will have to turn over financial records to the city by Dec. 15 as part of its bond conditions. Those records will show how much of its money is made by serving food vs. how much is made by selling drinks, a key point to the city, which has argued the Bottled Blonde is operating more as a tavern than a restaurant in violation of its agreement with the city.
“I want this place to stop thinking of itself as a bar and a tavern,” Cohen said during last week’s hearing.
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