Here’s a brief recap of what we’ve been working on in the last few weeks.
We’ve completed our exterior elevation plan and submitted drawings to Tempe for approval. They initial reaction seemed positive, but we’ll see when we get comments back hopefully in a few days. Our landlord had to sign off on the plan as well, and they were very enthusiastic. I’ll post the actual exterior elevations as soon as we get approval.At the same time we’ve completed our construction plans and are fine tuning everything before turning them into the city as well. We’re behind about two weeks on this and I have to admit that I’m nervous about being behind on something that we had so much time to do. The construction plans include a complete revamp of our heating and ac system, a total redo on the kitchen, all new surfaces in the dining rooms and bar, and of course the construction of a new building facade and a patio.I’ve continued to purchase equipment for the kitchen and bar and recently scored on an awesome 30 gallon steam jacketed tilting kettle which to our chef is like moving up from a bicycle to a Masseratti. We have also been interviewing trades to select who we want when we start building. Sign painters, concrete, paint, electrical contractors etc….Another interesting development is the addition of a Doctor to our staff. More about that later.
In the mean time here are a couple of pictures. One is of JVG and Greg gingerly moving the old Mesa RigaTony’s neon sign from where its been stored in my backyard to the repair shop. (note: I’ve never used “JVG” and “gingerly” in the same sentence before). The next is a shot of what happened moments later. No just kidding, but its a funny sequence. The truck turned over in front of the restaurant the other day when we were doing demo 
inside. No one was hurt.