The City that Always Sleeps: Residents, some businesses and BU fight proposed 3 a.m. closing time for Kenmore Square taco place

Update: 2 a.m. closing time approved.

The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to let El Jefe's Taqueria, which currently stays open until 3 a.m. near Northeastern, BU and in Harvard Square, open a new outlet with the same closing time in Kenmore Square.

At a hearing this morning, El Jefe's owner John Schall and supporters said Boston can't really be a world-class city that retains young people unless it allows late-night burritos in a hub like Kenmore Square and that the chain has proven at BU and Northeastern that it can feed the voracious student masses until 3 a.m. safely and with no fuss or muss.

Opponents, though, say El Jefe's should first prove itself with an earlier closing time and that 3 a.m. could lead to disruptions that prevent Kenmoreans from getting enough sleep. Sure, El Jefe is open until then down Comm. Ave and up by Northeastern, but those are different neighborhoods altogether, and that when Kenmore did have places open until 3 a.m., it was a near hellhole, not the sort of place people wanted to go to, at least not the sort of respectable people that wouldn't carouse through the streets, keeping residents from getting enough sleep.

The board has the power to set restaurant closing times (opening times as well, but that rarely causes contention), in this case for El Jefe's proposed 25-seat location in the Whoop complex at 533 Commonwealth Ave.

Schall and his licensing consultant, Chris Tracy, said El Jefe's has operated until 3 a.m. for 18 months now at its locations near Agganis Arena just up Comm. Ave and on Huntington Avenue near Northeastern without any problems, and presented petitions and letters of support from 1,900 people and six businesses.

They said at the request of the Boston Transportation Department, they would funnel people picking up orders to park on Deerfield Street rather than in the square itself, that they have a contract with DoorDash to bar any deliverers who cause problems and that, in any case, "99 percent" of the scooters at their location at the other end of BU are ridden not by delivery people, but BU students.

And they played the world-class-city card. ""If Boston wants to be a world-class [it needs] amenities, convenience and nightlife that attracts young people here," Tracy said. Schall's son, Justin, said that if Boston really is serious about improving nightlife, it needs to put its regulatory power where its mouth is and allow responsible operators like El Jefe's open later. Schall said that the more responsible operators are open late, the safer and more vibrant the square would get.

They were supported at the meeting by Jim Travers, who lives near Harvard Square and who praised the El Jefe's there for its "positive influence" on that square. "It's not a place where people get rowdy, it's not a place where people drink," he said.

Also in support: Lillian Tyack, who graduated Boston College five years ago and who now works there and who said the students who would patronize El Jefe at 2:30 a.m. are not out to cause trouble, but to get some sustenance for those late-night study drives. "They just want to be satiated and go home," she said.

The lack of late-night offerings "is one of the big reasons people leave Boston" after graduating, she said, praising El Jefe's in particular for offering "cheap, affordable and actually really good food, and healthy."

But City Councilor Sharon Durkan, Kenmore Residents Group head and Cornwall's owner Pam Beale and BU Police Chief Rob Lowe all opposed letting El Jefe get out of the gate with a 3 a.m. closing.

Durkan noted that even the Kenmore McDonald's, across the square from where El Jefe's would go, is not open for sit-down dining until 3 a.m.

Beale said she recalls the bad old days of Kenmore Square, when several places were open to 3 a.m., with "people being afraid of the square and just being an unpleasant experience being in the square in the evening."

She said El Jefe should be required to prove itself a good neighbor by opening with an earlier closing time first before seeking a later closing time, and that its experiences elsewhere may not apply to Kenmore Square.

"People should have to earn a later than 2 a.m. closing," she said. "Every neighborhood is different. Not everybody has the same history as Kenmore Square."

Lowe asked the board to limit El Jefe's to 2 a.m., noting that would align with other closing times in the square.

One Park Drive resident said 3 a.m. would be unfair to nearby residents, because it would mean noise even later than that as patrons dispersed into the surrounding streets after that.

"It's wonderful to have vibrant streets in Boston but not when it means disrupting people who want to sleep," she said.