BALTIMORE COUNTY — At Taco Love, the drinks attract a crowd with fancy cups, high-end tequilas, and garnishes galore, but these drinks are limited to the confines of these walls.
"We have had a lot of people come to us and ask us about cocktails to go and why did they go away and they would like them to come back," said Gelmin Portillo.
It could happen soon.
Delegate Kathy Szeliga is sponsoring a bill to make it a reality.
"It's just enabling customers to be able to access their restaurant's favorite cocktail along with the food they're purchasing," said Szeliga.
Nick is a Taco Love veteran who got to experience the convenience of bringing margaritas home during COVID.
"Back then, you couldn't even come and sit down, but we would always come here every week on a Friday night. We'd get our food to go and our drinks to go," said Nick Miskelly.
Portillo, Taco Love's owner, says people are ordering takeout more than ever.
"There's a big shift now in consumer behavior, they are more and more ordering takeout and consuming it at home," said Portillo.
Opponents of the bill last year said it could lead to drinking and driving or underage kids getting the alcohol.
Delegate Szeliga pushes back saying the people picking up the alcohol are carded.
"You can get a little rum and coke bottle, a little can of a mixed drink at the liquor store. Adults don't open them in the car because they're responsible," said Szeliga.
The bill would require food purchased with the drinks and would not allow it on delivery apps like DoorDash or Uber Eats.
