If an appearance on "Top Chef" can raise a chef's profile, why shouldn't it also lower his liquor board fines?
That seems to be the reasoning behind a letter that Timothy Dean's lawyer wrote to the Board of Liquor License Commissioners this week.
In a letter dated May 11 -- days before Bravo announced the names of next season's contestants -- Attorney Peter Prevas asked the board to consider halving the $3,100 fine imposed on Dean last year.
Dean has been appealing the fine, imposed after the board found in January 2009 that security guards at Dean's now-shuttered TD Lounge manhandled one of the board's inspectors in late 2008. The board also found that the lounge had a live disc jockey and dancing without the proper entertainment license.
Prevas wrote that Dean would drop his appeal if the fine were cut to $1,550. The lawyer argued that the compromise would make sense because Dean had converted the lounge into a steakhouse that does not have space for a DJ.
And then Prevas capped all that with this seeming non sequitur:
"Mr. Dean has been chosen to appear on the national television series 'Top Chef' and is currently taping the show."
And Dean's reality TV appearance relates to a matter of liquor board compliance because ... ? I'm not quite following you, Pete.
Unless Prevas is suggesting, "Hey, my client is gonna be famous. How about cutting him some slack?"
Maybe there's another explanation. I've put in a call to Prevas and hope to hear back from him.
In any case, the liquor board didn't swallow it -- not completely anyway.
At its meeting Thursday, the board voted to make a counter offer to Dean. They'd cut the fine to $2,100 if Dean dropped his appeal. Board chairman Steve Fogleman said the board would be willing to make that deal -- it's not clear yet if Dean will take it -- in order to rid itself of the appeal.
But Fogleman said the "Top Chef" appearance didn't factor into the decision.
Bravo photo