The Boston Licensing Board voted yesterday to suspend the license for Golden House on West Broadway for seven days after a Boston police sergeant found it open at 2:50 one morning - 50 minutes past its legal closing time.
The punishment - unusually severe for the licensing board - came despite owner Xian Wan's plea for mercy because he needed extra money due to his son dying of cancer [2].
At a hearing Tuesday, board members noted Wan has been caught operating past 2 a.m. before and that if he felt he needed to stay open later, he should have applied for an extension in hours - a process that could take weeks, in a neighborhood already fighting mad [3] over early morning food service.
The board deferred any action against another West Broadway eatery, Nanning Wok, which was also caught open past its 2 a.m. closing time, but which does not have a history of closing-hour violations.