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.
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.
CVG Facebook follower Stacy O. has pointed out that the Togo's Sandwiches on Madera and Royal in Simi Valley recently closed its doors, but the other Simi location at 2410 Sycamore Drive remains open.
There are three other Togo's in the area - Westlake Village (2761 Agoura Road), Oxnard (2710 N. Rose Avenue) and Ventura (4726 Telephone Road, Suite 1B)
Since I have not personally been to a Togo's, I asked what others thought about them: "turkey and avocado sandwich is the best!" "I like their spicy jack pastrami" "turkey and cranberry is my hubby's fav" "they're delicious - their meat is not processed" "only fast and cheap sandwich shop that makes egg salad" and many other affirmed their affinity for Togo's sandwiches. Time to check them out. www.togos.com
If you drive by The Shoppes at Westlake Village you may find cars in the parking lot in front of the new Target. I suspect those may belong to employees in training for the upcoming grand opening on Sunday, July 27th (THIS CHANGED TO 4PM ON TUESDAY, JULY 22ND). The City of Westlake Village has indicated that most other tenants will open just before or after the Target grand opening, including Tilly's, Total Woman Gym and Spa, Hook Burger, In-N-Out (no word yet on specific timing at this point), Jeannine's Market, The Gallery Seafood and Chophouse, Los Agaves, Olio e Limone, Greens Up!, Endless Beauty Supply and Suite Vibes Salon.
Other tenants to include Which Wich® Superior Sandwiches, Bowl of Heaven Acai Bowls, Kirk Jewelers and others. Visit www.shoppesatwestlakevillage.com for more information.
Upcoming Road Closures on Hampshire Road (Eastbound lanes only) for July 21 & 22
Due to construction activity for the US 101 / SR-23 project, the contractor will close the eastbound lanes of Hampshire Road at the US 101 freeway to through traffic. The closure is scheduled for Monday, July 21 and Tuesday, July 22 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. so the contractor can conduct drilling and sandblasting operations.
Several Nighttime Closures at Moorpark Road Week of July 21
The following closures will take place at Moorpark Road due to construction activity, which includes the installation of piles for the overcrossing:
For more information regarding upcoming closures scheduled on the project, visit www.toaks.org/10123.
2019 Update: The Best Halloween Store Ever has been located for the past several years at Janss Marketplace. This location is now the Tarantula Hill Brewing Company.
The Best Halloween Store Ever is opening its new seasonal location this year at old Plummer's Furniture building, 244 E Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Thousand Oaks. The retail space is more than double the size of its previous seasonal location at the old El Torito building, which was torn down and became a new Chick-fil-A this past May.
No doubt the owners of this store will continue in their quest to present some of the most terrifying, gruesome, not-for-faint-of-heart displays along with lots of fun for all ages, while presenting a large assortment of costumes and accessories to complete any costume. Get updates at www.facebook.com/besthalloweenstoreever.
Conejo Valley Guide covers events, activities and things to do throughout Ventura County and surrounding areas.
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