A Korean Barbecue Chain's Allston Liquor License Could End Up at a Taco Bell Across From Faneuil Hall

The Boston Licensing Board is scheduled to vote Thursday on two license transfers that show how the city's limited supply of liquor licenses moves from one neighborhood to another and from one owner to the next.

The first would bring a Taco Bell Cantina to 16 North St., across from Faneuil Hall, in the space once occupied by Koy, according to Universal Hub's report from the board's hearing. The applicant, G.F. Enterprise, is a Burlington-based Taco Bell franchisee that operates eight other beer-and-wine Taco Bell Cantinas in New York City and Nashville. The proposed Boston location would have 37 seats.

The license it wants to use has its own history. G.F. Enterprise has an agreement to buy it from Gen Korean BBQ House, a chain based in Cerritos, California, which acquired the license last year for a planned 218-seat Korean barbecue restaurant in a converted two-story bank building at 121 Harvard Ave. in Allston, next to Blanchard's. That restaurant was originally supposed to open by the end of 2025. The Gen project is now off, and the transfer requires approval by both the Boston board and the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

The number of liquor licenses in Boston is set by state law, which is why the right to sell alcohol at a given address changes hands through sales like this one. The state created 225 additional licenses for the city in 2025, the Boston Globe has reported.

The second item concerns a Dorchester neighborhood bar. Driscoll DoCanto and Ken Osherow are seeking to sell Savin Bar + Kitchen and the neighboring Ghostpepper Taqueria at 112 Savin Hill Ave. to Brendan Griffin, a veteran restaurant manager who told the board he plans no changes to the name, operations or hours. According to his lawyer, Tyler Henseler, Griffin has spent 20 years in restaurant operations and hospitality, most recently as general manager of the Cambria Somerville Hotel, and previously worked at the Lenox Hotel in the Back Bay and at the Union Bar and Grill in the South End.

"This is a great application to see," said Kathleen Joyce, the board's outgoing chair, who lives in Dorchester, according to Universal Hub. "I could see from your application you live locally. So it's nice to see that you're able to take over this previously licensed place in your own neighborhood."

Savin Bar + Kitchen drew international attention last fall when, on the advice of television chef Gordon Ramsay, it rebranded with large photos of Boston mobsters, including James "Whitey" Bulger. After about a month of local outcry, including from people who noted that one of Bulger's murder victims had owned a bar at the same location, the owners replaced the photos with images of local historic sites.

The votes come during a transition at the board. Mayor Michelle Wu announced Tuesday that Ava Callender Concepcion will become executive director of the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing and chair of the Licensing Board and the Cannabis Board on Nov. 4, succeeding Joyce, who has chaired the board since 2018. Wu the same day proposed zoning changes that would, among other things, spare a restaurant that changes owners from refiling permits that were already approved, a change aimed at exactly the kind of sale on Thursday's agenda.

The board typically votes on applications heard earlier in the week at its Thursday decision meetings. Approval in Boston is not the last step: transfers of all-alcohol licenses also go to the state commission.

Still unknown: the price G.F. Enterprise agreed to pay for the license, which Universal Hub did not report, and what will become of the former bank building on Harvard Avenue.