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I used to drink at a cigar lounge in the Deep South (USA) that offered a $40 ham and cheese sandwich as the sole menu item for the exact same reason: local laws

by dvtrn 7y ago

I used to drink at a cigar lounge in the Deep South (USA) that offered a $40 ham and cheese sandwich as the sole menu item for the exact same reason: local laws required food to be served at your establishment if you wanted an alcohol license. I saw one person order the sandwich in many years drinking there. Sure enough the bartender reached into the mini fridge under the bar, and would proceed to make a ham and cheese sandwich right there in the spot. Sure enough, he charged the guy Mayo was extra.

techsupporter 7y ago
They used to do this in Texas but people got cranky that these "private club restaurants" (the "private club" thing being a workaround for Texas' famous wet/damp/dry laws, to have a place that could sell alcohol for on-premise consumption in a dry area) were just "bars in disguise" so the law was changed to be that any place where food service was 51% or more of sales were food is a "restaurant that happens to serve alcohol" and a place where 51% or more of sales were alcohol is a "bar." The latter were banned in dry and damp areas that hadn't voted to permit on-premise consumption bars. The wet/damp/dry bit was similarly crazy. For years, a so-called local option vote could be held inside any political district: county, city, justice of the peace, water supply, volunteer fire department, or school district. As long as the petition met the rules, the district had to hold a vote. That led to a situation where a school district near Houston had to hold a local option election, so then the legislature changed the law to delete school districts from the eligible list. Also: Dry - No alcohol sales permitted except in "private clubs;" damp - beer and wine only, on-premise hard alcohol allowed if by a separate vote; wet - all types of alcohol, on-premise or off.
burtonator 7y ago
There was some music event recently that prevented vendors from selling water. Instead they sold you a peanut for $2 and the water was for free. Mind you the venue was selling water for like $8 a bottle.
- vageli 7y ago
  > There was some music event recently that prevented vendors from selling water. > Instead they sold you a peanut for $2 and the water was for free. > Mind you the venue was selling water for like $8 a bottle. All it takes is one person to pass out from heat exhaustion to end this practice.

by dvtrn 7y ago

techsupporter 7y ago

They used to do this in Texas but people got cranky that these "private club restaurants" (the "private club" thing being a workaround for Texas' famous wet/damp/dry laws, to have a place that could sell alcohol for on-premise consumption in a dry area) were just "bars in disguise" so the law was changed to be that any place where food service was 51% or more of sales were food is a "restaurant that happens to serve alcohol" and a place where 51% or more of sales were alcohol is a "bar." The latter were banned in dry and damp areas that hadn't voted to permit on-premise consumption bars. The wet/damp/dry bit was similarly crazy. For years, a so-called local option vote could be held inside any political district: county, city, justice of the peace, water supply, volunteer fire department, or school district. As long as the petition met the rules, the district had to hold a vote. That led to a situation where a school district near Houston had to hold a local option election, so then the legislature changed the law to delete school districts from the eligible list. Also: Dry - No alcohol sales permitted except in "private clubs;" damp - beer and wine only, on-premise hard alcohol allowed if by a separate vote; wet - all types of alcohol, on-premise or off.

burtonator 7y ago

There was some music event recently that prevented vendors from selling water. Instead they sold you a peanut for $2 and the water was for free. Mind you the venue was selling water for like $8 a bottle.

vageli 7y ago
> There was some music event recently that prevented vendors from selling water. > Instead they sold you a peanut for $2 and the water was for free. > Mind you the venue was selling water for like $8 a bottle. All it takes is one person to pass out from heat exhaustion to end this practice.