The recent recession cost Jonathan Kim his job in the building maintenance industry, but it also opened the door for him to follow a dream he’d had for years – owning a restaurant. A fish and chips restaurant in South Sacramento was short-lived, but five years ago, he opened the first location of Bento Box near Sacramento State, and he came up with a winning formula. He’s now expanding Bento Box to the Midtown/downtown area with its third location, and he said it will be open longer and seat more people than the previous two – one at 65th Street and Folsom Boulevard and the other in Loehmann’s Plaza in East Sacramento. Most dishes will be served in bento boxes – plastic boxes with built

After a number of construction delays that pushed Firestone Public House from its original projected opening date in February, the sports bar/restaurant will hold its grand opening on May 10. “We’ll have 20-plus TVs,” said co-owner Henry de Vere White, who also co-owns de Vere’s Irish Pub. “We’re going to show as many sports games as humanly possible.” Food will include a variety of dishes from burgers and steaks to appetizers, pizzas and other options. Co-owner Mason Wong previously told The Sacramento Press that Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and the Korean street tacos featured at GoGi’s Korean BBQ will likely be available as well. The restaurant occupies the 5,800-square-foot space a

Ground broke on a new mixed-use retail and residential development in Midtown Thursday, and work is set to be complete on two vacant former state lots at 16th and O streets by mid-2013. “We’re going to get 84 market-rate apartments, 13,000 square feet of retail, and we’re going to have another chunk of Sacramento with a nice infill, pedestrian-friendly development,” said City Councilman Rob Fong, whose district contains most of downtown and Midtown. “It’s the kind of live-work space that really is a nice fit for the city.” The project – with one four-story and one five-story, mission-style building – is a partnership between the Capitol Area Development Authority – a joint powers group b

Monsoon Indian Bar & Grill is scheduled to open the first week of December in the building at 16th and K streets that formerly housed Spin Burger Bar and Bistro 33. “It’s going to be fresh food, prepared daily,” said co-owner Chan Singh. “This is Indian food where we use spices to enhance the flavors of the food, not overkill it.” Singh, originally from Delhi, India, came to North America in the 1990s, getting into the restaurant business in Toronto, Canada, opening his original Monsoon location. Singh said his business in Toronto is well-run by his managers, allowing him to come to Sacramento and focus on the new venture. In India, the monsoon season typically lasts from June to Septe

Despite challenging times, Ernesto’s Mexican Food in Midtown will celebrate 20 years in business next week, and owner Pauline Jiménez said the key to success has been focusing on quality food and service. “We’re a neighborhood restaurant,” Jiménez said. “I’ve lived in the community for 50 years, and I think for the past 20 years we have been a staple here, and we are still going strong.” For 13 of the past 20 years, Jiménez said, Ernesto’s – located at 1901 16th St. – has been listed as best Mexican restaurant in Sacramento Magazine and has received other recognition in local contests. The business opened Nov. 18, 1991 in a space that was best-known for a Chinese restaurant, The Golden

People headed to Midtown’s Hot Italian for a pizza or gelato might be surprised to see two new additions to restaurant – a pair of cars from Italian manufacturer Fiat, which returned to the United States this year after a 27-year hiatus. “We’ve been looking for new pop-up concepts, and they’re stylish, they’re Italian, and they’re a great fit,” said Andrea Lepore, managing partner of Hot Italian, located at 16th and Q streets. A “pop-up,” she explained, is a temporary display that sometimes has retail components to it. “It kind of pops up, and you have to catch it while it’s here,” she said. “It will be up for at least three months.” The two cars, a Fiat 500 and a Fiat 500C Cabriolet –

Two Sacramento families with downtown businesses will take over the space in the Firestone Building that houses California Pizza Kitchen. The restaurant, which opened in May 2009, will close this month, making way for the Firestone Public House in about six months. The de Vere Whites, who own de Vere’s Irish Pub, and the Wong family, which owns Ma Jong’s, The Park Ultralounge, The Mix and Cafeteria 15L, are still working out the details of what the approximately 5,700-square-foot space at 1132 16th St. will hold, according to Henry de Vere White. “The best way to say it is that a sports bar will probably be one aspect of it, and through the buildout, it is going to develop,” he said. “Th

Despite several delays, a popular Natomas Indian restaurant is now calling Midtown home. Mati’s – formerly Mati’s Indian Express – opened Monday in the Fremont Building at 16th and P streets. “We passed our last inspection at nine in the morning, and we were open two hours later,” said Shawn Prasad, co-owner of the business. The move from Natomas is intended to make the restaurant more centrally located to its customers, co-owner Ranjani Prasad told The Sacramento Press last September. Mati’s has not made changes to the menu, which still serves Indian food in a style similar to Panda Express. “Now we have a lot more seating,” Shawn Prasad said Tuesday, adding that the current 2,200-sq

An Indian restaurant scheduled to open Nov. 1 in Midtown has been delayed, but it is still on track to open. “We are definitely opening,” said Ranjani Prasad, owner of Mati’s, which was formerly Mati’s Indian Express in Natomas. The new location is 1601 16th St. Prasad explained that the delay in opening was due to obtaining permits. “We’re just waiting for that one piece of paper,” she said. “They have to come check and make sure everything is OK. Once we have that paper, it will take one week to wrap up.” Prasad said she didn’t want to speculate on what day the restaurant will open. Dave Herrera, vice president of the Sacramento Branch of Colliers International, said the delay was

Bistro 33 in Midtown shut its doors Monday, but will reopen in November as a burger place catering to the late-night crowd. “Midtown is focused more around bars and nightlife,” Matt Haines, vice president of SRO Managing Group, which runs Bistro 33 and other restaurants in the area. “We were selling mainly our burgers.” Haines said the bistro concept at 1020 16th St. wasn’t working in the area dominated by nightlife, so the restaurant will undergo a six-week transformation to a new concept: Spin Burger Bar. “We went with Spin Burger because it goes with DJs spinning records, and bicycles,” Haines said, adding that the live DJ will be able to moderate sound levels and music to fit with t

A popular Natomas restaurant will soon be calling Midtown home as the owners look to expand their business. Mati’s Indian Express, 3880 Truxel Rd., will close its current location Sept. 30 and move to the Fremont building at 16th and P streets before reopening Nov. 1 as Mati’s. The new, 2,200-square-foot location will double the restaurant’s size. “We want to expand,” said Ranjani Prasad, the establishment’s owner and main cook. “Most of our customers are from Midtown, and we want to be more centrally located.” It will be the first move in the restaurant’s five-year history. Prasad is from the Indian community in Fiji, and she said she learned to cook at a young age from her mother, wh

Repairs are under way at a historic Midtown building whose front end caved in after being rammed by a truck last May. The 81-year-old brick building at 16th and U streets had long been vacant when an Icee truck and an SUV collided and ran up onto the sidewalk May 19. The front end of the 2,889-square-foot building had been covered by a modern glass-and-stucco storefront facade for years. Standing on busy 16th Street, the building held a prominent role in the Richmond Grove neighborhood for decades. The structure was built in 1929 as an early Safeway grocery store. That was followed by a hardware store, cigar shop, Chinese grocery and massage parlor. The building had been vacant before an

The Capitol Area Development Authority began an environmental review this week for a $43 million, mixed-use building proposed for the East End Gateway. While a consultant began the environmental analysis of the project's final design, developers Em Johnson Interest of San Francisco and Nehemiah Community Reinvestment Fund Holdings of Sacramento have begun working with the authority to draft a development agreement for the project at the northwest corner of 16th and N streets. CADA ended its partnership with the first developer, Lambert Development, after that company's proposal was deemed too high-end for Sacramento and progress wasn't made fast enough, said Marc de la Vergne, the author

The California State Assembly stripped $10 million that had been earmarked for the future California Unity Center from an $11 billion state water bond proposal early Wednesday. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento had requested the money for the center to be built on 16th Street. He defended the provision Tuesday, but agreed to its being slashed from the water bond early Wednesday after its inclusion was stalling the bond from passing in the Assembly, confirmed Nathan Barankin, a Steinberg spokesman. Minutes later, the bond passed. The session continued until nearly dawn. Later Wednesday, Steinberg told reporters he'd realized the $10-million earmark was threatening t

Here are some photos of the effects of the storm from community members who were out witnessing the damage.   This was taken at Q and 16th streets by Michael Gelber. These two photos were taken on I Street and 30th. Ed Fogle of Maverick Photography took these as part of a live stream. More photos can be seen at sacmav.com The next photos are from Southbound I-5 near the J Street exit in the boat section. These photos were also taken by Ed Fogle of Maverick Photography. If you have photos of the storm, we'd love to see you post them on our site. If you have any questions on how to upload your photos, contact journalism@sacramentopress.com. Stay safe and dry!

Residents and business owners will soon have a chance to help fine-tune ideas to improve the look of 16th Street, a major gateway into the capital city. The Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) will lead a workshop on Tuesday, July 21, to share updated information on development activities and to collect input on streetscape elements to brighten 16th Street. Those upgrades will be part of a renaissance unfolding there, along with a surge in businesses such as Hot Italian, Mochi, Pronto and Starbuck's. The ideas that are gathered will be used to help form a cohesive vision for the street. That vision and specific details will be incorporated into a $20,000 conceptual streetscape desi

Revitalization of 16th Street continued Friday as first steps were taken to create an updated streetscape. The improvements will be part of an ongoing effort to upgrade the corridor, a major entrance into Sacramento giving many people their first impression of the capital city. Once part of State Highway 160, the roadway deteriorated into a motel corridor that had grown extremely run-down by the 1990s. The street is home to longtime powerhouses like Simon's Restaurant and Luna's Cafe & Juice Bar. Newer businesses including Starbuck's, Pronto and Mochi have set up shop across from renovated Fremont Park. The three-lane, one-way street has been a major focus for the city, state and Capito