BLUE STATE BLUES: Rubio’s Coastal Grill, citing rising business costs, abruptly shuts down 48 restaurants in California.

As a college student in San Diego, Ralph Rubio discovered fish tacos while on spring break in Baja California. And in 1983 he opened a modest walk-up stand, helping popularize fish tacos in the country and seeing his business, known over the last decade as Rubio’s Coastal Grill, grow to about 200 restaurants in California and several other states.

But the pandemic slammed the company, prompting it to shut down restaurants in Florida and Colorado. Rubio’s also has been struggling under the shadow of Mexican restaurant giant Chipotle in the hyper-competitive segment known as fast casual. And then there were the costs: rising food prices and increasing worker wages.

On Monday, Rubio’s confirmed that it had closed 48 of its California restaurants on Friday — more than a third of its already slimmed-down chain of 134 restaurants.

Rubio’s, in a statement Monday issued by media strategist Sitrick & Co., attributed the closings to the rising cost of doing business in California.

The big chains are better able to absorb the punishment Sacramento loves to dish out than smaller chains like Rubio’s are. They’re also generally more compliant with big government’s social goals.