Breakfast nook on West Roxbury's edge seeks to add dinner - and beer and wine

Joseph Adamo, who has run Joe's 320 Cafe at 320 Spring St., where the Spring Street Cafe used to be, since last fall, hopes the Boston Licensing Board has a spare beer-and-wine license he could use to begin offering dinner.

At a hearing before the Boston Licensing Board this morning, his attorney, Kristen Scanlon, said Joe's has quickly become a popular place to eat for both breakfast and lunch and that customers keep asking when they'll be able to get a more adult beverage as well as dinner - Adamo has proposed staying open until 10 p.m.

In the required exposition on the public need for such a license there, Scanlon said that in addition to customer demand, there are no establishments in that area, located off VFW Parkway just over the river from Dedham, that serve beer and wine. She said the closest place with a beer-and-wine license is in Dedham, and the closest place in Boston is nearly a half mile away - Tony's at Baker and Spring streets. Sofia's, across a parking lot from Joe's, has a full liquor license.

Scanlon added that West Roxbury has seen "rapid growth" in recent years - she estimated 400 new residential units have either been built or are under construction, including an 11-unit building right next door to Joe's, where a hair salon used to be.