The new Westin Hotel in downtown Chattanooga has a restaurant and bars of its own but the owners of the hotel are also developing the area surrounding it by bringing in new bars and restaurants in order to create a lively environment for the hotel guests.
The first of several new restaurants around the Westin to open will be Alimentari on the corner at 801 Chestnut St.
It will have seating for 66 customers and will get support and training from the Westin, said Javier Ramos, owner of the business. It will serve an Italian inspired menu, he said. A beer license was approved for the business at the Thursday morning meeting of the Chattanooga Beer Board.
Two new restaurants are opening in the Hamilton Place Mall area. Rodizio Grill will operate its second location in Chattanooga at 2100 Hamilton Place Blvd. Suite # 201. The first Rodizio Grill to open on Broad Street has operated now for a couple of years with no incident that involves serving alcohol. Gyeong Kal, franchise holder, told the beer board members that most of their sales are in food; only seven to eight percent of sales come from alcohol. The new location was given a license to sell beer.
Old Chicago, 2006 Hamilton Place Blvd., has a large menu, said district manager Lauren Gholz, but is primarily known for pizza and beer. The restaurant was approved for a beer permit Thursday morning so it can be served along with food. Plans are to have 40 draft beers and 70 different beers by the bottle. A full liquor bar will also be available. Hours are from 11 a.m. until 2 a.m. at night.
The Stadium Corporation doing business as Finley Stadium, 1826 Reggie White Blvd. already holds both a consumer and caterer beer permit. Sarah Hooper the new food and beverage manager at the stadium was required to get a new beer license in her name. Formerly the licenses were in the names of Hayley Bates and Paul Smith. Currently, beer is only allowed to be served and consumed in the “Beer Plaza,” which is monitored by staff at the entrance and exit so patrons cannot leave the area or hand off beer to someone that did not buy it.
Beer permits were approved for two vendors at the Main X 24 festival on Dec. 2. John Biondolillo, owner of Haven & Ale that will be built at 607 Main Street, was given a license to sell beer from the parking lot at 605 and 615 Main St., which will be blocked off with barricades from 8:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. There will be nine food trucks selling food and beer will be sold by Heaven and Ale in the parking lot. Early in the day, a coffee truck will be available and from 4-6:30 there will be a live band.
Niedlov’s Breadworks, Inc. will also be able to sell beer on Dec. 2 from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. during the Main X 24 event, from the parking lot that will be closed off. Donuts and coffee will be sold in the morning and later in the day, pretzels and beer will be sold until the pretzels run out, said owner Lauren Zilen.