Bottomless Booze Brunch Is Illegal in New York. Boo.

A scene from our dystopian
future:

It’s an ordinary Sunday morning, when suddenly flak-jacketed
State Liquor Board officials bust down the door of a convivial
brunch spot, pointing guns at the waiters and shouting: “Put down
the pitcher of Bloody Marys and back away slowly, keeping your
hands where I can see them!” Patrons, hovering in that terrible
middle ground between hungover and tipsy, clutch their heads and
hide under wobbly tables laden with undercooked hashbrowns,
weeping. The restaurant owner is hauled away in
cuffs. 

Apparently all-you-can-drink specials at brunch spots in New
York are actually illegal. Luckily for the city’s day drinkers, the
law has actually been on the books for a long time and is generally
not enforced, so the sangria SWAT scenario remains little more a
distant nightmare for now.

But in an effort to be helpful, the NYC Hospitality Alliance
sent out an email to its member restaurants on Monday reminding
them that state law does in fact prohibit the “selling, serving,
delivering or offering to patrons an unlimited number of drinks
during any set period of time for a fixed price.”

The New York Post is
on the case, obviously, grabbing this quote from Robert
Bookman, counsel to the NYC Hospitality Alliance.

“I don’t think it’s a high enforcement priority,” he said. “The
community boards don’t seem to be complaining about it and the
customers definitely aren’t complaining about it.”

Of course, happy customers, happy vendors, and no negative
externalities aren’t good enough reasons for regulators to leave
well enough alone forever. 

But it’s not all doom and gloom on the brunch front in America,
Virginia just
deregulated the advertising of drink specials. So not only are
unlimited mimosas totally legal to serve in the Old Dominion, it’s
even legal for restaurants to tell you about those specials on
Twitter.