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/dam

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.