Solomons restaurant plans to reopen with music, seafood

A once popular gathering spot on Solomons Island is about to be reborn. Two years after Stoney’s Kingfishers closed its doors, a Calvert County native has plans to reopen it under the name Coast 2 Coast.

Part of the plan for the former seafood restaurant is to provide a venue for islanders and island visitors to enjoy some music and, when in season, eat some steamed crabs.

On March 28, the Calvert County liquor board voted unanimously to grant Shanice Johnson of Lusby a Class B on sale beer, wine and liquor license. The approval is conditional since Johnson will need to obtain a use and occupancy permit from the county before the business can open.

Johnson, a county native, confirmed she hopes to open Coast 2 Coast in late April. Her current plan is to have live music on weekends. Although the restaurant has outdoor dining areas in the front and rear, Johnson said the weekend music will be “mostly inside.”

Johnson told the liquor board she has obtained the required signatures from neighbors and most of her staff has been certified in training for intervention procedures and techniques of alcohol management.

David Weigel, liquor board attorney, asked Johnson about her strategy for preventing trouble at Coast 2 Coast. Johnson said, with the exception of Fridays when the business will be open until 2 a.m., closing time will be around midnight. Additionally, Johnson is planning to have security personnel on site.

“This is quite an endeavor you’re undertaking,” John “Jack” Smack, liquor board member told Jonson.

The “island” segment of Solomons currently has about a half-dozen restaurants and there are several more nearby on the mainland.

In other business conducted during the March 28 meeting, the liquor board approved a request from Carlos Yanez, owner of the Ruddy Duck Brewery and Grill in Solomons, to have Laurence W.B. Cumberland listed on its Class B license as the business’s resident agent.

Cumberland, an attorney who often represents clients at the board’s meetings, is taking the resident agent’s title from his late wife, Roxanne Riddle Cumberland, who died last Thanksgiving Day.

Another Solomons restaurant, CD Cafe, now has a new license holder. The board unanimously approved the transfer of the cafe’s Class B license to Clarissa Meinhardt, a resident of St. Mary’s County. Gregory John Cusick, who lives in Calvert County, will be listed as the restaurant’s resident agent.