Happy New Year

Happy New Year! With the beginning of each new year, a feeling of excitement, hope, renewal, (and dare I say it?) "change". Did I really just say that most overused word of 2008? I digress.

I am very excited to finally announce to the world that I am opening a new restaurant in 2009! I'm sure many of you have heard all the rumors and speculations about the location, time frame, and etc. about the project. I can't tell you how frustrating it's been for me in the past 2 years since I left my eponymous restaurant. We had a location in mind of where we wanted to be and targeted a certain property that was for sale. Of course negotiations fell through when we could not agree on a price. We also looked at 3 other properties on the same street. Same story. Each time I thought we were close, the deal fell through. Needless to say, I soon tired of telling friends and former clients that we were "close" to opening at "so and so" and a certain date. Paranoia started to set in that everyone in Memphis was saying I was full of crap. The questions didn't stop coming though, all of you loyal fans kept encouraging and waiting. For that, I am eternally grateful.

The new restaurant will be at 690 South Perkins. It's right up the road from Theatre Memphis. I could not be more happy with the property. That was actually one of the properties we wanted during the search process. We got lucky when the former owner decided to move to Colorado. It is actually the largest and best property on the street. The back yard has big, beautiful oak trees that provides plenty of shade for outdoor dining. I will describe it more in detail in future posts.

The legal hurdles are finally out of the way!  We were approved by the land use board in November.  Even though the location of the property is zoned commercial, we had to get approval from our commercial and residential neighbors because of the nature of our business.  

We had to reassure the residents that it was not going to be a nightclub or bar with thumping rap music or loud rock bands playing till 2 A.M.  After approval from the the neighbors and the Land Use Board, our next step was the City Council.  The City Council gave us an early Christmas present on December 16 when they unanimously approved our project.  

Now the fun part starts.  We get to design a restaurant from the ground up.  Hopefully, we will get things going in the next few weeks.  Check back at least once a week to get updates on the project.  I should be able to start posting pics soon.