The Mallet liquor license tentatively approved, Old School Tavern fines paid

After more than a year of planning, The Mallet Restaurant and Crabhouse in Fallston has taken a step forward to its proposed August "soft opening."

At Wednesday's Harford County Liquor Control Board meeting, board members tentatively approved The Mallet's liquor license, contingent on a health department inspection and final walkthrough.

The Mallet will be opening in the building at the corner of Routes 152 and 1 that has had a succession of names and liquor license holders over the past three decades, several who ran into trouble with the licensed beverage laws.

In it's most recent previous incarnation as Tully's of Fallston, the liquor license was revoked by the liquor board following a parking lot stabbing and near riot on Halloween weekend 2009, but the business kept operating while that action was appealed. In early 2010, however, the operators of Tully's threw in the towel after their landlord evicted them.

The Mallet's officers Thomas and Colleen Graden and Anthony Ashe say they have changed the orientation of the business and will be different from Tully's "night club" atmosphere.

In addition to approving an officer change for the license, liquor board members also signed off on the paperwork edit which took out the term "night club" from the license application.

Bel Air lawyer Joseph Snee came representing the new license group, whose members also briefly described the restaurant's features, which include a tiki-type bar, outdoor steamed crab area, formal dining room and cocktail bar.

The Mallet is proposed to be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the tiki bar remaining closed until 3 p.m. each day. The target age range, officers emphasized, would be for families and couples in their 30s, 40s and 50s, not teenagers.

The liquor board also acknowledged Wednesday that licensees of Old School Tavern near Dublin paid the $6,000 in fines levied on them in June 2010, for allowing an employee to serve alcohol after 2 a.m. in November 2009, a violation of their liquor license.

The man who was served that night ended up hitting another truck with his own, resulting in the death of three people.

The board fined Old School $6,000 and issued two seven-day suspensions, which the licensees originally appealed in Harford County Circuit Court. In April, however, Circuit Judge Angela Eaves upheld the liquor board's decision.

At the board meeting, members merely acknowledged that the fines had been paid and made no comment.

Several one day beer and wine licenses were also approved for events including The Fallston Club's Bull Roast and Crab Feast on July 16, the Bel Air Downtown Alliance's First Friday event on August 5 and their BBQ Bash on August 12 and 13, as well as the Ladies of St. Ignatius Crab Feast on August 14.

A one day beer, wine and liquor license was approved for Ladew Topiary Garden's Concert at the Terrace series on July 10, 17 and 25.

The board approved a one-day license on Friday, Aug. 12, for the Havre de Grace Seafood Festival which this year will feature an appearance by the Charlie Daniels Band that evening. The festival also will be held Aug. 13 and 14.