Roanoke restaurateur Rocky Byrd had hoped to have his Mexican-Caribbean restaurant, Nopales, open by the end of April.

But as happens with many restaurant openings, Byrd has run into a multitude of problems that have set back the opening a couple months.

“It’s been a little bit of a nightmare,” he said.

A big issue has been with the kitchen equipment that Surf ‘n Turf left behind when they closed in December. Byrd is leasing the equipment from the landlord, he said.

“Nearly every piece of equipment has had a problem,” Byrd said. He’s had to replace most of the equipment, which added a significant amount of wait time.

He also ran into problems with the building’s plumping and electrical system.

But perhaps the most shocking setback was when he discovered what he estimates to be 100 pounds of grease and oil in ducts between the stove vent and chimney.

The ducts ran parallel to the floor (instead of straight up) for 17 feet, Byrd said, and two to three inches of “very volitile oil and grease” was trapped in them, Byrd said.

He believes it had been nine years since the vents and ducts were serviced. Contributing to the mess was the roof fan which wasn’t strong enough to pull everything out of the ducts.

“They guy who does that kind of work had never seen anything like it in his entire life,” Byrd said.

Byrd promised his 12-year-old daughter he’d be open by early July.

“I’d like to live up to that promise,” he said.

You can read more about the restaurant in this Retail Roundup column from February.

Steak ‘n Shake is set to open Thursday. Photo by Amanda Codispoti

The wait is nearly over for Roanokers who have been craving a steakburger; the Steak ‘n Shake at Crossroads Mall opens Thursday.

It’s been a long wait. It was nearly two years ago that the franchisee, Steaks of Virginia, announced their intentions to build the restaurant at Crossroads Mall in Roanoke.

The restaurant, however, was delayed because of work going on at two other Steak ‘n Shake restaurants in Fredericksburg and Richmond, the franchisee has said.

Work on the Roanoke restaurant began in November.

The restaurant, which employs about 160 people, opens at 10 a.m. Thursday. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. until May 22, when the hours will be 10 a.m. to midnight. Eventually the hours will expand to include breakfast, said Yianni Achilleos, a spokesman for the franchisee, which is based in Virginia Beach.

Steaks of Virginia is building at least two more restaurants in Virginia, Achilleos said. The next two will be in Hampton and in Virginia Beach, he said.

Roanoke Times music reporter Tad Dickens reports that Growlers American Grill and Venue at Towers Shopping center in Roanoke is closing Monday.

From Tad’s story:

Growler’s owner Barry Caldwell said that after a poor performance in the summer of 2012 — which included closing the restaurant for five days after the June 29 derecho — the business fell behind on rent. Business picked up last winter, but not enough to cover the losses of the previous year, he said. Some successful concerts from touring acts in the business’s music room did not take up the slack.

“You have some good shows and have some good weeks, but we couldn’t link up three or four good weeks in a row to get back on page,” he said. “I don’t think we could stand another summer like last summer.”

You can read more of the story here.

Mellow Mushroom will demolish the former Backstreets Pizza and Grill restaurant and construct a new building for the pizzeria.

That’s according to reporter Mike Shaw, who spoke with the franchisee today.

The Roanoke Times reported in March that Mellow Mushroom was planning to open in Blacksburg, but the corporate office would not disclose a location at the time.

The restaurant is expected to open next spring.

Read more here.

Construction on the Bojangles planned for U.S. 220 in Roanoke just south of Outback Steakhouse is expected to begin within two weeks, according to Bojangles franchisee Stan Seymour.

The 3,500 square-foot restaurant will be constructed on a wooded lot on the northbound side of U.S. 220 at the corner of Old Rocky Mount Road. Seymour, who owns five other chicken restaurants in the area, said the restaurant should open 150 days after construction begins. That puts the opening sometime in October. Seymour has said it will cost $1.8 million to build the restaurant.

Seymour bought the land for the restaurant several years ago as a backup location for the Cave Spring restaurant. He has had a “for sale” sign on the property for some time because he said he was hoping to sell the land at a profit.

When Walmart moved from Hunting Hills Plaza to Clearbrook, Seymour decided to build a restaurant on the plot to take advantage of the traffic going south to Walmart.

Photo by Amanda Codispoti

For months paper has covered the windows of a downtown Roanoke storefront that will open soon as Cedars Lebanese Restaurant.

The owners, who are Lebanese, are trying to keep the suspense alive until the restaurant opens. They said this week that they still need to get in some kitchen equipment and anticipate opening in a few weeks. They didn’t want to talk in more detail about the restaurant until the opening.

For now, the restaurant has a Facebook page that offers a glimpse of the menu and of what’s going on behind those papered windows.

Photos posted to the Facebook page show that restaurant owners have done some work to the Campbell Avenue space was last occupied by the Binaba Shop (which moved to Market Street and is now called Villages of Africa). Two walls have gone up, and an exposed brick wall has been kept intact.

Photos of the menu show that appetizers include hummus, hummus with shawrma (thin, sliced marinated beef), baba ghanouj, falafel, raw kibbeh (beef with wheat and seasoning) and labneh (yogurt with olive oil). Platters include several types of kebabs (chicken, lamb, ground beef), beef shawarma and sish taouk (cubed chicken breast). The menu also includes wraps and salads.

I plan to meet with the owners once the restaurant has opened to talk with them about their background and their decision to open a restaurant in Roanoke.

What do you think of the menu?

(Photos below are from Facebook. Click on each column to enlarge).

Parkway Brewing Company is bottling three of its brews for distribution at local stores. Parkway Brewing Company Facebook photo

Update posted April 3

Countryside Classics on East Main Street in Salem also carries the porter, as well as all of Parkways’ brews in kegs.

End update

One type of Parkway Brewing Company beer is available in stores, and soon two more varieties will be available as well.

Parkway’s Raven’s Roost Baltic Porter is available in 22-ounce bottles at Tinnell’s Finer Foods in Crystal Spring and Mr. Bill’s Wine Cellar on Brambleton Avenue.

The brewery’s Bridge Builder blonde and its Get Bent Mountain IPA will soon be available in 12-ounce bottles, said Keno Synder, who co-owns the brewery with his wife Lezlie Snyder.

The Snyders anticipate that the bottles will be available at area Kroger stores in two to three weeks.

The beer is bottled at the brewery on Kessler Mill Road in Salem.

Up until now, Parkway’s brews were available only at the brewery’s tasting room, and at more than a dozen restaurants.

Parkway is the second Roanoke-area brew available in stores. Roanoke Railhouse has been selling its beers in stores in 22-ounce bottles. The brewery is working with a mobile canning company to put its signature beer, Track One, in 16-ounce cans which will be sold in four-packs. You can read more about that in this Retail Roundup column from last month.

The Steak ‘n Shake restaurant at Crossroads will open in May. Photo by Amanda Codispoti

Construction is nearly complete on Roanoke’s Steak ‘n Shake restaurant, but it will be mid-May before the eatery begins serving steakburgers and hand-dipped milkshakes.

The restaurant at Crossroads Mall is slated to open May 16, said Lee Garvin, director of real estate and development for the franchisee, Steaks of Virginia.

The hold up is some pieces of equipment that haven’t come in yet, Garvin said. When pressed, he would not specify what type of equipment the restaurant is waiting on.

The opening has been a long time coming for Steak ‘n Shake lovers. The project was first announced in July 2011, but was delayed several times while the franchisee built restaurants in other parts of the state. Construction on the Roanoke restaurant began in late November.

Meanwhile, business is still steady at the nearby Cook-Out restaurant, which opened in December. I drove past the restaurant on a recent weekend and the drive through line snaked through the parking lot. On other occasions I’ve seen the line of customers dining in extend the length of the restaurant and overflow outside. Do you think Steak ‘n Shake will take some of that business away once it opens?

The Burgs reporter Mike Shaw reports that the Mellow Mushroom, a gourmet pizza chain, will open in Blacksburg.

Shaw talked with the company’s franchise development coordinator who said they have an approved site in downtown Blacksburg. The company would not disclose the location.

The restaurant is expected to open in December or January.

Read more here.

Have you been to a Mellow Mushroom? Tell us what you think of the pizzas.

From left, Terri Nichols, David Nichols and Ronda Jennelle. Photo by Avery Eliades of So Salem

A new bar and grill has opened in Salem in the building that formerly was occupied by Potsey Joe’s, and before that, Long Branch Restaurant.

The Pourhouse opened its door Jan. 21, one of the owners, Ronda Jennelle said. Jennelle ran a deli inside the Clearbrook Mini Mart on U.S. 220 for a year before closing that to open the Pourhouse with Terri and David Nichols. The Nichols are her daughter’s in-laws.

Customers will find four beers on tap (Natural Light, Coors Light, Bud Light and Miller Light) and typical bar food: hand-patted hamburgers, hot dogs with chili, coleslaw, Philly cheese steaks, pizza, buffalo chicken, wings, BLTs and BBQ. The bar does not plan to sell liquor.

Perhaps what makes this bar and grill stand apart is its outdoor corn hole pit and three Colonial Downs Off-Track horse betting machines.

The Pourhouse is located at 414 8th Street.