Food News
The listed price for the all-alcohol liquor license is $550,000, according to an attorney representing Earls Kitchen + Bar.
The Dugout Cafe, a nearly-century-old dive bar open in Boston since Prohibition’s end, was approved to give its liquor license to a Canadian chain of restaurants looking to open a third location in Greater Boston.
The Boston Licensing Board approved the liquor license transfer from Dugout Cafe to Earls Kitchen + Bar’s Seaport location at a Jan. 8 meeting. The prized liquor license comes with a price tag of $550,000, an attorney representing Earls told Boston.com, which is near the going rate for the heavily restricted all-alcohol licenses on the private market in Boston.
It isn’t immediately clear if the Dugout Cafe has closed or when it closed. Boston.com called the bar’s listed number and reached out to an attorney that represented the Dugout Cafe during the license transfer. The Mendoza Line, a comedy show held weekly at the Dugout, posted on Instagram that they had “received word that the Dugout Cafe was officially, permanently closed,” and that they were now looking for a new home to host their comedy show.
Universal Hub first wrote about the liquor license transfer, and WBZ News Radio interviewed past patrons about the Dugout Cafe’s closure.
The Dugout opened in 1934 and was one of the first bars that obtained a liquor license in Boston following the repeal of Prohibition’s Volstead Act, according to BU Today. It may have even served alcohol during Prohibition, rumor has it.
Its first and longtime owner was Jimmy O’Keefe, known as a bootlegger and for getting into a fistfight with then Gov. Maurice Tobin. Also, the Dugout may have been the location where a group of men planned out the famous Brink’s robbery in 1950.
The basement-level bar also served a wide-range of patrons besides politicians and robbers, from Red Sox players to Boston University students.
What now gets its liquor license is possibly the complete opposite in terms of concept. The Dugout had a menu of bar food, free popcorn, and beer on tap.
Earls Kitchen + Bar is a restaurant first, with an extensive food menu that’s globally inspired (think: yuzu calamari, Korean beef bibimbap, tacos, and sushi). Also lengthy is its cocktail menu, featuring multiple riffs on margaritas and martinis.
The chain describes itself as “upscale casual dining.” The Seaport location will be Boston’s third Earls, which is slated to open in 2027 at 157 Seaport Blvd.
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