A federal appeals court today upheld the 188-month prison sentence Iskender Kapllani received after being found guilty of using his now defunct Arbri Cafe in Roslindale as a front for distributing cocaine. Read more.
A federal judge last week sentenced Iskender Kapllani, owner of the defunct Arbri Cafe on Belgrade Avenue, to 15 1/2 years in federal prison following his conviction for running a cocaine ring that distributed the drugs out of the restaurant. Read more.
Jen Langley tweets:
Just noticed Arbri Cafe is def gone + grand opening sign on Belgrade for Prime Time Pizza.
Over the past few years, that Belgrade Avenue location, near Walworth, has been home to various incarnations of Albanian (and Albanian owned) restaurants.
Sgt. Robert Mulvey contemplates some of the bottles seized at Vlora, at Tuesday hearing.
The Boston Licensing Board says the nature of the booze seized from Vlora was as clear as some of the bottles it came in: It was hard liquor, which the Albanian place on Boylston Street is not allowed to sell.
Murati Ferrer with seized vodka.
The owner of an Albanian restaurant on Boylston Street says the whiskey, bourbon, rum and vodka bottles seized by police during a July 1 inspection are really cordials it's allowed to sell.
A skeptical Boston Licensing Board decides Thursday what to do about the alcohol seized from Vlora - some of which may contain herbs or other ingredients that might make it liqueurs rather than hard stuff. It will also have to decide whether it buys the restaurant's argument that a DJ is not a DJ if he doesn't have turntables - Vlora is not licensed for DJs - and whether the fact the place had roughly 50 more patrons than allowed by its occupancy permit is merely a technical violation rather than a potential safety hazard.
Arbri Cafe recently opened at 146 Belgrade Ave., which is where Roslindale's last Albanian restaurant - Cafe Apollonia - was before being replaced by a pizza/burger joint (whose sign is still up, just covered up now - which matches the new Taiwanese restaurant across the street, which did the same thing).
In addition to Albanian dishes, the restaurant also has Italian and Greek food on the menu.
MenuPages rounds up the comments on Vlora, the Albanian restaurant that recently opened on Boylston Street, marking the first time Bostonians could eat Albanian since Cafe Apollonia in Roslindale became a pizza/burger joint/sports bar this past January.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
