|
|
||
Stafford restaurant suffers from reputation of previous business Date published: 7/15/2004 By PORTSIA SMITH Police say bar brawls, beer and public urination fests led to many arrests in the parking lot of a former nightclub in southern Stafford County. Although the business and its police calls are long gone, the owners of a new restaurant there say the site's old reputation lingers. "It seemed like a nice place, but we didn't know the background," said retired NBA player Kurt Jones, who operates Spices Restaurant there with his wife, Leela. "We started to get afraid after hearing about the location's past." The new Caribbean eatery is located inside the Howard Johnson on U.S. 17. It is the former home of the Black Swan Lounge--a club known as well for brawls as it was for live music. "We have had issues in that location with the previous management and owners about the type of activity going on there, namely fights, drunk driving and excessive use of alcohol," Stafford County Sheriff Charles Jett said. "That history can follow an establishment regardless of who the new owners are." Spicing it upLeela Jones, 32, dreamed of running her own restaurant. Everyone in her Trinidadian family could cook, so it was only natural to turn her hobby into a business. She and her two sisters started a small catering company in Maryland in 1999 that did well serving curry chicken, oxtail soup and other Caribbean dishes. In 2001, the former model and private investigator married Kurt Jones, 36, a retired NBA player. She is the 2002 Ms. Trinidad & Tobago. He was a guard for the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks, and he played overseas. The couple moved to Culpeper in January and decided to fulfill Leela's dream. Kurt said they had hoped to land a spot in Central Park, but couldn't afford the rent. When they visited their current site, they fell in love with it. It is next to the interstate and the price was right. It seemed perfect. But they had no idea of its history. A hot historyPrior to opening, the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board placed several restrictions on Spices based solely on past happenings at the Black Swan.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
