By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
Jan. 26, 2011

Not everyone in the Sheffield neighborhood is ready to toast to magaritas.

Mexican restaurant Taqueria El Korita is applying for a full liquor by the drink with a Sunday license and it’s creating controversy.

Located at 6225 Winner Rd., the restaurant is located less than 300 feet from the Prince of Peace Baptist Church.

“The people don’t want something near the church,” Prince of Peace Pastor Pablo Hemanez said. “We’ve had a lot of problems with people coming and stealing things from our church.”

Recently, the church has been burglarized on four separate occasions and the vandals walked away with a sound system, seven heating and air conditioning units, among other items.

Hemanez worries adding a liquor license to Taqueria El Korita will only exacerbate the problem.

“You never know what is going to happen,” he said.

Although the previous restaurant, Knight’s BBQ, served beer, it was different, said Emma Moore.

Moore, a Sheffield resident for 56 years and counting, said Knight’s mainly attracted neighborhood patrons.

“Jerry Knight was a very responsible owner,” she said. “It was a family restaurant…

“When hard liquor comes into it, the attitudes of the people change. It’s a different atmosphere.”

Moore cited how shootings, stabbings and deaths have occurred at multiple drinking establishments in the area. It’s not something she wants to bring to Sheffield, she said.

“I don’t want a drinking establishment and loud music that close to my house, especially at 1 o’clock in the morning and at midnight. I don’t need that,” she said.

Moore said she’s not alone in her feelings.

If the liquor license is approved by Regulated Industries, Taqueria plans to operate from …….. double check hours.

Although the liquor license includes the option to offer live music, a disc jockey and dance hall, that’s not the vision of the restaurant’s owners, Matias and Martamesa Ballardo.

Northeast News spoke with Matias, using Spanish interpreter Danny Esteban of Holy Cross.

Asked why he and his wife are seeking a liquor license, Matias said it’s one way they can compete with the surrounding restaurants. Taqueria’s menu includes seafood, which goes well with beer, he added.

For six months Matias and his wife have operated the restaurant and have no plans to offer live music or a dance hall, he said.

Sheffield president speaks out

“Some of the folks have expressed concerns about whether this is going to be a bar or a restaurant,” Sheffield Neighborhood Association President Dennis Carroll said.

Carroll researched the requested license on the Regulated Industries website and was assured the restaurant will not operate as a bar.

Carroll has sent out letters to property owners within 250 feet of Taqueria, notifying them of the liquor license request and upcoming consent forms. Regulated Industries will mail consent forms this Thursday. Taqueria must receive consent from at least 50 percent of nearby neighbors, or the liquor license will be denied.

“If it’s a restaurant with a liquor license, I don’t have an issue with that,” Carroll said. “In the past when it was Knight’s BBQ, Mr. Knight had the opportunity to serve beer with his dinner and his fare, and we never really had an issue with it.”

However, the fate of the liquor license’s approval lays in the hands of those living within 250 feet of Taqueria and a neighborhood meeting has been scheduled to discuss the issue further.