By Dan Murphy
The entity behind Serafina restaurant has set its sights on one of the city’s new all-alcohol licenses for its Newbury Street location. At the Oct. 7 monthly meeting of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay’s Licensing and Building Use Committee, which was held virtually, Ryan Gazda, an attorney for the applicant, detailed the New York-based restaurant chain’s plan to secure one of the additional 225 all-liquor licenses which will soon become available to restaurants throughout Boston via a bill signed into law last month by Gov. Maura Healey.
The proposed location for the new all-liquor license – Serafina Back Bay at 235A Newbury St. – has held a city license for beer, wine, and cordials since opening in the former Scoozi space in early 2019, said Gazda, and now, they simply hopes to exchange their existing license for one of the new all-alcohol licenses. Serafina Back Bay would willingly relinquish its existing beer, wine, and cordials license back to the city, said Gazda, although the restaurant wouldn’t be required to do so. He added that the proposed change would also have no impact otherwise on the restaurant “physically or operationally,” with the existing business hours remining the same. “It’s fairly straightforward,” said Gazda. “We’re just swapping one license for another.” Bryan Sayers, the manager of record for the Newbury Street restaurant, added that alcoholic beverages would only be served to customers along with food items.
No hearing date for this application has been set with the city yet, said Gazda, although the applicant is hoping for one in November, “if all tracks well.” In another matter, Pigmenta Permanent Cosmetics is moving from 581 Boylston St. to a fourth-floor space at 372-378 Boylston St., so the business owner is seeking a change of occupancy from the city to include body-art tattooing. “Essentially, we’re just moving the business to another building,” said Julia Dziuk, president and founder of the business described as a ‘permanent makeup facility.’
Following the move, Pigmenta will continue to operate on its current schedule of Wednesday only from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The business typically sees about 15 to 20 clients weekly by appointment only, with each staying for about an hour, added Dziuk. Pigmenta had previously appeared before the LBU Committee at a virtual meeting in 2022 concerning its application for the old address, which the committee didn’t oppose at that time. Meanwhile, Conrad Armstrong, committee chair, told both applicants he would notify them of NABB’s position (i.e. to oppose or not to oppose) on their respective applications “in a week or so.”