Archive for March 20th, 2009
March 20th, 2009
Diners can feast on stuffed artichokes, grilled calamari and entrées like rigatoni con broccolini at the new Ciao Bella Ristorante, 6500 E. Riverside Blvd.
Owner Sam Torchia said Ciao Bella’s menu will change every few weeks to showcase authentic dishes from northern, central and southern Italy and Sicily. Desserts include homemade gelato, sorbets and his 80-year-old mother’s homemade Italian cookies.
Torchia is a Rockford native and has been in the food industry for about 33 years. His business partner may be familiar to Rockfordians: he is working with Talia Castrogiovanni, whose family was involved with Giovanni’s restaurant and the Hilander grocery stores.
“Our motto is keep it simple, keep it good and keep it coming,” Torchia said. “You can literally smell garlic from I-90. The ambience here is very warm and inviting. It wants you to stay.”
Torchia said the chefs will make customers a special order if their favorite dish isn’t included on the menu when it changes every few weeks.
Ciao Bella opened on Monday, and Torchia said the restaurant will serve dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursday and 5 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. It is closed on Sundays.
On March 30, the restaurant will be open for lunch starting at 11:30 a.m. It will stay open through the dinner hour.
The space where Ciao Bella is open once housed Basil Cafe and then Dos Reales restaurant.
March 20th, 2009
A British-style pub is set to open Monday, March 23, at the former Firefly restaurant space in Loves Park.
Hope & Anchor English Pub, 5040 N. Second St., will serve alcohol and pub grub like cottage pie (similar to shepherd’s pie), bangers and mash and classic bar food like hamburgers, sandwiches, salads and wings.
Owner Larry Shernaman had hoped to be open by St. Patrick’s Day but renovations took a bit longer. His business partner, Ian Robbins, is from England, and the pub is named for a similar spot overseas.
The Firefly closed in early January. For nearly 70 years, the Mayflower was a fine-dining staple at that location. Since the original Mayflower closed in January 1999, several restaurant groups have opened and closed there.
March 20th, 2009
Shoppers have about a week left to browse what’s left of the inventory at World Market, 6650 E. State St.
The store is among the 26 underperforming locations that World Market’s owner, Cost Plus, is closing this year in a cost-cutting move.
Employees said the store will close at or before 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 29. That’s if the store still has merchandise left. It may close sooner if the 30 to 90-percent-off-deals clear the shelves faster.
March 20th, 2009
The new CVS store at the busy intersection of Alpine Road and East State Street will open on Sunday.
Customers can start shopping at 8 a.m., and the store will be open 24 hours a day after that.
A ribbon-cutting event is planned for March 30 with local officials and neighboring business owners and residents.
The project was announced last April, and the building that once housed Entre Computer Solutions was torn down to make room for the CVS.
The free-standing store replaces the older CVS at 3915 E. State St. CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said about 30 employees transferred from there to the new store. He said the new spot is a great location, which is why the company was interested in building there.
DeAngelis said the new CVS has a two-lane drive-thru pharmacy to offer greater convenience, as well as a digital photo cafe, which is a larger photo area for customers.
