A bar by any other name.

Tajha Chappellet-Lanier here, trying to remember the last time I went out, at night, to a bar. Nearly one year into the pandemic, and my new rural lifestyle, the idea of crowding into a dimly lit space to drink and dance with strangers feels completely foreign to me—as does, to be honest, staying up past midnight. 

But while it’s not clear when I’ll be able to go out dancing again, I could choose to stay out late drinking outdoors. Sure, bars in a strict sense aren’t allowed to operate, but establishments have been getting around this by qualifying as a “restaurant”—serving, and requiring that patrons purchase, food alongside their drinks. But, as is often the case, there’s sort of an exception…

In Carmel, wine tasting rooms with outdoor “parklet” seating are currently allowed to stay open until 10pm (which, let’s be honest, is basically midnight for me) because 10pm is the city’s agreed-upon closure time for all parklets. Wine tasting rooms are not, however, required to serve food. “In that sense, wine tasting rooms are more like a bar than a restaurant, since guests are only drinking wine, not eating a meal,” a City Council staff report states. 

The Carmel City Council is set to consider changing the allowable operating hours for wine tasting parklets when they meet at 4:30pm tomorrow, March 2, potentially requiring that these establishments close earlier—at 6pm like they did pre-Covid.

Before you think this is a case of Carmelites taking a broad action to stop fun, there’s another component to tomorrow’s discussion. The council will also consider whether Carmel’s three permitted drinking establishments (Sade’s Cocktails, Barmel and A.W. Shucks) should be allowed to stay open later, past 10pm. Parker Logan, owner of Sade’s Cocktails, has requested that Sade’s be given an exemption and allowed to seat guests through 12:30am, with everyone out by 1am. (It should be noted that, under current terms, Sade’s operates as a restaurant and provides food service.)

The city’s Outdoor Seating Ad Hoc Committee (comprising Mayor Dave Potter and Councilmember Bobby Richards) was formed to “[provide] recommendations to the full City Council about a permanent outdoor seating program, post-pandemic,” according to the city staff report to council. And that ad hoc committee found the Sade’s request “reasonable.” But if it all sounds weirdly inconsistent to you, you're not alone. The pandemic era has brought us different guidelines for every industry—wine tasting is OK without meal service, but a brewery isn't—and there isn’t necessarily the expectation that these things should make sense.

I guess I’ll wait to see how it all shakes out before planning a night on the town.