MOUNT VERNON — A new Italian restaurant will be opening on the city’s south side.
Karen and Kevin Steinmetz are planning to open Rattarenz House of Pasta around the middle of February at 120 Newark Road, formerly Herbie J’s restaurant.
Karen Steinmetz said the restaurant will offer a variety of dishes — all-you-can-eat spaghetti, lasagna, ziti, steak and fish. She said Rattarenz will be a family-themed restaurant, with a children’s menu, but it will also be the type of place where a couple can enjoy a romantic meal.
“We had a lot of good family recipes,” she said. “We decided to get together and open a restaurant.”
In other business news, Himanshu B. Desai is now the new owner and operator of Ibiza 33 night club at 156 Howard St., in the old Uncle Dan’s Playhouse. The club, which opened last year, will be switching its emphasis from American and Indian food to a steakhouse and sports bar.
Former owner and operator Ranjit Rai said he and his nephew and business partner, Sucha Singh, owner of the Curtis Inn on the Square, decided to sell the business because other business commitments prohibit them from devoting their full attention to the club.
Desai has been a chef for the last four years at various restaurants in Wisconsin and Illinois, and said he decided to start his own business venture. The club has been closed from Monday to Wednesday, but will reopen today.
In Fredericktown, a full-service florist store that has been in business for almost 14 years has closed. In a recent letter to the village council of Fredericktown, Deb Burgholder announced that Designs By Deb, A Unique Flower & Gift Shop, would close Jan. 31. She cited poor economic conditions and high overhead costs to run a small business as the cause for the decision.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank members of council as well as the Fredericktown community for the support you have shown me over the years,” she wrote in the letter.
She thanks staff at the Fredericktown municipal building, Gary Gallogly, village administrator, and the Fredericktown Police Department for their assistance over the years.
Designs By Deb opened in May of 1994 in a two-room office building on Main Street. Soon afterward, it was moved to 17 Columbus Road.