Restaurants New and Restaurants Adieu in Ventura County January to Mid-July 2014

New restaurants that have opened or are planning to open in and around the Conejo Valley and Greater Ventura County during the first half of 2014 continues. The Local Buzz section of CVG highlights new eateries along with restaurants that close their doors.

Here's a summary of this activity from January through mid-July 2014.  (Click here for previous 2013 activity.) The list is fairly comprehensive but we know it's not 100% complete, so let us know of any we missed!

Consistent with previous reports, the number of new eateries in the area continues to outnumber closed eateries by a large margin.

Restaurants* That Have Opened Since January 2014

• Chocolate Savvy opened at the Simi Valley Town Center on July 7th.

• California Kebab Kitchen opened recently in Moorpark.

• Mediterranean Pita Grill opened June 30th in Westlake Village.

• See's Candies opened a 2nd Conejo Valley location last month at The Promenade at Westlake

• Lazy Dog Restaurant and Bar opened a 2nd Ventura County location, at The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard, on June 12th.

• Urbane Cafe Simi Valley opened on June 5th.

• A new Haagen-Dazs Scoop Shop opened in early June in Westlake Village.

• Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill opened May 31st at The Collection in Oxnard.

• The second Thousand Oaks Chick-fil-A opened on Thursday, May 29th.

• Sesame Garden Chinese Cuisine opened in Camarillo in May.

• Camboni Italian Restaurant & Bar opened at the Thousand Oaks Inn on May 20th.

• Zooza Cafe opened in Westlake Village this past May.

• Malibu Pier Restaurant & Bar opened on May 15th.

• Gandolfo's New York Deli opened a second location in Ventura this past May.

• The French Bulldog Bistro became the Old Town Tavern Camarillo in early May.

• Blue Wasabi Sushi & Asian Bistro opened earlier this year in Thousand Oaks.

• Sabores Peruvian Cafe opened in Old Town Camarillo in the April time frame.

• Garbanzo Healthy Kitchen in Ventura opened in Q1 2014.

• Mama's Hummus opened February 20th in Newbury Park.

• The Local Table opened in Newbury Park on February 4th.

• Akash Cuisine of India opened in Thousand Oaks in January.

• Steve's un-Original Pizza opened at MB2 Raceway Newbury Park in January.

• Dickey's BBQ Pit opened January 1st in Simi Valley

* OK maybe not just restaurants...places that offer up edible items of any type e.g. sweets

Restaurants That Announced They Are Opening Soon

• MOD (Made on Demand) Pizza is coming this September to Newbury Park in the former Baja Fresh location.

• Urbane Cafe is opening yet another location soon, this time in Thousand Oaks.

• Rokabab Mediterranean Grill is coming to Thousand Oaks at some point.

• Dog Haus is coming soon to Thousand Oaks.

• JOi Cafe is coming soon to Westlake Village.

• Lal Mirch Indian Restaurant is opening soon on Kanan Road in Agoura Hills.

• A third Ventura County Dickey's BBQ Pit location is opening in the coming months at the North Ranch Mall in Westlake Village.

• Sharky's Woodfired Mexican Grill to open this Fall at Janss Marketplace.

• Kora Bistro and Sushi Bar "coming soon" to Westlake Village.

• Aroha New Zealand Cuisine will be opening in Westlake Village in a couple months

• Lovi's Delicatessen, Bakery, Restaurant and Bar will be opening at the former location of the Calabasas Red Robin sometime in the near future.

• 9021Pho is in process of relocating from its old Westlake Village location to The Lakes at Thousand Oaks sometime soon.

• PizzaRev "Craft Your Own" Pizza is opening a new location this Fall at the Camarillo Premium Outlets, as are Chipotle and Yogurtland.

• The Westlake Plaza is being renovated and new eateries coming include Pitfire Pizza, Mendocino Farms Sandwich Market, Pressed Juicery and Le Pain Quotidien and Ice Cream Lab.

• Sabra Fish Grill is opening sometime this year at The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard. Also in the works at The Collection is Maria's Italian Kitchen Pronto, Larsen's Grill and a Ben & Jerry's.

• There's been a sign up at the old Greenhouse Cafe in Thousand Oaks indicating Stir Krazy Mongolian Grill is "coming soon" since April, but no updates since then.

• Slated to open at The Shoppes at Westlake Village over the coming months are Greens Up!, Los Agaves Restaurant, In N Out Burger, Olio e Limone Ristorante, Olio Pizzeria, Hook Burger, Jeannine's Bakery & Restaurant, Which Wich® Superior Sandwiches, Bowl of Heaven Acai Bowls, The Gallery Seafood and Figueroa Mountain Brewing.

• Cronies Sports Grill announced they will be opening a fifth location in Agoura Hills later this year (in the former home of Angel Cafe).

Restaurants That Have Closed Since January

• Angel Cafe Pizza & Pasta in Agoura Hills closed its doors in January.

• Camarillo International Supermarket & Restaurant closed for business early this year.

• Brats Brothers in Newbury Park closed for business on Friday, February 7th.

• Los Agaves Mexican Grill closed its doors for the second time earlier this year in Thousand Oaks

• Claim Jumper closed forever on Sunday, February 23rd after nine years in Thousand Oaks. We subsequently learned that Lassen's Natural Foods will be moving into that spot later this year.

• California Crisp Cafe closed its doors in Westlake Village earlier this year.

• The Moorpark Viva La Pasta location closed its doors earlier this year too.

• The Grill Restaurant & Bar (previously called California Grill) closed in April

• As mentioned above, The French Bulldog (previously JJ Brewsky's) closed on April 14th but was renovated and became The Old Town Tavern soon thereafter.

• On June 8th, N'Awlinz Bistro closed its Downtown Oxnard location to focus solely on catering.

• The Elephant Bar in Simi Valley closed its doors on June 12th.

• The WineYard in Thousand Oaks closed its doors on June 19th.

• Bellavino Wine Bar in Thousand Oaks closed its doors recently

Casa Pacifica "Building New Foundations of Hope" $21 Million Capital Campaign

Headquartered on a rural 24-acre campus in Camarillo, Casa Pacifica serves abused and neglected children and adolescents, and those with severe emotional, social, behavioral, and mental health challenges. The non-profit was established in 1994 with the support of the County of Ventura and has served over 18,000 children and youth and their families.

In October 2013, Casa Pacifica launched a $21 million capital campaign to add new cottages, housing for transition-age foster youth, a therapeutic activities building, vocational education and training space, classrooms, and a suitable site for clinical services. Temporary structures will be replaced with state-of-the-art treatment facilities and administrative functions will be consolidated in one new building. Additional space will be added to Casa Pacifica's health clinic to address the growing number of children with unmet medical needs in the foster care population.

Since 1994, local community needs have grown; as a result, one-fifth of Casa Pacifica's services are now housed in temporary buildings or offsite. The capital campaign will enable the organization to respond to growing community needs and increase by at least 50% the number of children and youth served annually. Funds raised will also help replace 12,000 sq ft of temporary structures and add 46,000 sq ft of state-of-art buildings.

To learn more, visit www.casapacifica.org/about/capital_campaign.

South Ventura County Residents Asked to Stop Outdoor Watering Today through Sunday

UPDATE: The Granada Hills plant was put back into service at 3 p.m. on Saturday, ahead of schedule.

SOUTH VENTURA, WEST LOS ANGELES COUNTY CONSUMERS ASKED TO FORGO OUTDOOR WATERING WHILE TREATMENT PLANT IS SHUT DOWN

Starting Thursday morning, regional Metropolitan plant is being taken out of service for drought-related upgrades that will help maximize Colorado River deliveries this year

Beginning today, May 8th, residents and businesses in south Ventura and west Los Angeles counties are requested to reduce their water use - including refraining from outdoor watering - while a regional water treatment plant is shut down through the weekend.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California joined Calleguas Municipal Water District and Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in making the water-saving request as Metropolitan prepares to take out of service its Joseph Jensen Water Treatment Plant in Granada Hills. During the shutdown, Metropolitan plans to make some physical modifications to the local distribution system so supplies from the Colorado River can be delivered to the area.

The shutdown began at 12 a.m. Thursday, with water deliveries resuming by noon on Sunday, May 11th. During this time, Las Virgenes and Calleguas will rely on limited stored local supplies to maintain deliveries, making conservation and reduced demands an essential component of maintaining reliability.

South Ventura County cities in Calleguas’ service area are Camarillo, Moorpark, Oxnard, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park and Port Hueneme, along with the communities of Camarillo Heights, Las Posas Valley, Oak Park, Santa Rosa Valley, Lake Sherwood, Point Mugu, and Somis.

West Los Angeles County cities in Las Virgenes’ service area include Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Westlake Village as well as the communities of Agoura, Chatsworth, Lake Manor, Malibu Lake, Monte Nido and West Hills.

The Jensen plant—one of five such treatment facilities within Metropolitan’s distribution system—is a significant source of drinking water for Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Although local agencies affected by the brief plant outage may have groundwater and reservoir supplies to meet retail demands during the outage, these supplies are limited and consumers are asked to conserve water to avoid shortages.

The affected areas usually receive imported water delivered exclusively from Northern California via the State Water Project and treated at the Jensen plant. However, because drought conditions have severely limited SWP supplies to only 5 percent of contracted deliveries in 2014, Metropolitan is making adjustments to its distribution system to deliver its Colorado River water supplies into areas of the Southland that do not typically receive them.

Metropolitan typically schedules shutdowns of its facilities in winter months, when temperatures usually are cooler and demands are lower, to complete inspections and perform maintenance and upgrades with the least impact on consumers. Because of the drought and the immediate need to make adjustments to Metropolitan’s system, local agencies did not have the usual six- to eight-month lead time to coordinate their water supply and storage options.

This water-saving message comes with Southern California in the midst of a Water Supply Alert, declared by Metropolitan’s board in February in response to Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s emergency drought proclamation, calling for 20 percent conservation throughout the state. “During the outage of imported supplies Calleguas will draw upon water it has stored in Lake Bard in Thousand Oaks and in the Fox Canyon Aquifer near Moorpark,” said Susan Mulligan, Calleguas’ general manager. “These supplies, however, are limited and the demand for water is high as a result of the recent warm weather. We ask everyone to make an extra effort to conserve water, particularly outdoors, where up to 60 percent of water is used.”

Bard Lake as seen from Lang Ranch/Woodridge Open Space in Thousand Oaks

Additional conservation steps during the shutdown include no hand-washing vehicles, filling swimming pools or spas, or hosing down driveways and sidewalks. Other water-saving measures include running only full loads in washing machines and dishwashers, not leaving the tap running when washing dishes, keeping showers to a maximum of 5 minutes, and not leaving the water running while brushing your teeth or shaving.

The aesthetic quality of tap water may be impacted to varying degrees within the Calleguas service area because the reduction in imported water deliveries/

Visit www.mwdh2o.com and www.bewaterwise.com for the latest information on the shutdown as well as water-saving tips.

Walmart to Showcase New Upscale Retail Concept "The Walmart at Thousand Oaks"

Since the first Walmart store opened in July 1962, Walmart has grown to over 11,000 stores in 27 countries, employing 2.2 million worldwide. Tomorrow, Walmart will open for the first time in the Conejo Valley, with a Walmart Neighborhood Market on Ventu Park Road in Newbury Park. Unlike a Walmart Supercenter, which averages 182,000 sq ft, a Walmart Neighborhood Market runs about 38,000 sq ft and with a primary focus on groceries.

Later this year, Walmart will continue its local growth by transforming The Lakes at Thousand Oaks into a brand new Walmart Upscale retail concept. The Walmart at Thousand Oaks will take the existing design of The Lakes and create an experience that will bring something for everyone!

The Walmart at Thousand Oaks will showcase a new level of sophistication.

This first Walmart Upscale pilot will capitalize on the aesthetics of The Lakes while sharing all the conveniences a Walmart Supercenter has to offer.

P.F. Chang’s, conveniently located at E. Thousand Oaks Blvd and N. Conejo School Road, will be become P.F. Goodrich, offering tires, brakes and oil changes at discount prices. California Pizza Kitchen will be renovated into California Pizza Hut, a slightly upscale version of Pizza Hut. 

On the west side of The Walmart at Thousand Oaks, in the former home of Claim Jumper (and more recently slated to be a Lassen's Health Foods), Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza patrons will be treated to a world-class McDonald's, where the iconic golden arches will lead to Thousand Oaks City Hall. Big Mac fans will sit in comfort at The McDonald's at The Walmart at Thousand Oaks, where each seat cushion will contain a coin-operated thermostat.

Other stores will be converted into a gigantic, multi-level Walmart Supercenter, with ample use of windows and skylights for natural lighting. Driving home on the 101, you may even see your spouse shopping at The Walmart at Thousand Oaks.  The current Brighton store, however, will be retained "as is" but will be renamed Jewelry and Accessories at The Walmart at Thousand Oaks.

City planners Hugh Gotta, Bea Kiddenme and Howie Aeur believe that, while this new "upscale" project may be a bit of a surprise to some, it is certain to bring joy to local residents and visitors alike. "Additionally," indicates Kiddenme, "we believe this project is timely from drought perspective as the lakes will be drained, and replaced with pavement and the new Garden Center at The Walmart at Thousand Oaks."

In the second phase of enhancements, a pedestrian access tunnel will be constructed to enable Mastro's Steakhouse customers easy access to The Walmart at Thousand Oaks.

APRIL FOOLS'!

We LOVE The Lakes at Thousand Oaks! Happy April Fools' Day!

April Fools' fun in prior years

Post-Earthquake Moonset This Morning From Malibu and the Conejo Valley

Suzy Demeter of Suzy Demeter Photography caught this "moonset" of last night's full moon from Malibu this morning, about 30 minutes after most of us were jolted awake by a 4.4 magnitude quake at 6:25 a.m. The moon did not feel the quake. I asked him. But the rest of us sure did! The quake was centered somewhere between Encino and Westwood in the Santa Monica Mountains. Kind of a rude awakening to St. Paddy's Day and 20 year, 2 month (to the day) anniversary of the Northridge earthquake of 1994.

That full moon was shining bright up here in the Conejo Valley too, dodging around the early morning fog that soon burned off as we said our final goodbyes.