Heart of the City (Center) pt 5

Following up on yesterday's installment, I want to finish up my comments on possible eateries so I can swing back into focus on what retail establishments I think would support my vision for City Center. Recapping, there are some 17 available spaces to acquire food (though not all are currently being used as such, they all were at some point in City Center's history.), of those 17, 13 fit the designation of "food court"-centric while the final four maintain the semblance of a more complete "restaurant."

My basic criteria for designating a restaurant is relatively simple:

Criterion 1: Food served is meant to be "for here" rather than "to go."

Criterion 2: Hours of operation can (and do) vary from the designated mall hours.

With these two things in mind, I designate the four restaurants to be Spinnaker's, The Boulevard, Max&Erma's and Fame Deli.

*Another criteria I could've used is the ability to serve alcohol, but it would've edged Fame Deli out of the running.*

All four of these restaurants offered a different venue of dining: the sports bar, the cafeteria, fine dining and casual dining and for the most part, were spread out thru the mall creating the perfect sense of symmetry.

As with the food court, I don't have suggestions ready to fill every space, but I do have two that would offer something interesting and lucrative to the mix:

Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3's): taking over the empty Max&Erma's space, this company completely embodies the "sports bar" spirit that M&E only hinted at, not to mention, their "25 Cent Tuesdays" still seem to draw a crowd despite the raise in cost from 10 Cent wings in recent years.

Darden: replacing Spinnaker's, this suggestion is certainly an oddball considering that the restaurant in mind doesn't exist...at least not yet. I'm piggybacking on an idea slipped a year or so ago by hair dresser by day/interior designer by night friend of the family. She suggested that a Red Lobster be brought in (Spinnaker's was a seafood place, right?) to fill the niche. But when I passed this idea along (often as the gospel I thought it was), the reception was often lukewarm, despite the lack of a Red Lobster any where near the Downtown area. So, I did a little research and found that Red Lobster is owned by Darden Restaurants Inc., the world's largest casual dining company. In addition to RL, Olive Garden, Longhorn and Smokey Bones are all under the family tree -- so, with Darden, an amalgam of the four, you get a limited selection from each of the establishments (for full dining experience, see local chains), creating a menu that rivals the best in buffet dining.

As always, I'm curious what you have to offer and welcome any and all suggestions.

Til next time...