Restaurants Opening, Others for Sale
MORE SIGNS THAT our town is coming back to life after a year of pandemic discontent…
MORE SIGNS THAT our town is coming back to life after a year of pandemic discontent…
The much-loved Steinhaus is finally reopening over the next two weekends—reservations only…Then, mid-June, it’ll begin serving dinner seven nights a week, to be followed shortly afterwards by a lunch schedule, and a Sunday brunch.
Did they struggle to find workers? Naah. “We’ve tried to take care of our employees during the pandemic,” says owner Justin Fairbanks, “and most of them are coming back.”
It’s gotta be said: The hefty unemployment benefits, though vitally needed during the pandemic, have lasted too long. The jobs are out there and the health risks have declined.
On the other hand: Maybe it’s time to acknowledge that our minimum wage—$9.65 an hour in Michigan, $7.25 nationally—is ridiculously low. If we had adjusted it for inflation over the last 60 years, it would now be $24 an hour….Small businesses, of course, can’t afford that kind of hit alone, so we consumers will just have to pay more for our hamburgers.
Speaking of food, the Trenary Toast cafe downtown hopes to open by July Fourth. Work on the floor and ceiling still need to be done, an oven installed…Co-owner Brianna Wynsma says they’ll seat guests at a long counter and on a bench alongside the window, along with a few tables….Business hours? 7:30 am (breakfast!!) to 6 pm, seven days a week.
One of Marquette’s favorite bartenders, Livio Stabile, is still hoping to open his pizza restaurant at the new Third Street Marketplace (the old Valle’s)….Deep in negotiations with the bank and developer Joe Constance…. “We want it to be an authentic Italian experience,” says Stabile, a native Italian. That means Italian charcuterie, cheeses, and wines along with the feature—a genuine Neapolitan, wood-fired, light-crusted pizza….Maybe open by fall.
Listed on LoopNet for sale: Buffalo Wild Wings on US 41, the Portside downtown, and The Marq (long since closed down). And the Jasmine on 41 will not reopen….And then there’s The Upfront, that magnificent but still, sadly, vacant property.
We must be the last to know—231 West, the patisserie featuring the best and flakiest croissants this side of Paris, is now selling tacos from Dia de los Tacos every evening from 5-9 pm.
And while we’re still on food, how about opening an Indian restaurant? Hello? Anyone?
Optimism at Sawyer International Airport. We’re back up to five round trip flights a day after only three last summer. Passenger load is still only about 60% of what it was pre-pandemic, but rising…..Resistance to masks? Angry passengers? Nope. “For the most part,” airport manager Duane Duray says, “people here have taken it all in stride.”
Lake Superior water levels still holding at 6 inches below last year. Wider beaches, less erosion….Funny—we’re thrilled with less water. Meantime, on the West Coast and in the Southwest, they’re parched. Record levels of drought, farmers struggling to irrigate their crops, fish dying off.
All things considered, we’re living in a pretty good place, and thankfully, a normal summer is upon us.
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