Cafe owner Bob Barbar has experienced six closures, and now two of his family businesses have been listed as exhibition sites during the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne.

It is getting too hard.

Mr. Barbar runs the Jolly Miller Cafe in Melton, part of a family-owned chain of 14 restaurants across Victoria.

His cafe was listed as a Level 2 weekend show site. Her cousin runs another cafe The Jolly Miller in the Caroline Springs Square mall, which has been declared a Level 1 site.

“Yesterday we had our worst trading day, ”he said.

“We have lost a lot.

“We threw bread… a lot of our candy, our fruits and vegetables were thrown away.”

To complicate matters, some of her staff had to isolate themselves as they visited the Caroline Springs Square Mall, forcing her business to shut down for longer.

On Thursday, Employment Minister Martin Pakula announced an additional $ 367 million in support for businesses affected by the extended Melbourne lockdown, jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Victoria governments.

But Mr Barbar said there had been long delays before previous foreclosure payments arrived.

“Lockdown number two… it was in July of last year. I only received [the money] during the last week of lockdown number four, which was in June of this year. “

Mr Barbar said he was just getting by with the help of the community, his owner and his staff.

“None of the bills are paid,” he said.

“We’re just breaking even with wages… and when I bounce back from foreclosure, I’ll pay my suppliers, the owner.”

Melbourne West has become a COVID-19 hotspot, with several emerging exposure sites in the region.

The Jolly Miller was listed as a Level 2 exposure site on August 8 after a visit from a COVID-positive person on August 4.

“The person came for a takeout sandwich,” Mr. Barbar said.

“They were in the store for less than three and a half minutes, then we got a call on Sunday night. [telling us what happened]. “

“Make a very fine line”

Normally the cafe can seat just under 100 people, but with density limits in place, there was only room for 65 people, including those dining outside.

Now only open for take-out, Mr Barbar said some days it wasn’t even worth opening the business.

“When you come for take out, you buy coffee for $ 4,” he said.

“If you dine there, you buy a plate of food, you might get a muffin from the fridge.”

Mr Barbar said it was scary to be part of a COVID hotspot.

“Every day I wait for a phone call from DHHS (the Department of Health and Human Services) to see if we [have been listed] as an exhibition site, just to know if I close… do I order for the next day, “he said.

“We have a very fine order line with our orders right now. If you order it and stop, [there is a] a lot of waste. “

“It was difficult. It was difficult, but I am very grateful because we have a lot of support from the community.”

Money to reach more than 100,000 companies, according to the Minister of Employment

Mr Pakula said the additional support of $ 367 million is expected to reach more than 100,000 businesses in Melbourne.

“We are very grateful for the spirit of continued cooperation in which the Commonwealth approaches the issue of business and income support,” he said.

Mr Pakula said the money, which would mainly be distributed automatically to companies that had already qualified for support under existing funds, fell into the following three categories:

• The Commonwealth’s COVID-19 Disaster Payment, which is open to eligible workers across the state who are losing hours due to the lockdown, as well as individual businesses who lose their jobs and are not eligible for Victorian government support
• The Small Business COVID Hardship Fund, which will provide grants of $ 10,000 to small and medium-sized businesses across the state. It will be administered by Business Victoria and will focus on companies legally authorized to operate but subject to severe restrictions.
• Automatic payments of $ 2,800 to over 95,000 businesses in Metropolitan Melbourne through the Business Cost Assistance Program and automatic payments of up to $ 20,000 to eligible businesses under the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund

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Let’s go for True BBQ and Whiskey Bar in downtown Griffith.

The modern barbecue restaurant, which opened in Munster in 2014 and expanded into downtown Crown Point last year, plans to move into the former Twincade space at 106 N. Broad St. in Griffith town center. The popular arcade bar on the prominent corner of Main and Broad streets in downtown Griffith has closed for good after falling victim to the coronavirus pandemic last year.

Progressive Dining Group, which owns True BBQ, Bullpen Luxury Bar & Grill, Gino’s Steakhouse and The Links in Schererville, plans to open a 100-seat barbecue restaurant in downtown Griffith. He will employ about twenty of them.

“We’ve really seen the benefits of Crown Point’s downtown footprint,” said partner Matt Doran. “There’s the foot traffic and the feeling of community. If there’s a wait, people don’t mind going to another facility until they’re called. It’s convenient for us and for them.”

The restaurant group sees downtown Griffith as a destination.

“It’s good to be downtown with all the festivals,” Doran said. “This is a good location in downtown Griffith. I feel that what the city center needs is more restaurants. But we have found that people are traveling to get to the center. -ville and make it a night out. “

Griffith True BBQ will have the same menu as other locations, including back ribs, St. Louis-style ribs, smoked turkey breast, smoked rib tips, smoked pork shoulder, smoked half-chicken, smoked andouille, smoked corned beef, smoked brisket and smoked pork belly.

It will also feature appetizers, salads, steaks, and entrees including andouille and shrimp penne, fried chicken, and cedar plank grilled salmon with whiskey.

“It’s a good concept,” Doran said. “We are trying to mix more vegan options and specialties so that vegans and vegetarians feel welcome in our establishments and do not have to order sides.”

True BBQ will offer craft beer, as well as a wide range of domestic and imported whiskeys. It will also serve handcrafted cocktails like Nakatomi Plaza, which blends Japanese whiskey Suntory Toki with San Pellegrino Limonata and Sage Against The Machine, which combines Copper & Kings American Gin, simple homemade sage syrup, blackberry and lime.

Griffith’s location will host occasional special events like those at Crown Point, which recently had a tiki pop-up bar serving specialty cocktails.

The goal is to open the True BBQ and Whiskey Bar in Griffith in early 2022.

A roadside cafe on the A46 may not seem like the place to be for authentic Italian cuisine, but for the past nine years, Six Hills Cafe has been wowing patrons with its food, from pizzas to pastry shops.

The cafe, run by owner and chef Carmelo Percolla, was named “Best Coffee” at the 2019 Italian Awards, when Carmelo also reached the final for the “Cuoco (Chef) of the Year” category at the award ceremony. price.

Six Hills, near Seagrave, was also a finalist in the ‘Best Coffee’ category in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

I visited the cafe a few years ago and really enjoyed a pizza night there, so with Six Hills now offering a monthly Sicilian Sunday lunch, I couldn’t wait to come back and try it.

With seats available for the August event, I booked a table for myself and my mom.

Place

Without wanting to be rude, the Six Hills Cafe is nothing special from the outside. Just off the A46 you might think it’s a standard bog transport cafe. However, this is definitely not the case.

Enter and you will be sure to be impressed by the newly renovated surroundings, the warm welcome and the aromas that emanate from the cuisine.

The cafe was taken over in 2012 by Carmelo, who aimed to build on its strong Sicilian heritage and decades of working in gourmet restaurants to provide diners with an impressive experience.

The cafe was renovated last year during the lockdown and is very different from before. The previously dark color scheme and furnishings have been replaced with light, bright colors and contemporary details.

With pictures of Sicily on the walls and traditional music in the background, the atmosphere is pleasant.

An outdoor dining area was also added during last year’s renovation. Unfortunately, it was not warm enough to sit outside when we visited, but we were happy enough to enjoy the surroundings inside.

Food

The cafe serves breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday, as well as pizza nights on Fridays and Saturdays. In addition, since the end of 2019 (with the exception of lockdown periods), it opens on the first Sunday of the month to serve a Sicilian Sunday lunch, with the menu changing each month.

The idea is that diners can share a hearty and traditional tasting menu (at £ 35 per person), using family recipes from Carmelo and Sicilian products, such as peppers and eggplants, mutton ricotta and pistachios ( which have a Protected Designation of Origin) from Bronte, a small village on Mount Etna.

You can check the menu online before booking, so you know exactly what you’re getting. You can also choose between two sessions – at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. – and we’ve chosen the first one.

After being warmly greeted and shown to our table, we ordered our drinks – opting for a few Sicilian soft drinks (a blood orange and a lemon) which were fruity and refreshing.

For those who love alcohol, there are Sicilian craft beers that are shipped exclusively for Six Hill by a brewer in the hometown of Carmelo, Catania, as well as wines from vineyards on the south coast of the island and around the volcano.

A basket of homemade bread appeared on our table and started the meal well. The bread, made from 100% Sicilian durum wheat, had a nice chewy center and a crispy crust, and I liked dipping it in extra virgin olive oil – bottles of which can be found on each of the tables.

An impressive selection of starters soon followed. This was composed of a Pammiciana di mulinciani (aubergines parmigiana) I pipi ammuddicati (peppers, capers and breadcrumbs) I rocculi affucati (broccoli in red wine) cavuluciuri n’pastedda (cauliflower paste) and an aranci nsalata (orange and onion salad).

My mother and I really enjoyed the hearty baked eggplant parmigiana, which included layers of potatoes, eggs and eggplant in passata, and I was especially won over by the dish of peppers, with slices of Grilled peppers mixed with breadcrumbs, salted capers, garlic and a drizzle of delicious olive oil.

Broccoli and cauliflower, those Sunday lunch favorites, have made an appearance – but cooked very differently than they would be for an English roast dinner! Here we had broccoli cooked (or rather drowned according to the name of the dish) in a rich red wine, and breaded cauliflower florets – the latter being our favorite of the two.

I don’t think I’ve ever eaten orange and onion in one bite, but the orange and onion salad, which also included raisins, provided a refreshing contrast to the heavier dishes.

The selection of starters was followed by a beef cannelloni pasta dish – which was my favorite part of the meal. The pasta was cooked beautifully, retaining a bit of bite, the slowly cooked pieces of beef were wonderfully succulent, and the stew (made from Carmelo’s grandmother’s recipe) had a delicious flavor – perhaps in part to because of the pinch of brandy that I discovered it later contained! According to the chef, this was historically used to keep meat fresh, before the invention of refrigerators.

We then had a main course of I cutuletti di pollo (chicken straw marinated in vinegar and breadcrumbs). After being marinated in white wine vinegar for 24 hours, the chicken had been coated in breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic and pecorino cheese – giving it a delicious flavor.

The side salad was delicious and fresh, consisting of lettuce leaves, cucumber, tomato and red onion, seasoned with olive oil and oregano.

The dessert was a nguantera (an array of miniature desserts). This included cannoncini – crispy and buttery puff pastry horns filled with pistachio cream, cannoli – tubes of fried dough, filled with sweet ricotta, and rum baba – cupcakes soaked in syrup of rum and garnished with cream and a piece of strawberry.

We also had a surprise addition of homemade Sicilian ice cream, in vanilla and pistachio varieties.

While we weren’t quick enough to eat it all before it melted (due to a lack of additives, we were told), the bite we tried was good – especially vanilla, we thought.

I really enjoyed the rum soaked wet rum baba, and mom was impressed with the cannoncini, but at this point we were too full to eat more.

This was not a problem though, as we were able to get the remaining boxed desserts to take home. A few hours later I enjoyed the sweet ricotta-filled cannoli and my boys finished the rest!

Verdict
It was a lovely way to spend a few hours on a Sunday and eat some delicious food – of which there was certainly a lot!

As much as I love a roast dinner, this Sicilian feast made a nice change.

The owners and other staff were all very friendly and efficient and it was good that the chef came and talked to all of his customers.

While you can’t completely forget the cars passing along the busy A46, once you are inside this roadside cafe there is a lovely relaxing environment.

The price is the bit that I struggled with, as £ 35 per person for food alone is quite a lot to spend – although I appreciate that there was a generous amount of good quality food, including one much of it came from Sicily.

One thing to note is that you can only pay in cash or by bank transfer. My advice would be to be hungry and go with a lot of money!

Our rating: 4/5

Food hygiene score: 5/5

NORTH MUSKEGON, MI – Nine months after a North Muskegon cafe closed, the renowned restaurant opens with an artisan menu and a robust wine list.

Owner Tresha Kidder closed 4 Corners Café in November 2020 when bars and restaurants were ordered for the second time to close restaurants indoors to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

After months of reimagining, renovating and getting a liquor license, the restaurant will once again welcome diners as The Valkyrie on Friday August 6.

“The North Muskegon region has always been very united and supportive of us – and this throughout the pandemic – so I just wanted to give back to the community and offer something different to the region,” Kidder said.

Related: Local Eats: 4 Corners Cafe owner “bursts into tears” for community support amid pandemic

While the 4 Corners Café focuses on coffee and sandwiches, the Valkyrie offers a relaxed dining experience with quality service. Its new Nordic concept is inspired by the Scandinavian roots of North Muskegon Norsemen and Kidder.

“I think it’s going well with the town of North Muskegon,” Kidder said. “It’s a wealthy community but also very down-to-earth people.

Kidder partnered with Devin Hekkema, a certified sommelier and restaurant manager from Muskegon, to develop the restaurant.

“We know we are different, but we try to be,” Hekkema said. “We want to give people a taste of the big city without having to leave Muskegon. “

A farm-to-table menu using fresh, seasonal ingredients has been created by Chef Zachery Skiver. It offers items like walleye with pickled elderberry, wild rice and blueberry sauce or smoked beets with wild mushrooms, rice, lemon dressing and pickled red onion.

A fully stocked bar serves cocktails, beer, and over 100 wines with bottles sold at retail plus a $ 10 corkage fee.

“We want people to be able to have good wine at a fair price and have it in our garden here,” Hekkema said.

On weekends, performances will take place at The Valkyrie, a restaurant Hekkema envisions as a gathering place where the community can come “in costume or in t-shirt.”

The building, at the corner of Ruddiman Drive and Center Street, previously housed the Keefe Pharmacy. It now has a chic dining room, a brand new kitchen and a covered patio decorated with bistro lights.

A large-scale mural painted three years ago by Muskegon artist Jimmy Cobb lights up the patio and peeks through the dining room windows. Cobb also left his mark on the updated space: a new mural of orange and purple Valkyrie wings.

Kidder said that after nine months of “long days”, she was delighted to see people filling the restaurant again.

The Valkyrie, 1900 Ruddiman Drive, is open Tuesday through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday through Saturday from 3 p.m. to midnight.

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A new cafe in Stoke Newington offering evening cocktails has sought to reassure residents that it wants to avoid disturbing them.

Daniel Fico said the two-story cafe run by Atlas Grinds Ltd will be “a very community place” and will be LGBTQIA + friendly.

The app says: “We take care of families because we create a safe space for people to meet, while we also offer changing tables which are becoming increasingly scarce. “

It also aims to sponsor Kynaston Gardens and “bring Main Street back to life after lockdown”.

Fico said during a clearance hearing that the small private garden will close at 10 p.m. to allow residents to enjoy the peace and quiet and that the venue will join the Pub Watch program and stop sales at 11 p.m.

The venue has asked to serve alcohol between noon and 11 p.m. between Mondays and Thursdays and half an hour later on Fridays and Saturdays.

However, residents have expressed concern about the disturbances.

Stephen Gutman told the council’s licensing subcommittee that the site was “surrounded by residential buildings, some extremely close.”

He pointed out that several rooms are very close to the outdoor space.

Gutman added: “From 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. [opening hours] it seems long, very long to me. And with the outside noise too.

Stewart O’Brien said he was concerned that “the noise of nighttime drinking is intolerable.”

Her tenant, who is a teacher, has already moved, saying “they couldn’t risk the noise and disturbance.” Every noise rises in the room ”.

Fico told the committee that the tenant left before the cafe was soundproofed.

O’Brien also said the sidewalk near the site was very narrow: “Under certain circumstances stepping out of the building can be intimidating.”

He said people who have been drinking can be “a little belligerent and I don’t want that outside my apartment building”, adding: “There are children who might have their sleep disturbed.”

Fico said there should be no disruption after 10pm: “It’s mainly for families, friends, people who want to enjoy a good wine in the evening.”

He said the bar specializes in organic wines and he doesn’t expect people to drink a lot. He said it was open on one condition for the garden to close at 9 p.m. instead of 10 p.m.

The licensing subcommittee (August 3) will release its decision next week.