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West Roxbury restaurant owner: His ethnic patrons don't want to know from wine

Ghassan Samaha, owner of Al Wadi on VFW Parkway in West Roxbury, explained to the Boston Licensing Board today why he wants to begin offering hard liquor along with the beer and wine he's already licensed to offer: His restaurant has a lot of Italian, Irish and Russian patrons, and when they hear the hardest stuff they can get is wine, they'd rather drink water.

He added Al Wadi is the only full-service restaurant along the parkway, from West Roxbury to Legacy Place, that doesn't have a full-service liquor license.

The board decides tomorrow whether to extend Al Wadi's license.

Samaha also told the board why he no longer operates a patio at the neighborhood's only Lebanese restaurant: Mosquitoes from the nearby marshes along the Charles River. "There are a lot of mosquitoes," and not only did they hinder patrons in the evening - they'd buzz into the main dining room as well - he said.

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Comments

a free upgrade? doesn't seem fair to those that have to pay thousands for a full liquor license.

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There isn't anything there that says he will get a free upgrade? He will have to pay like everyone else. It is also not a "full" license, his license would more than likely end at 1am (12:30/12:45). How is it fair to him or any on premise location, if they are surrounded by bars that have a full spirit license when you only have a beer/wine?

The city needs to get rid of the beer/wine/cordial licenses.

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Italians hate wine

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Are the most popular alcoholic beverages in Italy and across Europe, even France, in 2014. Beer is king among especially youth. Wine consumption has drastically fallen in France and across Europe. The U.S. is one of the very few western first world nations where wine consumption has increased.

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And it's not even close: http://www.quandl.com/health/italy-alcohol-and-tobacco

Italians drink less wine than they used to, but they drink a lot less of everything than they used to; Italy's per-capita drinking rate peaked 40 years ago, and now is one of the lowest in Europe.

The current breakdown is clear: far and away mostly wine (73%), some beer (22%), a little bit of spirits (5%).

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Probably the best Lebanese place in Boston

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