By Stephanie Lulay slulay@stmedianetwork.com May 30, 2014 7:58PM

Restaurant Row in downtown Aurora is seen in February 2013. | File~Sun-Times Media

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AURORA With construction yet to begin on the project, Seize the Future will seek city approval to enter a new agreement with Restaurant Row developer Vernon LaVia.

Seize the Future is an economic development organization in Aurora.

The news comes more than a year after the city approved a $750,000 tax increment financing-backed deal with 5 Way LLC, concerning properties at 29, 31 and 33 W. New York St. in downtowns Restaurant Row. On Friday, Seize the Future CEO Dave Hulseberg said the new agreement is needed to get the project moving again.

Needed infrastructure upgrades has proved to be the biggest roadblock preventing LaVia from starting construction, said Hulseberg, whos now the citys point-man for the project. Under a new proposal, the city would take responsibility for clearing up lingering infrastructure issues, he said Friday.

The current LaVia TIF agreement passed by City Council in February 2013 has passed its expiration date, Hulseberg said. That agreement stated that the developer LaVia agreed to substantially complete the project within 12 months of acquiring the titles to all properties.

The project has not been completed. Hulseberg said he is negotiating in good faith with LaVia to get a revised agreement to redevelop the property in front of City Council soon.

Under the proposed revised agreement, Hulseberg said that 5 Way LLC, owned by LaVia, will receive $50,000 more in tax increment financing funds $800,000 instead of the $750,000 outlined in the current TIF agreement.

More:
New Restaurant Row development agreement proposed with LaVia

A construction worker removes concrete Wednesday to make way for the foundation of a new Chipotle restaurant at 1727 Martin Luther King Blvd. in Houma.

Chipotle Mexican Grill will open its first Houma restaurant later this year.

Construction is underway at 1727 Martin Luther King Blvd. The restaurant is expected to open by the end of 2014, a company spokesman confirmed.

Details about the specific opening date and available jobs will become available later this year.

Chipotle serves made-to-order burritos and fresh Mexican cuisine and specializes in the use of locally sourced and organic ingredients.

The menu features burritos, burrito bowls, tacos and salads. Customers can choose the meat braised carnitas, barbacoa, adobo-marinated grilled chicken, or steak and other ingredients in each order.

The Denver, Colorado-based company plans to open its Houma store as part of a 180- to 195-restaurant expansion this year. It operates over 1,600 locations around the world.

Chipotle has three locations in Louisiana, one in Baton Rouge, one in Harahan and one in Shreveport.

In the first three months of this year Chipotle opened 44 restaurants and saw revenues increase 24 percent to $902 million.

Chipotle is the fourth restaurant to enter the local scene in recent weeks.

Read more:
Chipotle building site in Houma

The French Quarter Inn will house the new Ruth's Chris Steak House in downtown Charleston. File/Staff

After a four-year search, Ruth's Chris Steak House soon will fire up the high-end dining competition in downtown Charleston.

The chain's new restaurant will open this fall in the French Quarter Inn at 166 Church St., according to franchise co-owner Nancy Oswald.

Ruth's Chris will serve as the food service provider for both the French Quarter Inn and the new 41-room Spectator Hotel at 71 State St., which is under construction.

Oswald and husband Mark will partner with Jay Keenan and Batson Hewitt, who own the inn near the Charleston City Market. They also will partner with Charlestowne Hotels, which manages the French Quarter Inn.

The Oswalds announced in May 2010 that they bought the Ruth's Chris franchise for Charleston and wanted to open on the peninsula, but they wanted to wait until they found the ideal location. They wanted it to have about 10,000 square feet of space with nearby parking. The new restaurant in the former Tristan site will be close to that size.

The Oswalds also own the franchise to existing Ruth's Chris restaurants in Myrtle Beach, Columbia and Greenville and others out of state.

Other high-end restaurant owners, partners or managers welcomed the new steakhouse but offered concerns for different reasons.

"I think Ruth's Chris will do great here," said Mickey Bakst, general manager of Charleston Grill at Charleston Place. "Steakhouses have a great appeal to people. It will do a really big tourist business."

Bakst added that he believes the peninsula's restaurant market is getting more crowded, but not from a sales standpoint.

Read the original here:
Ruth's Chris Steak House to open in hotel near Charleston City Market

ABILENE, Texas -

A new restaurant is under construction on Catclaw, just south of Dr. J's Express Care. City permitting records show it will be called Taylor County Taphouse.

We were able to speak with the restaurant owner, Josh Robinson.

"Our food would best be termed Texas comfort food, all made in-house from scratch and locally sourced whenever possible," Robinson said. "Drinks will center around a huge selection of beers from all over the world, a full bar with a custom cocktail list, and a wine list hand-picked to pair specifically with our appetizers and entrees."

Documents on file include plans for an outdoor covered patio. Taylor County Taphouse is locally owned with plans to open sometime this fall.

There's also something new in store for the old Famous Dave's on South Danville.

City records filed just last week show construction including a remodel and addition of 2,300 square feet is underway. The new business will be called Miguel's.

We will give you more details as they become available.

Continued here:
Update: Restaurant owner shares plans for Taylor County Taphouse menu

ABILENE, Texas -

A new restaurant is under construction on Catclaw, just south of Dr. J's Express Care. City permitting records show it will be called Taylor County Taphouse.

We were able to speak with the restaurant owner, Josh Robinson.

"Our food would best be termed Texas comfort food, all made in-house from scratch and locally sourced whenever possible," Robinson said. "Drinks will center around a huge selection of beers from all over the world, a full bar with a custom cocktail list, and a wine list hand-picked to pair specifically with our appetizers and entrees."

Documents on file include plans for an outdoor covered patio. Taylor County Taphouse is locally owned with plans to open sometime this fall.

There's also something new in store for the old Famous Dave's on South Danville.

City records filed just last week show construction including a remodel and addition of 2,300 square feet is underway. The new business will be called Miguel's.

We will give you more details as they become available.

Originally posted here:
New restaurant under construction, new life for old Famous Dave's

By Patrick Hayes LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- The New Mexico Department of Transportation postponed construction on the westbound on ramp at Avenida de Mesilla on to the I-10.

A spokesperson from NMDOT said construction will resume by 8 a.m.Tuesday.

Tourists and business owners were happy to hear this is the last I-10 project schedule in Dona Ana County.

"Kind of ready for it to be over with already," said Shawn Steyskal, a vacationer from Silver City.

Steyskal stopped to eat at La Posta De Mesilla, a popular restaurant about ten minutes from the freeway.

"This weekend there's a lot of driving public out," said Tom Hutchinson, who owns the restaurant. "So we're seeing a lot of Texas license plates, a lot of Arizona license plates."

Hutchinson said his business hasn't declined as result of the construction but it is frustrating.

"So 139 is closed right now so it makes our El Paso customers have to get off an exit early or an exit later. So it can be a little bit confusing."

NMDOT saidit holds public meetings before starting construction projects so business owners know what to expect.

Drivers are urged to use extreme caution when driving through construction zones and to be on the lookout for people working.

Here is the original post:
Construction in Las Cruces causes confusion

CTV Montreal Published Tuesday, May 27, 2014 7:39AM EDT Last Updated Tuesday, May 27, 2014 10:02PM EDT

Police are looking for an arsonist who tried to burn down a resto-bar on Peel St. overnight.

Around 3:30 a.m. a Molotov cocktail was placed at the front door of Cavalli restaurant.

It did very little damage and may have sputtered out before firefighters even arrived.

No one was injured.

Rapidly the fire was controlled by the firefighters on site, which caused minor damage to the establishment, said Montreal police spokesperson Pierre Brabant.

However, the restaurant in question, once known for its high-end food, luxurious dcor and jet-setting crowd, has been under the watchful eye of police for some time.

The liquor board yanked the restaurant's alcohol licence for 100 days in January, saying Cavalli had become a hotspot for known gangsters.

In recent months whistleblower Ken Pereira told the Charbonneau corruption inquiry that Jocelyn Dupuis, the former head of the FTQ-Construction, was a regular at the restaurant, spending $30,000 per month on food and drinks.

Many high-profile organized crime figures also patronized the restaurant over the years, including the late Mafia godfather Vito Rizzuto. Members of biker gangs and street gangs were also known to have dinner there.

See original here:
Downtown restaurant Cavalli firebombed

Posted: Tuesday, May 27, 2014 4:14 pm

Construction Of New Taco Bell In Rosemont To Start 'Any Day Now' By TODD WESSELL Journal & Topics Editor Journal & Topics Newspapers

Construction of a new Taco Bell restaurant at 9463 W. Higgins Rd. in Rosemont, west of River Road, will begin any day now said Mayor Brad Stephens late last week.

About a month ago, the village-owned building that for years housed a Pancakes Eggcetera, and hot dog and pizza restaurants as well as second floor apartments, was demolished to make way for the Taco Bell. Since then, the property has been vacant awaiting construction.

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Here is the original post:
Construction Of New Taco Bell In Rosemont To Start 'Any Day Now'

Restaurateurs find a connection with Internet fundraising plans

Jason French wants to give you a whole hog.

Contribute $900 to his Kickstarter campaign, and you and your family will be the proud owners of a pig from Laney Family Farms/Eat Oregon First, butchered to your specifications. The meat comes with recipes for each part, for your nose-to-tail dining pleasure.

French is owner of Northeast Portlands Ned Ludd Restaurant, which is on its final two days of trying to raise $60,000 to help fund the construction of Elder Hall, a light-filled, vaulted space that adjoins the restaurant.

We have a strong reverence for elders and wisdom, says French, who opened Ned Ludd five years ago. We wanted to create a community-oriented gathering hall in the Shaker tradition.

The modular space would host private parties as well as community meetings, dinners, lectures, tastings, movie nights, classes on butchery and wood-fire cookery. It would host a childrens cooking camp, and be the home of the Portland Meat Collective.

Basically, it would spotlight and showcase everything French has wanted his restaurant to stand for since opening on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Failing Street five years ago.

Were not building a video game or a consumerable good for the nation, French says. Were building something special for our community, for Oregon.

The 30-day campaign for Elder Hall ends on Thursday. If the campaign is successful, it will be the largest Kickstarter restaurant project to come out of Portland, since the phenomenon began nationally in 2010 and caught on here a year later.

Three Portland restaurants have Kickstarter projects well underway, and seven were funded in the past three years.

See the original post here:
Going whole hog

Look for a Culvers restaurant to open in September at the former Happy Joes Pizza location in Onalaska.

And for Big Boar BBQ to open a sit-down restaurant in August at the current site of its cookshack parked along Hwy. 16 in West Salem.

Earlier this month, J2EG Custard LLC, owned by various members of the Galen Bowe family, bought the former Happy Joes building at 835 Oak Ave. S., off Hwy. 35 in Onalaska. It has been vacant since September 2012.

The building will be remodeled and enlarged, as its slightly smaller than a typical Culvers, said Galen Bowes son, Jake Bowe, one of the owners of the new Onalaska restaurant.

It will be the 10th Culvers either entirely or partly owned by different combinations of Bowe family members.

We thought it would be a good location for us, Jake said. Theres a lot of traffic and its in a different part of town than the other Onalaska Culvers, which also is owned by Bowe family members. Construction is expected to begin in June, he said.

The new Culvers will seat nearly 100 people and probably will have 40 to 50 employees, Jake said.

Jerry and Donna Beyer started their Big Boar BBQ business in 2010. Since then, theyve been serving up Southern-style barbecue from spring through fall at a cookshack trailer parked along Commerce Street, near their Beyer Cabinets business in West Salem.

They bought a second cookshack last year and use it to serve their barbecue at fundraisers, county fairs and other special events.

Weve had customers who wanted (Big Boar barbecue) year-round, Jerry said of his and Donnas decision to open a sit-down restaurant. Construction began several days ago, and the restaurant should open sometime in August, he said. It will seat about 48 people and probably will have eight or nine employees, he added.

Link:
Steve Cahalan: New Culvers, Big Boar BBQ are planned