By Doug Miller
The West Park Avenue restaurant - described in the new Zagat Survey as a "welcome newborn" to the city - has dropped its challenge to the variance it received last year that permitted a bar no longer than 20 feet.
The owners went ahead and built a 30-foot bar because, they told the ZBA, they received what their attorney, Barry Levine, called "misinformation and bad advice." Levine could not be reached this week to clarify that remark, but it's a matter of record that the owners of Corbin & Reynolds, Keith Hart and Gregory Bartoletta, did change attorneys in February.
Instead, Levine told the Zoning Board of Appeals Thursday night that a 10-foot long etched-glass window will be mounted on top of the extra 10 feet of the bar to prevent the bartenders from serving drinks on it.
The settlement is a win for both sides. The restaurant will not have to tear down an attractive and expensive part of its interior, and the city saved face in its effort to prevent new taverns. Long Beach began regulating bar lengths in 1986 to stem the swelling ranks of taverns in the city. By limiting bars to 10 feet, the thinking went, there would be more of an emphasis on dining than on drinking.
ZBA counsel Charles Theofan said that with the agreement, he was authorized to drop the city's petition to revoke Corbin & Reynolds' variance and, by extension, their certificate of occupancy.
