Mark Sylvester takes down a partition known as a Zion Curtain that prevented customers from seeing their alcoholic drinks being mixed and poured at Current Fish and Oyster on Saturday in Salt Lake City. A new Utah law makes alcohol more expensive but also allows some restaurants to take down the walls and partitions.

SALT LAKE CITY — A trendy downtown Salt Lake City seafood restaurant started business Saturday with glass-smashing and champagne, a symbolic gesture in its emancipation from Utah's so-called Zion Curtains alcohol law.

“It feels fabulous and liberating. It's a hallelujah moment,” said Joel LaSalle, owner of Current Fish & Oyster. “It'll make our restaurant twice as beautiful because you can actually see the $100,000 bar and wall.”

The new liquor law went into effect Saturday, making wine, liquor and higher-alcohol beer more expensive while also allowing some restaurants to take down walls and partitions that were meant to prevent customers from seeing their alcoholic drinks being mixed and poured.

The broad liquor law passed in March eased a longtime requirement that drinks be prepared behind barriers known as Zion Curtains, typically glass walls or back rooms. It's based on the premise that the barriers shield children from alcohol culture and what some perceive as the glamour of bartending, and prevents underage drinking.

The Zion Curtain nickname is a reference to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which teaches its members to avoid alcohol and plays an influential role in state liquor policy.

The rule has been a longtime thorn in the side of Utah's restaurant industry, which has complained that the barriers can be ugly and awkward, and point out that children can still see customers drinking alcohol. They also argued the rule punished newer restaurants, because those built before 2009 were not required to have a barrier.

Under the new law, restaurants can stop hiding drinks behind glass barriers or in backrooms — if they choose one of two options to keep those under 21 away from bars: Seat them at least 10 feet from a bar, or at least 5 feet from a bar if the restaurant installs a half-wall or other barrier.

Adult customers can sit at or near bars and watch drinks being made.

Restaurants that want to pick one of those paths will first need the alcohol control department to sign off on their changes and floor plans and meet with a compliance officer from the liquor department.Most restaurants are not required to do anything differently under the law, and eateries that must make adjustments have a year to do that.The large dining room at Current Fish & Oyster offers plenty of room for a 10-foot buffer zone. LaSalle said the wall is an eyesore and costs his restaurant thousands in sales each month because customers can't sit and enjoy a drink while chatting with the bartender hidden in a glass-paneled cubicle.The law also raised the markup that the state makes on the case price of alcohol by 2 percentage points. The new price markup is 88 percent for liquor and wine and 66.5 for beer that has more than 4 percent of alcohol by volume.

Andrew Cliburn opens a bottle of champagne after a partition known as a Zion Curtain was removed Saturday at a restaurant in Salt Lake City. It is believed the barriers shield children from alcohol culture and prevent underage drinking.