Dickey's Barbecue Pit to Open Location in Simi Valley This Summer

Final Update 12/31/13: Grand opening 1/1/14!

Update 12/18/13: Grand opening date delayed a bit longer with date TBA.

Update 12/6/13: Grand opening date anticipated December 19th.

Update 11/20/13: Grand opening anticipated by the end of November!

Update 9/24/13: Grand opening anticipated around October 31. For updates, visit the Dickey's Barbecue Pit Simi Valley Facebook Page.

Original Post 6/18/13: Good news for barbecue fans...another Dickey's Barbecue Pit is coming soon to Ventura County. The first location opened on February 28th in Ventura.

We've been to Dickey's Ventura and definitely enjoyed the quality of the food, the reasonable prices and the free ice cream! We enjoyed the beef brisket and turkey as well as the barbecue beans, baked potato casserole as well as the green beans with bacon. In fact, I just slobbered on the keyboard as I typed this. Good stuff! Also, they have a Kids Eat Free deal every Sunday!

A second Dickey's Barbecue Pit location will open later this summer, possibly August, at 2902 Tapo Canyon Road, Suite B in Simi Valley. For updates, visit the Dickey's Barbecue Pit Simi Valley Facebook Page.

N'Awlinz Bistro Closes Its Doors in Newbury Park to Focus on New Oxnard Location

December 21, 2013 was N'Awlinz Bistro's last day of operation at its Newbury Park location that originally opened in February 2012. It opened its beautiful new Downtown Oxnard Centennial Plaza location in September. The Newbury Park location will remain available for catering for the time being....so if you do cater a party using N'Awlinz Bistro, be sure to INVITE ME! :)

Mouthful Eatery Opened in Thousand Oaks in Mid-November

Mouthful Eatery opened on November 13, 2013 in the space previously occupied by Garage Dogs at 2626 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard, across the street from 24 Hour Fitness.

According to its Facebook page, Mouthful Eatery offers handcrafted sandwiches with serious meat that is brined, basted and roasted. Bread is made from scratch.

Their food has a Peruvian flair. Sandwiches include hand carved roasted turkey, roasted chicken, roasted pork loin, "meatballs of fire" (turkey meatballs), potato crusted cod and roasted portobello veggie. Salads and "Powerbowls" include chopped salad, tuscan kale, southwestern salad and the "arnold bowlzenegger" (eight ounces of roasted turkey, steamed red quinoa, roasted veggies, chipotle-bbq sauce).

The pictured "arnold bowlzenegger" was quite tasty, with fresh ingredients, though a bit on the small side.

Sounds great! Visit www.mouthfuleatery.com for more information or call 805.777.9222.

(Thanks to Lauren T for pointing this out on the CVG Facebook page.)

Yes, They Demolished the Thousand Oaks El Torito to Pave the Way For Chick-fil-A

Grand opening is Thursday, May 29, 2014.

Yes indeed, as several people have inquired on the CVG Facebook page, the historic, or at least kind of historic, El Torito restaurant at the corner of Moorpark Road and Brazil St in Thousand Oaks that poured its last margarita on January 24, 2012 is now demolished. Was that a run-on sentence? Well that means I need a margarita. Blended, light salt, please.

I digress. This location will continue not serving margaritas for the foreseeable future as a new Chick-fil-A restaurant has been approved for the site and is anticipated to start pulling building permits for the location early next year. No details on the timing of the grand opening of this soon-to-be second Thousand Oaks Chick-fil-A location but I'd imagine we're looking sometime perhaps in the summer 2014 time frame. Just my guess.

The Thousand Oaks El Torito was reduced to rubble last week.

Ah yes, the El Torito we shall always remember. I for one will miss this place.

Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que to Open at The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard on Dec 18

NOTE: Famous Dave’s Oxnard closed its doors in January 2019, after five years in business. In fact, there are no remaining Famous Dave’s in Ventura County.

Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que is opening its third Ventura County location next Wednesday, December 18th, at The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard. Famous Dave's is known for serving up mouth watering hickory-smoked ribs and barbequed meats,  sandwiches, burgers and salads.

Learn more at www.famousdaves.com/oxnard. Other locations at the Simi Valley Town Center and in Thousand Oaks at 3980 Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

Wendy Drive/101 Overpass Widening Project in Newbury Park Will Take 18 Months

Update 12/11/13: the NP 101 onramp at Wendy Drive now is expected to open tomorrow, December 12th, after Caltrans programs the traffic controller sometime tomorrow morning!

Update 11/26/13: According to the City of Thousand Oaks, the northbound 101 onramp at Wendy Drive now is anticipated to open on Monday, December 16th due to other requirements from Caltrans and the completion date for the entire project is by the end of December.

Update 9/19/13: In May 2013, the City entered into a reimbursement agreement with the Seventh Day Adventist Church to construct intersection improvements at Academy Drive and the 101 Freeway. These improvements are being added to the existing project and will elongate the project period. Doing the improvements now as part of the existing project will take advantage of the equipment and contractor that is already mobilized and will reduce further inconvenience to motorists in the future.

The project is now 70% complete and is anticipated to be done by November to mid-December. 90% of the bridge's pavement is complete. Remaining items to be completed include traffic signal installations/modifications (estimated completion date 10/20/13), drainage improvements on the NB 101 onramp, asphalt overlays for the offramps, as well as street lights, fencing and landscaping to be finished at the end of the project.

Total cost with the additional improvements is $15.8M, including $10.8M in Federal Highway Grants, $2.1M in gas taxes and $2.9M in developer fees (including $1.4M from the Seventh Day Adventist Church, as approved by City Council on May 28, 2013). the $1.4M will be paid once the site, once considered by Costco as a site, is developed.

We are in the home stretch!

Update 2/5/12 from the City of T.O. Website: Construction period Feb 2012 to Aug 2013. Total cost $14.3 million ($10.9 million Federal funds, $2.1 million gas tax, $1.3 million developer fees. Construction crews begin mobilization February 13th.

"The City plans to improve the Wendy Drive/101 Freeway overcrossing by adding a travel lane in each direction, widening the northbound on-ramp and southbound off-ramp, and adding bike lanes and signal modifications for enhanced public safety. Periodic night-time full freeway closures will occur. During these closures, motorists will be directed towards the on/off ramps to exit and re-enter the freeway. In addition, the freeway on/off ramps will be intermittently shut-down between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, and re-opened between 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily."

Update 1/31/12: Initial work is slated to start now in the mid-February range but will not have a significant impact on traffic according to the City. The City is awaiting detailed plan updates. Click here to see updates on the City of T.O. website and to sign up for email updates directly from the City.

Originally posted 12/30/11:

Beginning in January the City of Thousand Oaks is widening the Wendy Drive/101 Freeway overcrossing by adding a travel lane in each direction, northbound on-ramp and southbound off-ramp, and adding bike lanes and signal modifications. The goal of the project is to mitigate traffic congestion in the area (I can vouch for that problem...).

The project starts sometime next month. The project plan on the city website indicates January 30th but I thought I saw a sign showing mid-month closure. Whatever the actual start date is, expect delays and detours over the next 18 (ugghh!!) months! Final striping of the new lanes are currently anticipated for the week of July 15, 2013. But of course actual dates may vary.

This area already gets mighty congested during the morning/evening rush hours, so be prepared. Try getting on/off the 101 at Borchard/Rancho Conejo. There are detour maps on the city website at www.toaks.org/wendy101 but frankly I'm having a hard time deciphering them. Regardless, I certainly will be avoiding that area as much as possible during construction.

California Lutheran University to Launch Veterans Entrepreneurship Institute

CLU starts vets entrepreneurship program

University increases emphasis on job-creating skills

California Lutheran University is launching a Veterans Entrepreneurship Institute in January as part of an increased emphasis on preparing people to create their own business opportunities.

Nelson Pizarro, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship in CLU’s School of Management, will lead 10 three-hour Saturday workshops for military veterans. Each of the 20 participants in the pilot program will receive a full scholarship, with partial funding coming from a Ventura Country Community Foundation grant.

Pizarro, who founded six companies and has conducted business in 46 countries, will help veterans to build on the discipline, commitment and leadership they developed through military service. New skills such as entrepreneurial thinking will help participants to either start their own businesses or improve their prospects in the job market. Each participant will create a product or service during the course.

The program is part of a new emphasis on entrepreneurship at CLU driven by School of Management Dean Gerhard Apfelthaler. It has resulted in the addition of faculty, curricula and programs.

Under Pizarro’s guidance, a student entrepreneurship club has formed and started organizing events. The School of Management revived its free Entrepreneur Roundtable lecture series for the public this summer, and Pizarro has started a new professional mentor program. Apfelthaler is starting a seed fund for students and alumni to test their concepts and an accelerator fund to help launch tested ideas. The university plans to launch an incubation facility in Westlake Village in 2014.

Pizarro has developed three new courses for the entrepreneurship track in the MBA program. One of the classes, which covers entrepreneurial thinking, will also be offered for undergraduate students in all disciplines.

Bill Gartner, a new faculty member and one of the most-cited scholars on entrepreneurship, will begin teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in new-venture development in January. He also plans to teach an entrepreneurship course in summer that would be the university’s first massive open online course (MOOC). Gartner will work with faculty to integrate entrepreneurial thinking across all disciplines, particularly in the arts and humanities, and organize a summer speaker series. He was formerly the Henry W. Simonsen Chair in Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California and the director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Georgetown University.

The deadline to apply for the Veterans Entrepreneurship Institute is Jan. 6. To complete an application, visit callutheran.edu/veterans. For more information, contact Pizarro at 805-493-3371 or npizarro@callutheran.edu.