Two La Plata restaurants have closed their doors, and the Charles County Board of License Commissioners formally closed the books on their liquor licenses at its Oct. 8 meeting.
Ka’ribbean Fire
Ka’ribbean Fire, the Caribbean restaurant at 13 Shining Willow Way, lost its restaurant-bar license automatically after it stayed closed for 10 straight days without notifying the board.
Under state law, a liquor license expires on the 10th day after the license holder has vacated the premises. At the board’s direction, county alcohol enforcement checked the restaurant on 10 consecutive days, from Sept. 11 through Sept. 21, and found it the same way each time, the board’s attorney said. The sign had been taken down from the front of the building, the lights were off and furniture had been removed.
The board voted unanimously to acknowledge that the license had expired “by operation of law.” No one from the restaurant spoke at the meeting.
A Rosewick Road closing
The second closing was a Mexican restaurant at 234 Rosewick Road, listed on the board’s agenda as Salsalita’s Grill and licensed to Los Primo Inc. It closed unexpectedly on Tuesday, Sept. 29, over an issue with its landlord and will not reopen at that location, according to the notice read into the record.
The owners’ attorney, David Martinez of the Jenkins Law Firm, asked the board to accept a voluntary surrender of the license. He said he did not know whether the owners plan to reopen somewhere else. “They had very good food,” Martinez said. “I’m very sorry to see them closing.”
The board’s chairman said it was the second business in that shopping center to leave abruptly. “It’s not a coincidence, I’ll say it that way,” he said. The board had to sort out the earlier departure after it closed without notice, he said.
Martinez said rents vary from one commercial center to the next. “That’s not the cheapest shopping center in Charles County,” he said. “You got to sell a lot of food to cover all your expenses.”
The board voted unanimously to acknowledge that the license had been voluntarily surrendered and is no longer valid. The board’s attorney noted that a voluntary surrender, unlike an expiration, is taken into account if the owners apply for a license again.
Two crab houses close for the season
Two Charles County seafood spots also notified the board they are closing for the winter:
- Captain Billy’s Crab House, 11495 Popes Creek Road, Newburg, closes for the season Tuesday, Nov. 3.
- Grinder’s Seafood, 4665 Indian Head Highway, Indian Head, closes Sunday, Nov. 8, and plans to reopen Thursday, April 22, 2027.
The same meeting also brought a new round of license business like the board’s September session, including a change of ownership for Waldorf’s Red Robin and a $250 fine for a Bryantown store that sold beer before 6 a.m.
