Red Moon prohibited from selling drinks for 2 weeks
The Red Moon Restaurant and Martini Lounge in downtown Arlington Heights has been ordered to stop selling alcoholic drinks for two weeks and pay a fine of $2,000.
The business was found guilty of its third liquor license violation Tuesday.
The company can select any consecutive two weeks within the next 30 days and can close or remain open without selling alcohol, village officials said Tuesday.
The charge derived from the restaurant selling a drink to a minor, who was actually a plant by the Arlington Heights Police Department.
Mayor Arlene Mulder said the company could choose to stop alcohol sales for 30 days and pay $500, or take the larger fine and the shorter closure.
Paul A. Kolpak, a Niles attorney representing the restaurant, said the owners would decide soon whether to close for two weeks or stay open without selling liquor. He asked if there was any other alternative to closing, but Mulder said she thought she was being generous in shortening the time period.
Red Moon has been open more than five years, and the first two violations came early in its history.
Ernest R. Blomquist, the village prosecutor, said there was a happy hour violation soon after the opening. While discounted drinks can be offered, the buy one, get one free deal was illegal, he said. Shortly after that the restaurant was charged with selling to a minor.
In a second case decided Tuesday, Michael A. Clements told Mulder if he was required to quit selling liquor at Clementi’s for two days because of a second offense, he would close his restaurant. Business was very bad the first 10 months of last year and has improved, he said.
Mulder relented, allowing Clements to pay a $1,500 fine without closing.
Originally she had offered him a $500 fine plus seven days closed; or a $1,000 fine with two days closed. He also was required to get his business license back in good standing with the Illinois Secretary of State’s office.
Teddy’s Liquors Inc., 1050 E. Rand Road, has a policy of turning minors over to authorities if they try to purchase liquor. That could be mitigation, said Blomquist, while the company was fined $300 for its first offense.
The sting produced the first offenses for all the other companies whose charges were heard Tuesday, and each was fined $500.
They are Salsa 17, 17 W. Campbell St.; Courtyard by Marriott, 3700 N. Wilke Road; and Siegelman’s Restaurant & Deli, 912 W. Algonquin Road.
Mulder pointed out that Illinois issues very different-looking driver’s licenses to people under 21, making it easier for businesses to identify minors.
She also reminded the businesses that all holders of liquor licenses are notified before police conduct their stings.