Spin the Bottle

A reader named Beverly sent me an e-mail last week. "What is the rule on bringing your own wine to a restaurant?" she asked. "I live in Missouri, so I need information on that state."

Beverly isn't the only one with questions about the law. Bluestemowner Colby Garreltswas briefly allowing certain regulars to bring their own bottles into his restaurant -- until another restaurateur warned him that doing so could get him in trouble with liquor control.

When it comes to BYOB, there are enough urban myths to make one's head spin. My friend Lorraine, a former server, insists that it's legal to bring wine to a restaurant that doesn't have its liquor license as long as the server doesn't open the bottle.

Joe Hodgin at the Division I office of the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Controlsays that, according to state statutes, a patron can bring a bottle of wine into a restaurant if the facility has a current liquor license. But he adds that if the bottle wasn't purchased at that restaurant, it must remain in the patron's possession and must be taken with that person when he or she leaves the venue.

That doesn't mean other restaurant owners, say Tom Macaluso of Macaluso's, will let their customers tote their own wine. "It's against the law. It's clearly spelled out in the paperwork we file in Kansas City, Missouri."

Tom is right, according to Jim Ready at Kansas City's Regulated Industries Division. Ready quotes from Section 10-335 of a cityordinance that clearly prohibits a licensee -- a restaurant or club with a liquor license -- from letting customers bring alcohol not purchased from the licensee into the restaurant.

There is an exception for private dining rooms in hotels, motels and private clubs, Ready says. "But technically, that doesn't mean private dining rooms in restaurants."

Once again, the city of Kansas City, with its arcane rules and regulations, is the party pooper. At the very least, the city could clear up the confusion by making its regulations match those of the state.

Not that the law stops certain restaurant owners from looking the other way when a big-spending favored patron brings in a particularly beloved vintage. They see no evil, hear no evil, taste no evil. But most local restaurateurs are vocal in notwanting patrons to bring their own bottles. After all, wine sales can make up a big part of a restaurant's profit margin. "This is a business, not a friggin' party room," says one bistro owner.