State Liquor Authority votes to summarily suspend Woodside bar's license after alleged cocaine sales and safety violations

The State Liquor Authority voted during a special meeting March 28, 2025 to summarily suspend the license of La Tejana Restaurant Bar Corp, which operates as Tijuana Restaurant Bar at 64-01 Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens. Margarita Marcico, appearing for the counsel's office, asked the authority to "issue an emergency summary order of suspension" after the office documented what it described as three confirmed drug sales by the owner, identified in the filings as Felipe Lascano, and fire- and life-safety violations inside the premises.

Marcico told the board that a registered confidential informant completed controlled buys on 01/25/2025, 02/01/2025 and 03/14/2025, each time handing prerecorded buy money and receiving a single ziplock bag that the New York City Police Department laboratory later tested and confirmed contained cocaine. "Essentially, we're requesting this order summary suspension due to, 3 confirmed drug sales by the owner, Mister Felipe Lascano," Marcico said in her presentation. Counsel also reported that police executed a search warrant on March 21 and recovered multiple ziplock bags in locations including a ledge behind the bar and a bathroom; some recovered bags had not yet been tested as of the filing.

Commissioners questioned operational details: whether arrests resulted, whether the basement was included in the licensed premises and whether the establishment had an operating kitchen. Marcico said the owner was arrested and noted the lease on file describes only the Ground Floor and expires in April 2025; she also described exposed wiring, extension cords used as permanent wiring, and fire extinguishers lacking current inspections. Commissioner Edgar De Leon corrected an earlier reading of the reports to say the district attorney charged the owner with possession (a misdemeanor) rather than sale, but said the combination of narcotics activity and crowded, hard-to-egress basement conditions created "an imminent threat to the public safety." "He's a person who's put his financial interests above doing the right thing," De Leon said.

Chair Lily Fan described the conduct as a knowing breach of law and moved to suspend the license. "I find it shocking that, this particular licensee, knows the law and is breaking the law," she said before recording her vote to summarily suspend, joined by Commissioner De Leon. After the vote the Authority adjourned. The emergency suspension is effective immediately under the Authority's summary suspension procedures; the transcript records the vote and the board's direction but does not specify further administrative deadlines or appeals steps in the meeting record.