This month’s poll is for those folks who may not drink when they go out to dinner or who have friends who don’t drink but want to meet up with their pals for a bite.

The August reader poll, sponsored by RahwayisHappening.com (Rahway Special Improvement District):

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For this poll, I included restaurants that offer table service but don’t have a liquor license so they don’t serve alcohol. Anyone who’s missing?  Maybe a place I didn’t realize has table service? Open to suggestions and happy to add anyone you think I missed.

Last year’s winner of Favorite BYO poll was Il Forno a Legna, the Italian/pizza joint at Main and Lewis streets, which usually fares well in a number of our polls. Votes were a little on the light side, at least compared to the previous favorite BYOB poll in 2016 when Beana’s Para Siempre took the crown.

Following the July poll on favorite bar, I thought it’d be appropriate to follow it up with a Favorite BYO restaurant poll. Most restaurants make their biggest margins on liquor so a focus just on food makes it that much more difficult — all the more reason to put a little more focus on them. The poll also is meant to bring attention to New Jersey’s prohibition-era liquor license laws. It’s easy to forget that it’s not like this in other states – and it doesn’t have to be.

Did you know liquor licenses are limited to one per every 3,000 residents – which drives up the cost into the six and — even seven  –figures? In Montclair, a liquor license sold for $1.2 million a few years ago. That doesn’t exactly make it easy  for anyone interested to invest locally. Liquor license reform has been raised in recent years by organizations, like Downtown New Jersey. The governor has made liquor license reform a priority in his second term despite recent limits enacted on brewery licenses.