Tonight, the Jet Set Mafia are holding an event at Milan, the trendy new(ish) restaurant/lounge in Little Italy.
Reading the flier, it sounded like your typical lounge party -- until I got to this line:
Men unaccompanied by women not permitted after 10:30 (Tables excluded).
Wait ... what? You mean to say, if you're a single dude looking to get your swerve on, you can't stop by Milan after 10:30 p.m.?
Apparently not, unless you want to rent a table and order bottle service, which will run you $150.
Anybody else think this is discrimination? ...
I e-mailed a member of the Jet Set Mafia for comment, but haven't heard back yet. I also called liquor board chairman Stephan Fogleman, who had an interesting take on the issue.
"This is a public establishment with a license to serve the public," he said. "We certainly don't want any place to discriminate against any customer."
Fogleman said the liquor board wouldn't act on it unless a complaint was filed first. That means a single guy would have to try to enter Milan after 10:30 p.m. tonight and be turned away.
There is precedent, Fogleman said. He spoke with Jane Schroeder, the liquor board's deputy executive secretary and former commissioner, who cited a case from about 15 years ago. A watering hole called Wurlitzer's in Hunt Valley was found to have discriminated by not letting in people under 25.
Several of the strip clubs on The Block won't let unaccompanied women inside after a certain hour, because they're afraid the women might be soliciting business, if you get my drift, according to Fogleman.
As for Milan?
"If somebody says they were denied entry because they didn't have a woman under their arm ... we'll certainly investigate," Fogleman said.
Milan has been taking plenty of heat today over at Dining@Large. Check out this post about the neighborhood's complaints.
(Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina Perna)