Gardena Checks Restaurants That May Be Bars : Regulation: Gardena officials ask state to investigate two restaurants suspected of violating their liquor licenses by not offering bona fide meals.

Gardena city officials have asked the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to investigate whether two restaurants are violating their liquor licenses and are operating as bars.

Officials said they want to find out if the Kyoto and Nami restaurants, both on Western Avenue, have curtailed or shut down their kitchen operations and are concentrating on serving drinks. Both restaurants are licensed by the state agency to serve alcohol as long as they are also serving bona fide meals, officials said.

Councilman Mas Fukai, who said he had received complaints from other restaurant owners that the restaurants were operating illegally, raised the issue at Tuesday’s council meeting when both restaurants came before the council for entertainment permit renewals.

Walter Hayashi, owner of Kyoto, told the council that the management has had difficulty finding and retaining Japanese cooks, but that food is available in the dining area of the restaurant and at a sushi bar downstairs.

Through an interpreter, the owner of Nami, Moon Kyeong Koh, told the council that her restaurant serves Korean and Japanese home-style meals as well as alcoholic drinks, but that meals account for less than 50% of her business. Moon said she is trying to advertise the menu in Japanese- and Korean-language newspapers to increase the restaurant clientele.

Fukai asked Gardena City Manager Kenneth Landau to request the state investigation, and Landau said Thursday that the request had been made.

In an interview, Fukai said there appears to be a trend among some restaurants in Gardena and elsewhere--particularly Japanese and Korean establishments--to start out as full-fledged restaurants and then convert into more lucrative Asian hostess bars, serving only light appetizers or sushi but earning most of their money from the sale of alcoholic beverages.

“I notice most of these are people who come from Korea and Japan, opening up a restaurant and calling it a restaurant, and they turn it into a bar” even though their license does not permit it, Fukai said.

Fukai said two or three other restaurants in the city may be violating their liquor licenses, and that the city may ask the state to investigate them when their entertainment permits come up for renewal.

Emanuel Espinoza, chief deputy director of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said the agency issues two types of licenses, Type 47 for restaurants and Type 48 for bars. State law defines restaurants as places “that regularly and in a bona fide manner are used and kept open for the serving of meals to guests for compensation,” he said.

Restaurants serving only light meals, such as sandwiches or salads, would not be eligible for a restaurant liquor license, he said.

“If they want to serve hot dogs and potato chips and operate with a microwave, that’s not going to make it either,” Espinoza said.

Suspected violations are given high priority, Espinoza said. “If it comes to our attention, we get on it right away.” Penalties could include suspension or revocation of the license, he said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the council voted to renew the entertainment permits for both Nami and Kyoto but set a condition that the restaurants must serve full meals. In addition to the state investigation, Landau said, city officials will inspect both restaurants over the next two months to confirm whether they are selling meals. If they are not, the city could suspend or revoke the entertainment permits, officials said.

In their permit renewal applications, both establishments said they offer live piano music and patron dancing as entertainment, and Kyoto also listed a popular form of Japanese entertainment called karaoke, or singing along with recorded music.

Gardena residents and city officials have traditionally taken a strong stance against the sale of alcohol. The city passed an ordinance about five years ago requiring new business owners who plan to sell liquor to apply for a conditional-use permit, Landau said. Since then, the city has granted such permits only for bona fide eating establishments and not for bars, he said.