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Restaurant reopening after repair delay
By JULIE CHURCH, Times Staff Writer PALM HARBOR -- On the morning of May 1, Jaime and Lisa Kanos had planned to introduce a new menu at the Magnolia Grille Restaurant, the Palm Harbor establishment they've owned for more than four years. Instead, they spent that day and many of those that followed cleaning up. An electrical fire the previous night caused more than $100,000 in damage and gutted the restaurant's kitchen. As hard as it was for them to see their restaurant charred and covered in soot, the couple took comfort in the fact that the fire was relatively minor and repairs were estimated to take just four to six weeks. But it's been four months since the fire, and the final inspections are just now being completed, Jaime Kanos said. It was a delay they didn't anticipate. "We got the work scheduled pretty quickly," he said, "but it took us 11 weeks to get a building permit." Kanos, 38, and his wife plan to reopen their family owned and operated restaurant Monday. Since the fire, the couple has received inquiries about the restaurant's future from as far away as Miami and Zephyrhills. "We left a message on our answering machine for people to leave their name and address if they wanted information about our reopening," said Mrs. Kanos, 30. "We've been overwhelmed by the response. There are more than 125 people on our list." The restaurant, which is in the Pelican Plaza at the corner of Alt. U.S. 19 and Ohio Avenue, was formerly known as the Chicken King. It has been part of the Kanos family for 30 years. When it reopens, the Magnolia Grille will retain its garden motif and many of its southern menu offerings such as fried green tomatoes, fried chicken and collard greens. The menu will also feature some new selections, which became popular when they were offered as specials in the past. "We have a pineapple chicken salad that a lot of people really liked, so we added that and some other things to the menu," Kanos said. Despite the delays the Kanoses faced in reopening the Magnolia Grille, they say there have been some benefits. The kitchen has been updated and will create a better traffic pattern for cooks and servers. The equipment is also much more modern, Kanos said. "Some of that equipment belonged to my parents when they owned a restaurant here in the 1970s," he said. The construction delays also allowed the couple to spend some time this summer with their two children, who are 5 and 2. "It's usually pretty hard to get the time off," Kanos said. "But after spending much of the summer at home, it's going to be an adjustment to get back to a work environment." Kanos is happy that they were able to retain most of their seven-member staff. "We're lucky they stuck with us," he said. "People like familiar faces. A lot of our regulars ask for specific waiters when they come in."
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
