On the next ATC permit hearing agenda: Mesa: A Collaborative Kitchen and Match Cigar Bar.

Local board hearings for Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission business (for the most part, new permits and renewals) are held on the first Tuesday of each month to 1:00 p.m. The hearings take place in the 3rd floor meeting room at the City-County Building.

The next Floyd County hearing is April 4, and so far there are two items of interest on the agenda. Both pertain to riverfront development area (three-way) permits.

Match Cigar Bar has been mentioned previously here. The space at 216 Pearl Street, longtime home to Petery-Hedden Co., has been under construction for a few weeks.

Puertas Abiertas, LLC
RR2233203 Beer Wine & Liquor - Riverfront
DBA: MESA A Collaborative Kitchen
216 Pearl Street
New Albany IN 47150

That's all I have on Mesa, and I'm just as curious as you.

(Thanks to Jeff F. for this update)

FROM LINKED IN: COMING SOON...MESA is a state-of-the-art collaborative kitchen, featuring demonstrations by established and aspiring chefs from Southern Indiana and Louisville. The collaborative space offers cooking demonstrations and also houses a bookstore, to-go cooking dinners and a boutique filled with kitchen essentials. With the emerging and dynamic restaurant scene in the area, MESA will become the culinary hub for Kentuckiana’s highly talented chef population to come and share their love for food with the public — and each other. Guests purchase seats to the respective classes online. During each class, they are provided with beverage pairings by MESA that complement the chef’s menu. Chefs prepare and demonstrate 3 to 5 courses in front of the guests, all the while explaining the process, answering questions and engaging with guests.

A bar in front of me, frontal lobotomies, et al.

Tuesday there was "late breaking" news in the Courier-Journal (4:55 p.m.), and while I've been privately monitoring this controversy for a while, it still seems somehow strange to me that it made the newspaper.

Is there a political angle to all this that I'm missing?

Even Deeper Throat -- are you somewhere in the room?

New Albany business clears hurdle toward liquor license

By unanimous vote, the Floyd County Alcohol Beverage Board today recommended that a liquor license be granted to B&B Bar and Grill at 211 E. Main St. in New Albany.

Lonnie Gibson, a member of the Indiana State Excise Police and one of the local board’s four members, said the recommendation is subject to review and approval by the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission.

Three residents spoke in opposition, including Jack Messer, a member of the New Albany City Council and a city police officer. Messer said that a city ordinance to promote restaurants as part of downtown revitalization was not intended to produce “a drinking establishment on every corner.” B&B, which is not yet open, is next door to Connor’s, a restaurant that also serves alcohol.

Carl Holliday and Steve Goodman, who own the property where both restaurants are located, and Robert and Brenda Gresham, owners of B&B, said there were no grounds for denying the license. The Greshams said they had spent more than $10,000 on their kitchen, indicating they intended to sell food and not just alcoholic drinks.

Gibson said reasons for denial, which include substantial community opposition and questions about the reputation of the business owners, didn’t exist in this case.