FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Gambino’s Restaurant was shut down Thursday after four agents from the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board investigated the premises, removing all alcoholic beverages and ordering none sold there until the current restaurant tenant obtains a valid license.

“The restaurant will have to be shut down until they get this done,” said Rick Gambino Thursday, standing outside the front doors of the building he owns and unlocked to talk with the media. “It’s not a big deal. The (license) transfer didn’t happen like everyone thought had happened.”

Gambino said he had not operated a restaurant himself there for the past six years, but rented out the premises to other restaurant tenants or owners.

He would not reveal the name of the current tenant operating the restaurant under the Gambino’s name, but the prior tenant who left Gambino’s less than a month ago to open a restaurant on Fairhope Avenue confirmed that tenant’s name as Wade Adams.

A person with that name listed in the phone book with a Gulf Shores number did not answer the telephone Thursday or Friday.

“I went over there recently to see if they’d filed their transfer, and they didn’t have their paperwork together,” said Tammy Middleton, the prior tenant who now owns Rickie B’s Seafood Alley. “We’ve been here about three weeks.”

Middleton is one of the members of Kason LLC, the company with the valid license under which Adams had been operating, said the ABC agent who led the investigation Thursday.

“The (new tenant) never applied for a transfer,” said Sgt. Tim Spears, of the enforcement division of the state ABC Board office near Robertsdale.

Spears said that when restaurants change hands as happened in this case, the new tenant or owner can operate under the old license but must file a license transfer application.

“All the alcohol has been seized and stored at an ABC office until the matter is resolved,” Spears said. “We either destroy it or give it back, depending on the circumstances.”

Spears said they had not made contact with Adams or any other people running the restaurant. However, Gambino did indicate the tenant was on the premises Thursday but he would not come to the door for an interview.

“He is very distressed about this,” Gambino said.

Spears said they shut down only that part of the restaurant operation that sells alcohol.

“For us it does mean a lot,” said Spears, referring to ABC licensing requirements.” There has to be a responsible person holding the license for the selling of alcohol, for not selling it to minors, and not serving inebriated persons. They have a lot of responsibilities in holding that license. They’re fairly extensive. There are certain things that would prevent a person from getting a license.”

The facts about Thursday’s shut down of Gambino’s might have happened with little fanfare, but a local television station was there for a different reason and present to witness the appearance of the ABC agents.

The local NBC affiliate was there for their weekly “Restaurant Scorecard” to report on the restaurant receiving a 79 score, the lowest in the county that week, according to the Baldwin County Health Department. That show aired Thursday night.

“It was a routine inspection on Oct. 17,” said Bill Kelly, environmental supervisor of the county health department. “The critical violations are those that can lead to someone getting sick. They had three of those.”

He said those violations included employees eating and/or drinking in the kitchen area, adulterated food (weevils in corn meal or flour) and the ice machine having a slimy coating on the inside that touched the ice.

“They corrected all three of those violations,” he said. “But because of the score, they are scheduled for another inspection soon.”

Kelley said any score under an 85 triggers another inspection within 60 days although they try and get there within 30 days.

Middleton, whose new restaurant on Fairhope Avenue between Section and Church streets has become a popular spot for lunch and dinner the past few weeks, said she had operated at the Gambino’s location for about a year before starting her new restaurant.

She said that running a restaurant the size of Gambino’s is a big job, and she wanted to run a smaller restaurant.

“I think they’ve packed up and just walked out of there,” she said, referring to Adams and those running the restaurant that was open until Thursday.

On the Channel 15 television Web site, Gambino was quoted as saying he expected to have the restaurant under new management and a new tenant in the restaurant within a week or so.