Last summer, chef Michal Ulehla and his wife, Joyce De La Torre, opened Bread + Salt in Frisco. Situated on Main Street, kitty-corner from the couples flagship Italian eatery, Bagalis, Bread + Salt was an experiment in upscale breakfast fare, with a name that alluded to the Central European custom of greeting friends with fresh-baked bread and salt.

With a starting base of longtime Bagalis customers and word-of-mouth referrals from friends and neighbors, Bread + Salts popularity quickly grew. The restaurant recently underwent a remodel, and Ulehla has added a lunch menu to sate his customers, who, between Bread + Salt and Bagalis, can now partake of the chefs creations morning, noon and night.

I knew it was going to take some time, especially with restaurants, to build up a reputation, Ulehla said. I think we were surprised how quickly we were able to build a customer base, but also, on the other hand, since this was established as a new business, we learned a lot along the way.

TIME TO REMODEL

When Bread + Salt first moved in, the corner storefronts large, south-facing windows spilled sun into a dimly lit, darkly painted dining room with a large coffee station in the center and a slivered view of the kitchen over a high countertop.

Ulehla and De La Torre wanted to brighten the space, so they embarked upon a remodel that opened up the dining room and made it more functional. They started by stripping off the wood paneling below the chair rail, repainting the dark green walls a light buttercup yellow with gray accents and upgrading the lighting and ceiling fans.

The light that they used to have, it was super old and super dark, De La Torre said. In the mornings when we would open, it would look so dark in here because the lighting was really bad. And all of the new lighting is really, really great.

A dividing wall set with window panes near the west entrance was jettisoned to create better flow, and the east entrance was closed off with drywall to make the central entrance a stronger focal point. The countertop dividing the dining room and the kitchen was lowered and set with bar stools to provide more seating, and the coffee station was relocated behind the counter.

Its just so open that you can see everything thats happening, De La Torre said, gesturing toward the windows. If its snowing really bad, if its blowing, this stop sign gives you a big show of everything thats happening. It feels like everything thats happening in town, you see it right here the people walking by, walking their dogs. Its a really good view.

New signage and chalk sandwich boards help draw traffic to Bread + Salt, and when the warm days of late spring and summer roll around, the couple is planning to take better advantage of the dog-friendly, wrap-around patio. Overall, the tight but conversational space creates a different energy than whats found at Bagalis, Ulehla said.

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Bread + Salt restaurant in Frisco remodels, adds lunch menu

While sad is the descriptor of choice for patrons of Johnny Caces Seafood & Steak House, celebrate is the word Cathy and Chelsea Cace prefer to use.

The 66-year-old restaurant will serve its final meal March 28, which has fans of the New Orleans-style eatery down in the dumps. But the Cace family is approaching its last two months in business with an air of celebration.

Thats really what we want it to be, owner Cathy Cace said. A celebration.

The decision to close the restaurant came after months of prayer and of pondering options, Cathy and Chelsea said.

However, they said they feel a sense of peace about their decision.

The 13,000-square-foot, 50-year-old building needed so much repair and upkeep that the restaurant and its owners were buckling under the strain.

Cathy and Chelsea say they havent even had the chance to properly grieve husband and father Gerard.

Gerard Cace, son of Johnny Cace, husband to Cathy and father to Chelsea, ran the restaurant since the early 1980s before dying suddenly in 2012.

I dont think weve properly dealt with that, said Chelsea, the restaurants general manager. Weve been so busy.

The mother and daughter agreed that the next two months will be filled with memories and hard work, while honoring the business, the family and continuing the legacy that began 66 years ago.

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A legacy that lasts: Johnny Caces impact will transcend its March closing

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San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 22, 2015

Christopher Wells Construction, a bay area remodeling contractor, recently addressed the ongoing need for San Francisco buildings to be evaluated for earthquake preparedness in 2015, based on San Francisco's Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Program Ordinance.

As of October 6, 2014 there were approximately 500 property owners who had not submitted their screening forms for the program, according to the Department of Building Inspection.

It's a new year, 2015, and many residences, called soft-story homes for having a weaker first floor, could be at risk of collapsing when the next big earthquake strikes, Wells said. "Bay Area homeowners should be aware of the risks involved in having a home that is not earthquake-prepared. We only need to look at what happened in nearby Napa in 2014. The Napa earthquake resulted in financial losses totaling close to a billion dollars, and more than 100 buildings were deemed unsafe to inhabit. And surprisingly, just two days ago a 4.4 magnitude quake hit San Benito County, which is only a few hours south of San Francisco."

There is a lesson to be learned for San Francisco homeowners," Wells went on. "For those with San Francisco properties at risk for earthquake damage, make 2015 a safer year by having your home evaluated for seismic strengthening.

In fact, the likelihood of an earthquake measuring 6.7 or greater striking the Bay Area in the next 25 years is 63%, according to the US Geological Survey. Wells said this should raise two urgent questions for homeowners: First, how can I get the information I need to make informed decisions when the next tremor strikes? And second, what can I do to protect my home from being seriously damaged?

The voluntary strengthening ordinance (AB 094) was passed in 2010; it applies to buildings with less than five residential units. Larger buildings fall under San Francisco's 2013 Mandatory Seismic Retrofit Program for Soft Story Wood Frame Buildings. This ordinance applies to buildings with two or more stories which contains five or more units. Property homeowners were required to complete a screening form by September 15, 2014.

Wells added that the problem is most SF homes were built long before earthquake ordinances were mandated. The cripple walls, the short stud walls between the floor and foundation (the crawl space) need to be shear walled, or braced, with plywood. This will stop a home from sliding off its foundation, he explained. What you are doing is strengthening the weakest part of a building, which gets hit by the greatest force during an earthquake.

How do you detect if your home is a soft-story building? Wells pointed to several criteria listed in the 2010 ordinance that would indicate a need for voluntary strengthening. Among the criteria:

San Francisco Department of Building Inspection offers specific incentives in the form of a cost break and expediting the building permanent process that are explained in the 2010 ordinance. These are two very good reasons for homeowners to move forward with voluntary seismic strengthening.

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Bay Area Remodeling Contractor Christopher Wells Construction Addresses the Importance of Voluntary Seismic ...

Originally published January 23, 2015 at 5:24 PM | Page modified January 24, 2015 at 10:02 AM

In less than a decade, Seattle-based Zillow has become the nations leading brand for homebuyer real-estate information. Its become synonymous with looking up your homes value or someone elses.

In a forthcoming book, Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate, Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff and chief economist Stan Humphries offer some surprising answers backed by data to a range of housing questions. Among them:

Should Congress eliminate the current mortgage-interest tax deduction? (Yes)

Should the government subsidize homeownership for low-income families? (No)

To boost your homes value, is it better to remodel your bathroom or your kitchen? (Bathroom)

Along the way, Rascoff and Humphries share tips and personal stories, such as why they financed their homes with adjustable-rate mortgages instead of conventional fixed-rate ones.

As you might expect from Zillow, each chapter in the 253-page book highlights key points with charts and tables. But the authors intentionally kept each chapter short (nine pages, on average). The writing is fun, accessible and human. Plus, for you real-estate addicts, there are photos of famous homes from real life and television.

What we tried to capture in the book was the spirit of real estate, Rascoff said in an interview.

Just as the firms name is an amalgam of the quantitative zillions (as in lots of data points) and qualitative pillows (where you rest your head), the book approaches questions about buying, selling and renting with both data and storytelling.

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Zillow execs follow housing data to surprising conclusions

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Krista Bennett was excited to move into her first home. After years of renting bad apartments, knowing she and her family had a nice place of their own was a relief.

But when she stepped close to the wall in her sons bedroom while moving a bureau a few days after moving in, her foot sank through the floor and her joy sank with it. She suddenly couldnt envision much beyond money flying out of the bank for repairs.

It was pretty discouraging, she said. I was ticked off.

A tub in an adjacent bathroom had been leaking and rotted through the floor in the bathroom, into the wall and into 6-year-old Nicholas bedroom.

All I had to do was push with my hand and it went right through.

Bennett was angry.

I immediately called the lawyer to see what could be done.

But, since the contract was signed and the house closed on, it was out of the lawyers hands.

By the time Bennett had the tub, flooring, Sheetrock and tile replaced, she had spent thousands of dollars.

The popularity of home renovation reality shows makes it seem like budget-breaking disasters are made for TV, but they happen in real life, too.

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If these walls could talk: Homeowners discover houses hidden dirty secrets

CALDWELL (AP) | Long before Idaho wines began earning national recognition and before the Sunnyslope region of Caldwell was dotted with vineyards and tasting rooms, the Symms family got into the wine-making business.

Forty years later, the winery they started, Ste. Chapelle, produces about 130,000 cases of wine each year, which leads Idaho wineries in both production and sales.

Ste. Chapelle is now owned by the Seattle-based Precept Wine, and it's in the process of getting a makeover for its 40th birthday.

The winery's octagonal-shaped tasting room, which is modeled after the 13th century La Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, is undergoing renovations that began last year and are expected to be complete in February, according to Heidi Witherspoon, Precept communications director.

This summer, a new deck was installed that seats up to 150 people and overlooks Lizard Butte and the Snake River. A two-tier boulder rock wall creation was also installed by Blue Ribbon Landscaping.

The 1,800-square-foot upstairs banquet room was updated with wood-textured vinyl flooring, new paint, a new upstairs service bar and a new service kitchen. A clear railing was installed over the windows to let more light in and to open the room to the outdoors.

Work began Monday on the main level tasting room, which will get new restrooms, flooring and a new tasting bar. There will also be in-room seating for up to 40 people with new tables, sofas and cafe-style seating.

Michael Kuhn of K Remodel is the general contractor for the project.

There will be no public retail operations through Jan. 15, and the main level tasting room will be closed until mid-February while construction is taking place. Wine tasting will resume in the upstairs banquet room beginning Jan. 16.

Winemaker Maurine Johnson has been with Ste. Chapelle for 27 years and has been the head winemaker for three years.

Continue reading here:
Ste. Chapelle Tasting Room Gets New Look

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Houston Bathroom & Kitchen Remodeling | 30 Yrs Experience

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