Restaurant Boom

Hal Huyghe worked at the Azar's restaurant in Warsaw and owned Stoney Ridge bar and restaurant on Lake Tippecanoe in the 1960s and says he knows the Warsaw restaurant market pretty good.

So he was perplexed when regional restaurateur Alex Azar closed up and left town in 1969, vowing never to return to the community.

And he's been perplexed ever since then as the area dining opportunities failed to mature and keep pace with the community.

"I really don't know why," Huyghe said.

But all that is about to change as a bunch of upscale and trendy restaurants rush into the community to fill voids in dining.

The year 1998 could well be remembered as the year of the restaurant boom in Warsaw. Consider the following:

• El Arriero's Mexican Restaurant on North Detroit opened three weeks ago and has had waiting lines during many of its lunches and dinners.

• Within a few weeks, Huyghe will open Clementine's in the heavily renovated old Richard's Restaurant location on Anchorage Road near U.S. 30.

• The Blue Coyote, an upscale restaurant with a Southwest theme will open in mid-April after totally gutting and renovating the old Wolfgang's restaurant on South Buffalo Street.

• Hacienda, the regional Mexican restaurant chain, will open a new store May 1 along U.S. 30.

• Applebee's, the trendy national chain that caters to a preppy crowd, plans to construct a restaurant on Center Street on the old site of Ponderosa restaurant. Ground breaking is expected soon.

"That's quite a spurt," said Jim Katris, one of the owners of American Table, a family restaurant that's been on U.S. 30 for 10 years.

Katris expressed confidence about American Table's ability to compete. They've outlasted several restaurants in the past, but he's also realistic.

"There's only so much of the pie available," he said. "All those places have track records of doing successful business."

"The name of the game is going to be service and value and that's where we're going to have to shine to survive," Katris said.

Oddly enough, Warsaw has never had a major, quality Mexican restaurant, but will now have two with the arrival of Hacienda and El Arriero's.

El Arriero's manager and owner, Alberto Leon, said he's not concerned about Hacienda, which has a regional reputation. El Arriero's competes head-to-head in Kokomo and they do well, Leon said.

Leon said he's surprised how busy they've been. Business was so strong at first that employees were slightly overwhelmed.

"But now, we are prepared for anything," he said.

The influx of Mexican restaurants will likely reverberate all the way to Columbia City where El Comedor's, a Mexican-American restaurant, has attracted Warsaw residents for years.

"I think we can stand on our laurels," said owner Thomas Eberhard. "Your (workers) will be the margin of difference."

Meanwhile, Blue Coyote owners, Gene and Beth Ann Gross, considered a typical mexican approach, but decided on Southwest instead.

"It gives you a lot more latitude in your menu. There's so many more creative things happening with southwest cuisine right now. I think the people in Warsaw are going to be in for a real treat," Gene Gross said.

The menu will boast such items as New Mexico stacked enchiladas with blue corn tortillas and green chili, but will also offer some midwestern dishes.

The restaurant's cantina will also feature interactive satellite trivia and sports games, he said.

The new Clementine's will be the second opened by Huyghe. The other, opened in Columbia City in 1996, has received words of praise for the menu and atmosphere. In addition to all-you-can eat fish on Friday nights and Sundays, the restaurant specializes in ribs and steaks.

"Nobody in this town specializes fish, ribs or steaks," he said.

Huyghe said he's not concerned about the other new competition.

"Competition is good. Competition never hurt anybody,' he said.

While most of the restaurants will seek to develop their own niche, there is one common theme - most of the new restaurants will sell alcohol.

Katris predicted some of the business lured to the new restaurants will be from people who often drove to Fort Wayne and South Bend for diner any way.

Katris said he was more surprised about the number of new hotels opening in Warsaw, but says the restaurants' arrival seems to be a logical progression.

Two major hotels are in the midst of opening along U.S. 30.

"If all those hotels can maintain the projected occupancy, they'll be more people in town," he said. "It would translate into restaurants doing better because obviously, those people aren't going to be cooking in their rooms."

Along with the new restaurants, there have been other changes in the local restaurant scene in recent months. Those include Orion's move into the old Viewpoint on North Detroit and Richard's recent move into the old Shoney's location near Walmart. Viewpoint recently celebrated its one-year anniversary after moving into the remodeled Ramada near U.S. 30.