Local Buzz covers new businesses, restaurants, closures, local politics, goings on around town and other buzzworthy items in the Conejo Valley and Greater Ventura County. Have a lead? Contact us. Click here for an archive of Local Buzz postings.
Local Buzz covers new restaurants, closures, local politics, goings on around town and other buzzworthy items in the Conejo Valley and Greater Ventura County. Have a lead? Contact us. Click here for an archive of Local Buzz postings.
Post other items directly to the Community Announcements section of the site.
Hueneme Fishing Pier closed through the summer due to severe sand erosion.
Due to severe sand erosion on the beach, the Hueneme Fishing Pier is structurally unsafe and will remain closed through the summer and until repairs are completed. Updates at www.ci.port-hueneme.ca.us.
Dunkin’ Donuts recently announced it plans to open its first traditional restaurants in California, including planned locations in Downey, Long Beach, Modesto, Santa Monica and Whittier before the end of 2014.
Since opening California for franchise development in 2013, Dunkin’ Donuts has executed store development agreements for nearly 200 new restaurants total to date. The company believes it can eventually have as many as 1,000 restaurants throughout the state.
The company also announced the signing of multi-unit store development agreements with four new franchise groups to develop 54 new restaurants throughout Southern California in the coming years. Among these groups, locally here in Ventura County, The Tasty Group LLC, whose principals include local restaurateurs and developers David Ahn and BJ Kim, existing franchisee Dante Rizzo, and Frank Giardina, plan to develop two restaurants in Santa Barbara and eight restaurants throughout Ventura County over the coming years, with the first restaurant expected to open in 2016.
Dunkin' Donuts offerings include hot and iced coffee, hot and iced tea, lattes, Dunkin’ Donuts K-Cup® Packs, Coolatta® frozen drinks, donuts, muffins, bagels, breakfast and bakery sandwiches, and a DDSMART® menu featuring better-for-you menu items.
To learn more about Dunkin’ Donuts, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com.
For reasons not entirely clear to me, Burger Werkz, located at the northeast corner of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Lindero Canyon Road in Westlake Village, closed its doors last week. I was alerted by several Burger Werkz fans via the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ConejoValleyGuide that Burger Werkz had closed.
There was no specific mention of the closure other than a comment on August 4th: "Our Certificate of Occupancy expired and we were forced to shut down due to reasons out of our control. We will post any updates on FB. Thanks for your support!! BW" The Burger Werkz phone number has been disconnected.
Burger Werkz originally opened on February 13, 2013, about 18 months ago.
The Collection at RiverPark recently announced that Beach Bowl will be opening later in 2014 next to Settebello Pizzeria Napolentana. Beach Bowl currently serves up Acai bowls, smoothies and cold-pressed juice, frozen yogurt, coffee and tea at its first location in Downtown Carpinteria. Learn more at thebeachbowl.com.
UPDATE: It does not appear that Beach Bowl will be opening at The Collection anymore.
UPDATE: Aroha permanently closed its doors in November 2018 after the devastating Woolsey Fire.
Aroha New Zealand Cuisine opened in September 2014 at 30990 Russell Ranch Road, Suite C in Westlake Village, sharing a parking lot with Lure Fish House and The Counter Burger.
The restaurant is owned by husband/wife team, chef Gwithyen Thomas and his wife, Justine Thomas, who is blogging about restaurant updates at justinethomasmusic.blogspot.com. What a story...Gwithyen and Justine met and fell in love through his cooking while she and her family were vacationing in New Zealand.
"Aroha" (pronounced Uh-Row-Ha) means love in Maori, the native language of New Zealand. The restaurant is described as classy/casual with a menu that specializes in New Zealand cuisine and draws inspiration from French, Italian, Japanese and Singaporian cuisine. The menu will offer many gluten free, vegetarian and vegan options.
To learn more, visit www.aroharestaurant.com and www.facebook.com/ArohaRestaurant.
Aroha (ˈɑːrɒhə) — love, compassion, or affectionate regard. [Māori]
Aroha is a classy casual restaurant founded by award winning chef, Gwithyen Thomas, and his wife Justine. Gwithyen and Justine met and fell in love through his cooking while she and her family were vacationing in New Zealand.
The menu specializes in New Zealand Cuisine and draws inspiration from French, Italian, Japanese, and Singaporian cuisine. The food is locally sourced and changes seasonally to provide the freshest and highest quality. The menu is allergy friendly with many gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan options. Justine's many food allergies drives their dedication to providing a safe environment for all customers with allergy restrictions.
The opened layout restaurant is designed to provide a relaxing atmosphere for customers looking for a flavorful and beautifully presented meal without a formal setting.
Aroha will be opening in Q3 of 2014
The County of Ventura Environmental Health Division protect public health and the environment by ensuring conformance with State laws and County ordinances pertaining to food protection, hazardous materials, hazardous waste, individual sewage disposal systems, land use, medical waste, ocean water quality monitoring, recreational health, solid waste, underground fuel tanks and vector control.
The EHD publishes food facility closures at www.ventura.org/rma/envhealth/community-services/consumer-food/closures.html.
The following closures were noted in the months of June and July 2014. Keep in mind when reviewing this that there are many possible reasons for the closures, most of which are very temporary issues.
July 2014
Tacos Sandoval, 2958 Sturgis Road, Oxnard;
No hot water available for utensil washing or hand washing, unsanitary conditions exist that may result in the contamination of food;
Date closed - 07/24/14; Date reopened - 07/25/14
Tacos Pepes, 2958 Sturgis Road, Oxnard;
Inoperable equipment resulting in unsafe food temperatures;
Date closed - 07/24/14; Date reopened - 07/25/14
Safire, 4850 Santa Rosa Road, Camarillo;
No hot water available for utensil washing or hand washing;
Date closed - 07/23/14; Date reopened - 07/23/14
Dairy Queen Grill & Chill, 950 Camarillo Center Drive, #926, Camarillo;
No hot water available for utensil washing or hand washing;
Date closed - 07/23/14; Date reopened - 07/23/14
It was back in May that a CVG Facebook follower tipped us off that the Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery was going to be opening a location in Thousand Oaks. When we contacted Tilted Kilt, we were told that the new location would be 1345 Thousand Oaks Boulevard.
That was interesting, because The Mermaid Tavern is (or I should now say was) located at that address. Yet there was no mention of this on The Mermaid Tavern's Facebook page...and their website was not operational.
The Mermaid Tavern originally opened on February 4, 2012 in the spot formerly occupied by Roxy's Deli. And I learned a bit more history from Facebook followers that before Roxy's this spot was a Hodel's Country Dining. But enough of history. Let's look to the future.
Sure enough, The Mermaid Tavern closed its doors several weeks ago and two days ago, a Tilted Kilt Thousand Oaks Facebook page appeared, indicating "Coming Soon."
Now, let's learn a bit more about the Tilted Kilt. According to its Facebook page, "A Celtic themed sports Pub featuring the world famous Tilted Kilt Girls! 'A Cold Beer Never Looked So Good'®" It is a national chain of over 80 pubs, with a casual atmosphere, plenty of flat screen TVs, pub grub and more. Tilted Kilt was named to the Inc. Magazine Top 10 franchises for 2011. Serving up sandwiches, pizza, pub grub like fish and chips and shepherd's pie, burgers, wings and more. Visit www.tiltedkilt.com for more information.
Construction in process at what used to be the Mermaid Tavern in Thousand Oaks.
On Monday, July 28th, Rita's Roman Recipes Take-out Kitchen and Coffee Shop wil open its doors at 28708 Roadside Drive, Agoura Hills, in the Yamato/Agoura Fitness center, for breakfasts, lunches and take-out dinners.
Rita’s Gourmet Catering has been doing private catering events since 1989. In the 1990’s Rita’s Gourmet Catering began branching out into school lunch programs serving campuses all over Southern California. Rita's Roman Recipes was the name created to expand the company's products into farmers' markets in Venice an Atwater Village. But on Monday, for the first time, Rita will open this take-out kitchen and coffee shop here in Agoura Hills.
To learn more, visit www.ritasromanrecipes.com or call 818.216.4848.
Conejo Valley Guide covers events, activities and things to do throughout Ventura County and surrounding areas.
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