New Restaurant on Center, New Distillery, and More - City Council Meeting

This week's Reno City Council meeting is jam-packed with goodies. Let's take a look. 

Calafuria

An interesting name for a restaurant, this is located at 725 South Center Street, the former location of Little House Cafe, which closed so the owners could focus on opening Feast, and more recently, a short stint as an Italian restaurant called Villa Donato. The rumors I am hearing about this place are AMAZING, though I am sworn to secrecy. The building sale closes today, and when the chef/staff are announced, Jonathan Wright, the food editor over at RGJ, will be jumping for joy and freaking out, if the rumor comes together.

Forsaken River Spirits 

This is a distillery over on Bell Street. They are applying for their alcohol manufacturing license, and will be focusing on gin and whiskey to start. Their whiskey will be made more like a scotch, using American grains smoked with maple, hickory and other indigenous woods instead of Scottish peat moss. This will be located at 255 Bell Street, near the very cool looking 250 Bell Street building, and the new condo project announced at 235 Bell Street. 

Whipple Brewing and Distilling Company

Speaking of distilling, Whipple is also set to obtain their alcohol manufacturing license this week from the City Council. This distillery is located at 490 Mill Street, on the corner of Mill and High Streets. It was to be a part of a larger Haberae project called Urbanito, however Haberae has pulled out of the project, is trying to sell the homes on the property, and am unsure what is to become of the building on the corner of Holcomb and Mill that was to become lofts. 

Here's a peek inside this way cool building:

Siegel Group: West Street Plaza 

After some intense meetings with the RAAB and other boards, the time has come for Siegel to present the lease/sale agreement for a 3,000 square foot portion of West Street Plaza that is adjacent to the east side of the Truckee Lane Building, the building where the Jungle and Sierra Tap House reside. The original plan was to acquire the entire plaza. That idea didn't go over well with officials, so about midway through the process, the plan morphed into needing only part of the plaza, the section immediately adjacent to the building (basically the hilly area that has the garden.) The plan is to remove that slope and open up the east side of the building to the plaza elevation. This will give east-facing pedestrian access to businesses on the plaza/riverwalk level.