Kelly’s Ellis Island Sold to Owner of Tex-Mex Restaurants

Hugh Kelly, founder of Catholic University staples Irish Times and Ellis Island, has sold the later to the owner of two Tex-Mex restaurants. Ellis Island, once a bustling and popular bar/restaurant frequented by University students, has been closed the entire academic year, and its future was uncertain.

Brookland’s Ellis Island was sold to Jaime Vargas, owner of San Antonio Bar & Grill, a family-owned Tex-Mex restaurant with two locations in Virginia, according to community newspaper Brookland Heartbeat.

Vargas has been looking for a location in Brookland for several years, according to the Heartbeat. “I am very excited to become part of this community,” said Vargas.

Kelly founded Ellis Island in 1995 after the success of Irish Times, a bar he founded near Union Station in 1977. He was pleased to see his restaurant sold to Vargas.

“Jaime is the man for the job,” said Kelly, who added that he thought his Latin-American and Tex-Mex cuisine was delicious, according to the Heartbeat.

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He sold Ellis Island to Paul Maucha and Valda Crowder or Pesa Properties in 2005. When the new owners applied for an entertainment endorsement change to their liquor license, the Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration discovered they had not properly notified ABRA when they purchased the restaurant, they had tax delinquencies and they had failed to pay liquor license renewal fees. As of Nov. 2007, they had quietly been trying to sell the restaurant and properties for $3.9 million. Those owners failed to keep up with their morgage and Ellis Island was sold at a foreclosure auction on Nov. 21 of last year, according to the Heartbeat.

Kelly had sold the restaurant to Pesa Properties after receiving an unsolicited offer from them. Kelly had been having health problems that made it difficult for him to continue running the restaurant. It appears that Kelly regained control of the properties and the restaurant until he sold it to Vargas on Nov. 19, 2008.

Brookland Heartbeat editor Abigail Padou, who works at Catholic University as a Marketing Assistant for CUA Press, introduced Vargas to Kelly in Feb. 2008. “I have known Mr. Vargas for a number of years and have admired the quality and friendliness of his restaurants,” said Padou.

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