Eat All About It: Restaurants, vendors looking for fresh starts in new year

Downtown Kennewick has lost another restaurant, this time to Pasco.

Don Antonio’s Mexican Restaurant, previously at 20 S. Auburn St., has moved to 528 W. Clark St. in downtown Pasco. A call left with the owners seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The building Don Antonio’s occupied in downtown Kennewick was the former home of O’Henry’s A Go Go, a popular restaurant that served breakfast, lunch and dinner that was well known for the class pictures from Kennewick High School dating back to the 1930s that plastered its walls and other paraphernalia. The building also once housed a bakery.

The Mexican restaurant had positive reviews on social media, garnering 4.9 out of 5 stars on Facebook and 4 1/2 starts out of 5 on Yelp.

Also, Paper Street Brewing Co. left downtown earlier this year, moving to Richland’s Parkway district.

Downtown Pizzeria opened this spring but shut down this fall.

Officials with the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership have said they want to bring more restaurants to the area, and the city of Kennewick has set aside $20,000 to either help new restaurants relocate to downtown or help those in the area to expand.

Food Truck Friday recap

Officials with Pasco Specialty Kitchen and the Downtown Pasco Development Authority are pleased with how their first season of Food Truck Friday went.

Food trucks that participated reported $95,000 in gross sales during the 33-week season, a news release said. Food Truck Friday also led to more than 10 jobs being created and dozens of other business opportunities for vendors, such as catering and contacts for other events. It also went far in driving economic development in downtown Pasco.

“As with any new first-time program, we didn’t know what to expect, but our expectations were exceeded on every level — from community support and loyal customers from Kennewick and Richland, to customers from as far away as Pendleton, to awesome sales produced for these small businesses and food trucks vying to participate,” said Marilou Shea, the specialty kitchen’s director and creator of the event. “

The event is expected to return in the early spring, featuring its popular $4.95 special, officials said. A number of vendors who participated in the first season plan to return, and there is talk of introducing a loyalty program, Shea said.

Jamba Juice coming to Richland

A Jamba Juice will reportedly open in Richland’s Queensgate shopping district sometime after Jan. 1.

Anderson Juice was filed for a business license with the state this fall to open at 2727 Queensgate Drive. Renovation is under way in the space, and city officials said the business license can’t be approved until construction is complete. Calls to Jamba Juice’s corporate offices seeking further comment were not returned.

The juice and smoothie purveyor will replace Boehm’s Candy & Gifts, which sold chocolates and other items from the Issaquah-based Boehm’s Candies & Chocolates.

Jamba Juice is based in Emeryville, Calif. Along with its signature juices and smoothies, it also sells energy bowls and other snack items with a focus on fresh and healthy food.

The franchise would have no trouble drawing in loyal Jamba fans — the closest Jamba Juice to the Tri-Cities is about 2 1/2 hours away in Spokane.

This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Eat All About It: Restaurants, vendors looking for fresh starts in new year."