| No free lunch | | Posted Thursday, November 23, 2006 1:08:01 PM by Blog57 Team | | Cafe Brio, the popular Latin-Caribbean eatery at 524 E. Monroe St., recently tacked a $1.50 price tag onto a basket of tortilla chips and bowl of salsa. The charge comes after 10 years of offering the appetizer for free. Like many restaurants with south-of-the-border fare, Cafe Brio would set the chips and salsa on the table - gratis - when customers sat down. Its what Xochimilco does, and Los Agaves and La Fiesta. Its something of a custom in Mexican restaurants. Diners at Cafe Brio had gotten used to that, too. Brio owner Curtis Hudson said the switch was made because too many chips were going into the garbage. People would eat the first basket and theyd say, Theyre really good. Can I get some more? So theyd get a second basket, and theyd eat two or three chips and then the entree would come.... | |
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| | | Chain joins flood of Mexican restaurants | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 11:46:03 AM by Blog57 Team | | Not long ago, the Valley boasted just a few Mexican restaurants. Now a new chain setting up shop in both Palmer and Wasilla is just the latest entry in the booming market that is Mat-Su Mexican food options. Taco Del Mar is about to start construction on a Palmer location -- next to Movie Gallery, on Evergreen Avenue --with plans for a Wasilla location in the old Windy Corner space at Fred Meyer not far behind, according to Jim Chevigny, hired by the chain to develop its Alaska territory. The chain markets itself as fast, fresh food with a Baja vibe. The corporate web site is heavy on adjectives like "mondo" and "rippin'." Taco Del Mar is returning to Alaska after some troubles, said Chevigny, who lived in Anchorage for 10 years, opened a series of 7-Eleven stores in the state and still spends about half his time here.... | |
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| | | Six Taco Del Mar restaurants to open on Oahu | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 11:09:25 PM by Blog57 Team | | Hawai'i's first Taco Del Mar restaurant is slated to open Nov. 17 at Kunia Shopping Center, with several more to follow on O'ahu. Chad and Michelle Taniguchi of local construction firm Quality Island Builders are opening the Kunia store of the Seattle-based quick-casual Mexican restaurant chain being expanded in Hawai'i, Guam and Saipan by master franchisee Ken Nascimento. Nascimento expects to have six Taco Del Mar restaurants open on O'ahu by spring 2007, including two slated to open next month in Kapolei near Home Depot and at Moanalua Shopping Center. A Waipi'o Taco Del Mar at Laniakea Plaza is expected to open in January. Nascimento said he is negotiating leases in Hawai'i Kai and Windward O'ahu. Nascimento in May announced he was bringing the chain to Hawai'i, Guam and Saipan with plans to open as many as 40 restaurants.... | |
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| | | Chipotle Says 3Q Profits Nearly Double | | Posted Thursday, November 02, 2006 7:13:42 PM by Blog57 Team | | Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., a casual fast food restaurant chain, said Tuesday its net income more than doubled in the third quarter as restaurants open at least a year reported an 11.6 percent increase in sales.For the quarter that ended Sept. 30, the Denver-based chain reported net income of $11.8 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with $5.1 million, or 19 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2005. Revenue totaled $211.3 million up from $164.7 million in last year's quarter.Chipotle said comparable restaurant sales rose 11.6 percent, crediting an increase in the number of transactions. The measure includes company-owned restaurants that have been in business for 13 months.Net income totaled $30.6 million, or 95 cents a share, in the first nine months, compared with $33.4 million, or $1.27 a share, in the same period of 2005, which includes a nonrecurring tax benefit of $20.3 million.Revenue over the past nine months totaled $603.2 million, compared with $454.4 million in the first nine months of 2005.... | |
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| | | Fruitvale district ground zero for ironic mexican holiday | | Posted Friday, October 27, 2006 3:15:27 PM by Blog57 Team | | IF THERE is a headquarters for Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, it's in the middle of the Fruitvale at the Corazon del Pueblo store, gallery and community center. Papier-mache skeletons party in the store front window. Inside, a skeleton is decked out in a beautiful traditional Mexican dress. Miniature skeletons are doing everything imaginable, from skiing to playing the guitar to listening to a boombox to trimming the devil's horns. The skeletons express the ironic concept of death that characterizes the holiday, gaining popularity in the Bay Area. Traditionally celebrated in Mexico on Nov. 1 and 2, families visit the graves of departed loved ones, bringing along their relatives' favorite food and drink. Altars, decorated with flowers and pictures of the dead, are constructed in homes to invite the spirits to return for a yearly visit.... | |
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| | | Today's Special: goood frikin' chicken | | Posted Sunday, October 22, 2006 3:10:04 PM by Blog57 Team | | The first time I went into Goood Frikin' Chicken, I was prepared to mock. Any restaurant that advertises its product with such chutzpah should, at the very least, expect to be taken to task. But in a town that often values its opinions of restaurants more than the actual restaurant experience, a place that proclaims its food to be "frikin' goood" had better be frickin' good or be prepared to face the poison keyboards of the gourmet gadflies. As one snide commentator on Yelp.com suggested: Is the chicken really worth the extra "o"? Driving home with the aroma of garlic and barbecued hen and slightly exotic Middle Eastern spices wafting from the box on the passenger seat, I began to suspect that what lay inside would quickly turn the barbed end of my tongue into a soft puddle of saliva.... | |
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| | | Union to offer more choices | | Posted Wednesday, October 18, 2006 1:12:12 PM by Blog57 Team | | The Gaddis Hunt Commons, the food court in the new Colvard Student Union, will have a larger variety of dining choices than before and accommodate students in new ways. Colvard Student Union director Eddie Keith said the Gaddis Hunt Commons will be located on the right side of the first floor. It will have ATM machines, televisions and much more dining space than before. Plans for the new food court show that circulation in that area will be greatly improved. "In the past, it was always congested around meal times because the food court was added to the Union after it was already built," Keith said. "We are building it from scratch this time, and will have more circulation." Plans for the first floor consist of a food court, cyber caf? and coffee shop, full-service bank, copy center, convenience store and possibly a hair salon.... | |
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| | | Arts & Living Articles | | Posted Tuesday, October 17, 2006 7:09:14 PM by Blog57 Team | | Sixty years ago, Mexican-American dancer Jos Limn founded the Limn Dance Company with his mentor, Doris Humphrey, one of the most celebrated founders of American modern dance. While some dance companies don't survive the deaths of their founders, the Limn Dance Company has only grown in fame and prestige throughout the years through its second generation of leadership. .... | |
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| | | Wendy's unloads Baja Fresh for $31M | | Posted Thursday, October 12, 2006 7:10:12 PM by Blog57 Team | | Two weeks after spinning off Tim Hortons Inc., Wendy's International Inc. has found a buyer for its struggling Baja Fresh Mexican Grill chain, leaving the Dublin-based fast food company with its core burger chain as the primary provider for the business. Baja Fresh's 298 outlets will be purchased for about $31 million by a consortium of investment groups led by David Kim, a West Coast restaurant and retail operator who owns the Sweet Factory chain and is a franchisee of Cinnabon and Denny's outlets. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. The sale price is well below the $275 million that Wendy's (NYSE:WEN - News) paid for the then-173 unit Baja Fresh chain in 2002. Kerrii Anderson, interim Wendy's chief executive and president, said in a release the Baja Fresh deal and the spinoff of Tim Hortons will allow the company to focus on the Wendy's brand.... | |
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| | | Try Mexican at Commons | | Posted Saturday, October 07, 2006 11:12:37 AM by Blog57 Team | | BRIDGEWATER -- Stepping up to the sleek steel counter at Chipotle Mexican Grill, customers will be greeted by the aromas of fresh cilantro lime rice, pinto beans, grilled chicken, shredded braised beef and the salsa that makes up the fully stuffed burritos, served by a friendly staff. At the restaurant, which will open tomorrow at the new Village at Bridgewater Commons, customers can enjoy gourmet burritos, tacos, salads or bols -- a burrito without the tortilla. To celebrate its opening, Chipotle is giving away free burritos today until 8 p.m. The restaurant holds a free burrito day each time it opens a new store. At the Aug. 31 opening of the Secaucus location, employees handed out thousands of burritos. "We can serve 250 people an hour," said Chris Musella, a regional training consultant.... | |
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