New applicants for alcohol licenses include a cafe in JP, a tavern in Roslindale, a Colombian restaurant in East Boston and an event space in Dorchester

Fresh off awarding some three dozen new alcohol licenses, the Boston Licensing Board today began interviewing a new set of applicants for some of the beer-and-wine and all-alcohol licenses the state legislature last year approved for 13 specific Boston Zip codes:

Ula Cafe, Jamaica Plain

The long-standing cafe at 284 Amory St. has applied for a beer-and-wine license. Co-owner Beth Santos says that would let the cafe extend its current 4 p.m. closing time to later in the evening, maybe as late as 10, "so people can actually come and have a reason to be at Ula in the evening," on a more regular basis than the occasional special events it now runs. She promised "locally owned, small batch beer and wine, nothing too big" to go with a menu that would include pastries and small-plate items.

The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council supports the proposal. "It's a wonderful community gathering space," the council's Michael Reiskind said.

Knoll Street Tavern, Roslindale

Andrew Tremble and Conor Ford are seeking an all-alcohol license to replace Kelleher's at 1410 Centre St., which is going out of business - and selling its license to a private club in the Back Bay.

Their attorney, Robert Allen, said the plan is to do some updating of the interior but otherwise to "keep it as a neighborhood pub" - one that would attract both barflies to its 30-seat bar and families and other diners to its 66 table seats, who could partake of traditional pub grub from a scratch kitchen. 

With an emphasis on the evening and night hours - with a planned 1 a.m. closing -  the tavern would not compete with the neighboring Harry's All American Breakfast, which recently won its own alcohol license, he said.

Tremble is the long-time bar manager at Porter Cafe down Centre Street in West Roxbury.

Los Arrieros, East Boston

Los Arrieros, 13 Meridian St., has been open for 33 years and already has a beer-and-wine license but is seeking to replace it with a neighborhood all-alcohol license. 

Owner Felix Ospina's attorney, Tyler Henseler, said the restaurant, which serves Colombian food, "is a staple in the Columbian community in East Boston." 

Should Ospina get the new license, he would return his current beer-and-wine license to the city, rather than try to sell it, effectively giving the city another beer-and-wine license to dole out.

He added that while there are three other nearby restaurants that already serve alcohol, Los Arrieros is the only Colombian one.

Sorrel and Lime, Dorchester

The former Island Pride opened earlier this month at 986 Blue Hill Avenue at Floyd Street, after extensive renovations with the help of a city grant and is now a "Caribbean inspired modern event space," Marlon Benjamin, who co-owns the facility with Kurt McLaughlin and Clayton Weston said. In addition to renting the facility out for events, McLaughlin is an experienced "event curator," Benjamin said.

Benjamin makes his case:

The board will likely defer action on the applications until sometime after May 23, its new deadline for applications for the licenses, which unlike traditional licenses cannot be resold but instead have to be given back to the city when a restaurant that holds one goes out of business - and then only given to a new restaurant in the same Zip code. 

The state gave the city 15 new licenses for each of 13 Zip codes to be doled out by the end of next year, along with some licenses meant for community spaces and 12 traditional licenses which can be used anywhere in the city and which could be resold. The board is holding off awarding any of the traditional licenses - which could become worth $600,000 or more once granted - in the hopes of seeing more applicants in places that aren't the North End or the Seaport.