La Quebrada loses liquor license after fourth violation
Four strikes and La Quebrada Restaurant in Elgin is out.
The Elgin Liquor Control Commission revoked the liquor license of the downtown establishment at 50 N. Spring St. on Wednesday after finding that on Nov. 1, an 18-year-old woman had been given or sold liquor by an employee.
This was La Quebrada’s fourth liquor license-related violation in six years, officials said.
The liquor commission, composed of all seven members of the Elgin City Council, voted unanimously to revoke the license issued in the name of Rodriguez Corp.
Humberto Rodriguez and his attorney, Thomas Hartwell, appeared at the hearing and did not contest the charges, Elgin Corporation Counsel William Cogley said. Hartwell was recently elected Kane County Circuit Clerk.
Revoking La Quebrada’s license was simply necessary, councilman John Steffen said.
“They had a long history of violations. Last time we issued a ‘last chance’ order,” he said. “It’s not an easy decision in the sense that you’re killing a business.”
Councilwoman Anna Moeller agreed. “I believe that we gave him enough chances to try to rectify some of the practices that had gotten him into violations,” she said.
In May, La Quebrada had been fined $2,000 and given a 30-day liquor license suspension after the commission found it had sold liquor to minors, and that an employee had sold cocaine to patrons.
The order stipulated that the liquor commission would have sufficient cause to revoke La Quebrada’s license if the establishment violated city or state liquor laws in the one-year period ending May 23, 2013.
La Quebrada had committed two other liquor license-related violations in 2007 and 2010, including selling liquor to a minor, Cogley said.
On Wednesday night, the lights inside the establishment were dim, and only four people sat quietly at a table as a couple of kids played nearby. All declined to comment.
La Quebrada has been located since 2006 in the building that once housed the Gail Borden Public Library, officials said.