WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden promoted government-financed work projects as they lunched outside the White House Friday, saying the projects could be endangered if Congress does not act by the end of the summer.

Obama and Biden ate at a Shake Shack burger restaurant a few blocks from the White House with four workers from a $9.1 million Washington reconstruction project underway about 3 miles away from the lunch spot.

The White House said the project included $6.9 million in federal aid.

"It is a no-brainer for Congress to do what it's supposed to do, pass transportation funding," Obama said, his voice hoarse as he recovers from a cold.

Obama has proposed a $302 billion, four-year infrastructure spending bill, half of it paid for with existing fuel taxes and user fees and the other half paid for by eliminating corporate tax loopholes.

A key Senate committee voted Thursday to spend $265 billion on highway projects over the next six years. Still, much legislative work remains before it can become law.

The administration says current funding for projects will run out by the end of August.

Obama also used the lunch outing to promote another top policy raising the minimum wage. He said Shake Shack workers earn more than $10 an hour. The current minimum hourly wage is $7.25. Obama wants Congress to raise it to $10.10.

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Obama touts jobs projects, eats lunch with workers

The McDonalds on South Erie Boulevard plans to still open today despite an end-of-April fire that destroyed a storage building on the construction site.

The newly built fast-food restaurant plans to re-open at 11 a.m. today at 1771 S. Erie Blvd./Ohio 4 in Hamilton, said Owner Pat Pawling.

On April 27, a fire with smoke seen from downtown Hamilton burned a three car garage being built for extra storage space, Pawling said. The unfinished storage building was framed and roofed, but there was nothing in it, he said.

No flames touched the main restaurant building under construction. Therefore, the fire did not affect the opening, Pawling said.

The cause of the fire could have been anything, we just have no idea, he said.

Prior to last months fire, the old McDonalds at the same site was torn down. A new restaurant was rebuilt in its place with the national food chains modern finishes.

The original McDonalds on site was more than 50-years-old and still had the red and white tile common among McDonalds first restaurants built in the 1960s, Pawling said. It was the 212th McDonalds restaurant built in the companys system. Today, Illinois-based McDonalds Corp. has more than 32,000 locations worldwide.

Remodeled several times over the years, this is the first time the Hamilton eatery was completely knocked down and rebuilt.

Pawling said he also bought the property next door, a former Rent-A-Center, which was also demolished.

When the Hamilton restaurant opens again its been closed about four weeks it will have 107 seats versus 92 previously. Also new is a side-by-side drive-through. A third pick-up window was added for food orders that take more time.

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Fire wont affect Hamilton McDonalds re-opening

TAMPA Tampa Bay Brewing Co. was one of only a handful of microbreweries in the area when it opened in a tiny Ybor City space in 1995.

Twenty years later and in the midst of a local craft beer boom it helped nurture, the brewpub announced plans Wednesday to build a second brewery and restaurant to keep pace with customer demand for its Old Elephant Foot India pale ale.

Construction of the 17,400-square-foot standalone production and packaging facility on 2.1 acres off Race Track Road and Hillsborough Boulevard is scheduled to start in June. When its completed in 2015, the facility will include a 4,200-square-foot restaurant with a patio, similar to Tampa Bay Brewing Co.s current 230-seat location in the Centro Ybor plaza in Ybor City.

The move is a response to growing customer demand for craft beer, said Mike Doble, the companys head of business operations. The craft brewer produces about 2,000 barrels annually at Centro Ybor for consumption at the brewpub, production in cans for retail sales and distribution in kegs to about 150 restaurant clients.

The new 30-barrel brewing system is expected to boost production by an additional 6,000 barrels, with a future maximum capacity of 12,000 barrels. The expansion also will give the company the ability to provide a wider variety of beers.

People are demanding more access to our beers on the shelves, Doble said. They want us in Publix and the local liquor store. Being constrained by the facility we have doesnt make any sense. When customers want more beer, we want to give it to them.

The Doble family, which includes co-owner Vicki and her son, co-owner and brewmaster David, began searching last summer for a new location west of Tampa. They settled on a warehouse in Pinellas County adjacent to the Pinellas Trail in Ozona, but ran into regulations prohibiting the sale of alcohol on industrial sites.

Mike Doble said when the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. heard about the plans, the agency searched its land database for a suitable construction location and assisted in finding grants and credits for electricity and staff training.

As a business guy trying to pull together a million pieces, hearing them say, Well chip in and pull things together, its a good feeling, Doble said. Hillsborough Countys economic folks were very supportive.

Doble said this is the first time Tampa Bay Brewing Co. will have built a facility from scratch. Its Centro Ybor location formerly was an Italian restaurant that had to be converted for use as a brewpub.

Excerpt from:
Tampa Bay Brewing Co. to build second brewery, restaurant

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A newcomer to the restaurant scene wants to turn the industry upside down by doing away with tipping likely the first in Canada to do so.

When David Jones opens Smoke and Water in June at the Pacific Shores Resort in Parksville, customers will never have to crunch the numbers to determine what 10, 15 or 20 per cent of their bill is to leave a gratuity.

Tipping is a broken business model, said Jones, an admitted neophyte in the hospitality industry.

Instead of tipping, Jones has increased menu prices by about 18 per cent and intends to pay his staff a living wage, which is a business model accepted around the world in places such as Japan, New Zealand, Australia and parts of Europe.

That means the 155-seat restaurant will pay servers between $20 and $24 an hour and cooks $16 to $18 an hour.

At Smoke and Water named after its fire-inspired menu of barbecue and wood-fired pizza and its proximity to the ocean Jones will also put aside a small percentage of gross receipts to pay for medical and dental coverage for his 48 staff.

When you take away tipping, you find you get more seasoned servers and youre able to increase the quality of personnel you get in the back of house, Jones said.

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Vancouver Island restaurant plans to do away with tipping servers in favour of paying staff a living wage

The Chick-fil-A restaurant under construction on Raeford Road is scheduled to open June 26.

The restaurant will operate at Raeford Road and Purdue Drive, across from the Highland Centre shopping center anchored by Harris Teeter.

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Raeford Road Chick-fil-A set to open in June

Erik Kabik / Retna / ErikKabik.com

Giada De Laurentiis conducts a pink hard-hat tour of her new restaurant Giada on Friday, May 7, 2014, at the Cromwell in LasVegas.

By Robin Leach (contact)

Monday, May 12, 2014 | 1:03 p.m.

Italian star chef and Food Network darling Giada De Laurentiis has set her opening dates for her first-ever restaurant to debut at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip.

Not only can I tell you that the new restaurant and Italian kitchen Giada at the Cromwell will be identical in quality and cost to the prestigious three-star Restaurant Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace, but I also can confirm now that preview service at Giada will begin May 28, with first official reservation seating starting 7:30 p.m. June 3.

Giada worked with her construction crew and the design team over the weekend to ensure that everything is in order as the restaurant moves into the final 17-day countdown. Our thanks to Erik Kabik of Retna for his photo gallery.

Unexpected construction snafus with the cantilevered windows that open out onto the Strip to become an open-air patio have now been resolved. They were tested satisfactorily on Friday, and the delays are finally over.

There is no doubt that this will be the most anticipated restaurant opening of the year and the most successful. Talk about a hit to change the look of the Strips dining scene and that photo of the all-male Caesars Entertainment chefs.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the worlds premier platinum playground.

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Photos: Giada De Laurentiis leads pink hard-hat tour of her Strip restaurant, sets opening dates

James Nathan Phenix

An alcohol-fueled fight at a Perkins Restaurant and Bakery in Hastings early Friday left one man in critical condition and another man in the Dakota County Jail.

The men, both from West Plains, Mo., are acquaintances and have been working on a construction project at the Flint Hills Resources oil refinery in Rosemount, said Bryan Schafer, Hastings police chief.

Officers were called to the restaurant at 1206 Vermillion St. just after 3 a.m. in response to a report of a disturbance. They found a 31-year-old man lying unresponsive on the ground outside.

Police and paramedics provided first aid, and the victim was transported to United Hospital in St. Paul, where he was listed in critical condition Friday afternoon, Schafer said.

The men stopped at the restaurant after a night of drinking, he said. They began to argue, and a manager told the men to leave. "It spilled outside, and punches were thrown," Schafer said.

It was unclear Friday what spurred the argument, he said.

"It sounds like it was just silliness, just drunken bantering going back and forth, and all of a sudden it was violent," he said. "It's unfortunate."

The suspect, 27-year-old James Nathan Phenix, was arrested at the scene. He was booked into Dakota County Jail on suspicion of third-degree assault.

The case will be presented to the Dakota County attorney's office for review.

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Hastings: Fight leaves 1 man in hospital, another in jail

ZAUNER Construction is pressing ahead with plans to create a rooftop restaurant and function centre on Northpoint Tower in Lavington.

Garry Zauner is to ready to dine out on the rooftop of Northpoint, subject to Albury Councils approval. Picture: PETER MERKESTEYN

ZAUNER Construction is pressing ahead with plans to create a rooftop restaurant and function centre on Northpoint Tower in Lavington.

The top floor has spectacular 360-degree views over the city and surrounding ranges and across to the Victorian Alps.

The proposed $335,000 additions will be located directly above Zauners new corporate headquarters in the $10million building which opened in the middle of last year.

A development application for the restaurant and function centre is before Albury Council officers and, if approved, will provide another boost for Lavington.

The buildings height of 35 metres wont change because the internal lifts already go up to the rooftop level.

The function centre will be used mainly by Northpoint Towers occupants, including Zauner Construction, which will hold project meetings, seminars, audio visual presentations and staff training and development.

Other occupants include the Lavington Library, WAW Credit Union, UPA and a cafe.

Any food and drink requirements would be met by the existing Z Caf located on the ground floor of the building and delivered via lift trolley.

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Rooftop restaurant almost ready to roll

A proposed restaurant in Allentown's historic Schoen's building is one step closer to opening with the approval of a liquor license transfer Wednesday.

The restaurant, which was described as an upscale American bistro with European inspiration, would occupy the first floor of the former furniture store in the 600 block of Hamilton Street which is being redeveloped within Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone.

Allentown City Council heard about the proposed plans Wednesday before voting 6-0 to approve the transfer of a liquor license from Beef House, Inc. on Catasauqua Road in Bethlehem. The license will now be held by the Brown Brothers Restaurant Group, a partnership of W. Jeffrey Brown and his father W. Douglas Brown, who are also majority owners of the building.

As proposed, the 6,500 square foot restaurant would have 225 booth and table seats inside the bistro and outdoor seating for an additional 40 people, said attorney Ted Zeller who represented the Browns during the meeting. A 14-seat bar would be available in the front of the restaurant and private dining space in the back.

The restaurant will be open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. That schedule could be adjusted depending upon what kind of draw the city's new downtown hockey arena proves to be, Zeller said. There would be no live entertainment.

Plans call for the restaurant to be upscale, Zeller said, but not as polished as Melt, an upscale Italian-inspired grill located at the Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley.

"It's going to be the type of place where a suit like me will be comfortable, or a guy in a Phantoms jersey is going to be comfortable," Zeller said.

W. Jeffrey Brown said no name has been picked for the restaurant. He and his father have been courting a operating partner to work with, but they will remain involved with the operation regardless of that decision, he said.

A tentative opening date for the restaurant has been set for Sept. 1, but that could be pushed back until spring to take advantage of warm weather, Brown said.

Construction at the Schoen's building is ongoing, and developers hope to receive occupancy permits by Aug. 1. Closed since 1990, the 103-year-old building will be largely used as office that will be leased by Trifecta Technologies and Shane Patrick Construction.

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Restaurant proposed for Allentown's Schoen's building gets OK for liquor license

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -

Plans for a new center city restaurant were shared with Allentown City Council Wednesday night, which helped the project along by unanimously approving an inter-municipal liquor license transfer for it.

The unnamed establishment will be at 612 Hamilton St., which is known as the Schoens building.

It was described as an upscale, American bistro restaurant ---American cuisine with some European inspirations by Atty. Theodore Zeller, who represented the owners before City Council.

But he also said it will not have that type of polish as the Cosmopolitan restaurant in center city or Melt in Upper Saucon Townships Promenade shopping complex.

Zeller said its going to be a place where a suit like me is going to be very comfortable or a guy wearing a Phantoms jersey also is going to be comfortable.

He promised the restaurant will be family friendly and one of the most attractive restaurant spaces we have downtown.

The owners were identified as Brown Brothers Restaurant Group, LLC, of Allentown.

Jeff Brown, co-owner of the business, told council: Were excited to be a part of the downtown revitalization. The restaurants an important part of this puzzle. Were looking forward to moving forward.

Brown told council he would love for the restaurant could be completed by Sept.1, but were not rushing it. Its more important that we get everything right.

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New Allentown restaurant gets liquor license transfer