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Located at the corner of 21st and G streets, TONIC is owned by GW graduates Jeremy Pollack and Greg Nicholas. The restaurant serves homestyle meals and is complete with a bar area in anticipation of eventually being able to serve alcohol, though no alcoholic drinks have been consumed in the restaurant since it opened for business in May.
"Of course there are some opponents, but we are not a nightclub or a bar," Pollack said. "We are a neighborhood restaurant there to serve the community and the school."
D.C. City Council rejected TONIC's first application for a liquor license in February, stating that D.C. law does not allow eateries to serve alcohol in areas zoned for residential land use.
However, since this time TONIC has successfully pushed for a change to the law that previously kept it from obtaining a liquor license. The D.C. City Council passed the Residential Class Exemption Clarification Amendment Act of 2007 in mid June with a unanimous 13 to 0 vote.
The June act removed two words from a statute that said businesses can not obtain a liquor license in a residential area unless there are other licenses of the same type and class within 400 feet of the applicant. Cutting the words "type and" allows TONIC to be exempt from the prohibition of liquor licenses in residential neighborhoods, as it is in the same class, but not type, as Lisner Auditorium, which holds a class CX multipurpose license.
TONIC filed its papers to reapply for a liquor license on July 5, said Andrew Klein, TONIC's attorney, and a 1978 alumnus. On Aug. 29, Klein Pollack and Nicholas met with the Foggy Bottom residents and the Advisory Neighborhood Committee that represents them to discuss the possibility of TONIC obtaining a liquor license. As TONIC's owners expected, many residents said they were opposed to the idea.
Beverly Swanson, president of The Letterman House, said, "You are fighting a loosing battle," as audience members cheered behind her.
