Latest news with #Claudine
Extra.ie
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Suns out and Irish celebs are spotted in Spain
Sun's out – (or at least sun was briefly out) – and that can mean one thing only, celebrity buns are out. As showers intersperse on this June Bank holiday at home here in Ireland, a host of sports-stars, models and influencers have jetted off to sunny Spain to, what is commonly known in social media parlance, 'live their best lives.' Football star Robbie Keane and his glamorous wife Claudine have decamped to their home-from-home, the millionaires playground of Marbella. Robbie and Claudine were joined on their Spanish sojourn by their three children with Claudine's mum Joan also joining the Keane clan's bank holiday break. Pic: Claudine Keane/Instagram Making the most of their mother-daughter time, Claudine and mum Joan posted a series of lookie-likey snaps, as they sipped fine Spanish wine and sampled some of Majorca's freshest seafood. While Claudine and Joan were relaxing and chatting, Irish soccer star Robbie found some like-minded sportstars to shoot the summer breeze with. Soccer mad Robbie bumped into a group of Irish rugby stars who also happened to have headed to Marbella for some summer fun. Pic: Instagram Football boss Robbie managed to inveigle his way into a rugby group shoot and he posed for a snap with the likes of Johnny Sexton and sports PR guru Damo O'Donoghue ,with the lads all looking like they were enjoying some boys time-out. Over on one of Spain's more refined island's, former Miss World Rosanna Davison was showcasing the bikini body that garnered her the title of one of the world's most beautiful women with a series of swimsuits snaps. Influencer, author and mum-of-three Rosanna was soaking up the summer sun as she took a dip in the sea to cool her jets. And Rosanna's hubby Wes, who loves nothing more than larking about, was seen splashing about, with their three tiny tots, in the pool of their rented villa with Wes and their three adorable children basking in the glorious Majorcan sun. And we're going to Ibiza now, where another former Miss Ireland Lynn Kelly was chilling out on the party island. Lynn, who is fresh off her VIP Style Award win, was demonstrating her summer sartorial looks as she showcased a stunning array of swimsuits, wide brimmed straw hats and pretty little dresses. So while the rest of us have to contend with just a sprinkling of sun this rainy bank holiday ,take solace in the fact that our favourite celebs are indeed living their best lives in the sweltering Spanish sunshine.
Boston Globe
7 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
New and coming soon: 13 new restaurants and bars in R.I. to try this summer
Sometime this spring, Maggie McConnell and Josh Finger, two Per Se alums who fell in love while cooking in Claudine's menu will evolve daily, and focus on hyper-local ingredients. They'll work closely with a network of farms, and dry age their own fish and meat in-house for menu items that may include a sashimi of dry-aged bluefin tuna. While there won't be any 'standard' items on the menu that will remain, each course will begin with a daily oyster dish. Advertisement Claudine, 225 Weybosset St., Providence, . Quonnie Rock oyster with dry-aged beef tartare, oyster trim emulsion, capers, slow cooked egg yolk puree at Claudine, an upcoming restaurant in downtown Providence, R.I. Courtesy of Claudine Little Clam Executive chef Antonio Wormley (left) with consulting chef Jake Rojas inside of Little Clam. Little Clam The restaurant space inside the Wayfinder Hotel, which was Advertisement Antonio Wormley, a Philadelphia native who graduated from nearby Johnson & Wales University in 2012, will serve as Little Clam's executive chef. After Wormley graduated, he worked as the chef de cuisine at shuttered Vanity and then as executive chef at Milk Money, where he was serving catfish with roasted corn, collard greens, and hot sauce he made in-house. After leaving New England in 2018, he ultimately returned in 2023 to help chef Dovetail & Co., the Wayfinder's owner and development company, brought in Jake Rojas, who previously ran the Little Clam, 151 Admiral Kalbfus Road, Newport, R.I. . A platter of shellfish from Little Clam, a new restaurant inside the Wayfinder Hotel in Newport, R.I. Little Clam Virginica Pizza There may be a new pizza shop opening on Block Island this year. Sadie Flateman, the owner of oyster company Great Salt Pond Oyster Co. on the island, is working on opening Virginica Pizza. She plans on serving Neapolitan-style pizza with local produce and shellfish from the island. A sample menu says they'll offer Block Island clam pizza, three kinds of oysters, littleneck clams, and soft serve ice cream. 'While Crassostrea virginica is the scientific name for the Atlantic oyster, Virginica Pizza brings together oyster service and pizza,' wrote Flateman, the oyster fisher, in a letter to town officials about the pizza shop. Advertisement The building is not yet winterized, but Flateman said she wants to stay open for as long a season as possible to serve Block Island natives. Virginica Pizza , 125 Corn Neck Road, New Shoreham, R.I. Club Frills Cocktail wiz Jesse Hedberg and chef Robert Andreozzi, the two owners of Pizza Marvin, are soon opening Club Frills, a bar that will focus heavily on unique cocktails, like a Jell-O shot in the form of a deviled egg. Nikhil Naiker, who is 'Rob and I have been wanting to open a space together for the last three years,' said Naiker. 'This will help me really see and experience a full opening of a restaurant and bar.' They'll plan to experiment with plays on classic bar food, like a signature burger, a tuna melt with raw tuna, and a mozzarella stick-onion ring concoction. 'It's all a little ridiculous,' said Andreozzi. Old bartending techniques, such as Co-owners of the bar Club Frills, Robert Andreozzi (right) and Jesse Hedberg (left)) in the space prior to construction. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Debbie's Ed Davis has Advertisement 'I'm good with just making hot dogs,' said Davis. 'All of the moves I've made are lateral. Only difference is how you put food on a plate.' Order one of the dog specials — like the 'Raab' (broccoli rabe, red pepper relish, provolone, and yellow mustard). Or a grinder, like the 'high brow' (mortadella, pistachio tapenade, marinated tomatoes, salsa verde) or the chicken cheesecake with onions, banana peppers, cooper sharp, provolone, mayonnaise, and some hots. Their vegetable sides, such as the asparagus salad, source ingredients from local farms and producers. Debbie's, 100 Washington St., Providence, R.I. Stay updated by checking the restaurant's . Ed Davis, one of Providence's most well-known chefs, is the owner of Debbie's. Alexa Gagosz The Franklin David Fierabend of the Groundswell Design Group is opening his second restaurant this week: The Franklin. A highly anticipated restaurant opening for at least a year, The Franklin will be a sophisticated French brasserie. Fierabend is no stranger to the food and beverage space. In 2020, he opened Advertisement The Franklin, 195 Franklin St., Bristol, R.I., The Franklin in Bristol, R.I. HANDOUT Audette The space that once held Chantarelle/Bouchard Restaurant on Thames Street, has been re-envisioned as Audette by the same team behind Mission, the burger joint in Middletown, and Newport's TSK, a steakhouse, and Utility, a kitchen goods store for the party host and home chef. Audette, however, focuses on French cuisine. While many other restaurants shy away from fine dining, the creators of Audette have embraced white tablecloths, tableside lamps, and caviar presentations. The new group — run by Anna Burnley, Tyler Burnley, Chad Hoffer, and Carmen Ratoi — took over Chanterelle in 2024 from the Bouchard family, who ran the establishment for three decades. If you go, expect a menu of escargot; quail; seared foie gras with rhubarb vanilla purée; quenelles with turnip, halibut, and lobster. For dessert, absolutely order the Grand Marnier soufflé with creme anglaise. Audette, 505 Thames St., Newport, R.I., . d.n/a café The Dean Hotel has undergone a rebrand and become The Dorrance was an iconic restaurant in downtown Providence a few blocks from City Hall since 2010. It was a breeding ground for kitchen and bar talent, and was known as one of the best restaurants in the state. When the pandemic hit, the restaurant Advertisement It's unclear what Lester plans to do in the hotel's restaurant space. For now, he's running ' d.n/a café, 122 Fountain St., Providence, R.I.. 1639 Located inside the 1639, 1 Goat Island Road, Newport, R.I., . The deck at 1639, the restaurant inside the Newport Harbor Island Resort in Newport, R.I. 1639 Bar Lazio Opened in March 2025, Bar Lazio is a new Italian bar in the heart of Knightsville, known as Cranston's 'Little Italy.' This is owners Vincenzo Mazza and Christopher Maselli's first restaurant, and they are specializing in classic Italian desserts, aperitivo, espresso drinks, antipasto boards featuring imported meats and cheeses, and seasonal accompaniments. Bar Lazio pays homage to the Lazio region of Italy, which is where Mazza and Maselli say many families in their neighborhood can trace their roots back to. They pour wines from Lazio, Itri Olives on their boards that are imported from Itri (which is part of Lazio), and pasta dishes that include Bar Lazio, 1669 Cranston St., Cranston, R.I., . Pan-seared artichokes with garlic and fresh herbs at Bar Lazio, a restaurant in Cranston, R.I. HANDOUT Circe Prime The Chapel Grille, a popular restaurant in Cranston located in an old church building, Circe Prime, 3000 Chapel View Blvd., Cranston, R.I., . The Cathedral Bar inside of Circe Prime in Cranston, R.I. Gina Mastrostefano Remy's Loose Earlier this year, Remy's Loose opened inside The Chanler, the historic and Remy's Loose's beverages celebrate garden-inspired cocktails accented with seasonal ingredients, and both Old and New World wine producers. Paying homage to The Chanler's tradition around family, the restaurant is named after the hotel's proprietress Lani Shufelt's niece — who is Cara's sister. Remy's Loose, 117 Memorial Blvd., Newport, R.I., . The octopus at Remy's Loose. Jason Varney Yellow Door Taqueria Yellow Door Taqueria, 191 Dorrance St., Providence, R.I., . Garnishes are prepared for beverages at the Yellow Door Taqueria in the South End of Boston. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Know of another great restaurant or bar opening in Rhode Island? Email Alexa Gagosz can be reached at
Time Out
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Five exciting new restaurants in Singapore to check out this May 2025
May is looking to be a thrilling month, peppered with public holidays, GE2025, tons of things to do, and of course, plenty to eat. That's right, Singapore's dining scene is heating up, with a surge of openings bringing fresh energy to our F&B scene. Whether you're making plans to dine out during the anticipated long weekends or thinking of where to take Mum to this Mother's Day, there's certainly no shortage of options. We've narrowed down the most promising restaurant openings to keep an eye on this May, from new expressions of Singaporean cuisine to the city's currently most talked-about brunch spot. Here are five places worth booking a table at this month. Find out which are our favourite restaurants of 2025 so far. 1. Belimbing Cult-favourite nasi lemak joint The Coconut Club now has a sister restaurant called Belimbing, located right above its Beach Road premises. If the name sounds familiar, it's because it's a throwback to Belimbing Superstar, an economic rice concept – also by The Coconut Club – which shuttered in 2020. The refreshed Belimbing, however, brings something entirely different to the table – 'new-gen' Singaporean cuisine. Head Chef Marcus Leow (formerly from Naked Finn and Magic Square) tells diners to expect dishes that are 'comforting and unmistakably Singaporean', albeit not necessarily 'how our grandparents would remember it'. The restaurant offers a two-course menu ($58) and an à la carte selection for lunch, as well as a four-course menu ($88) for dinner – not too steep compared to the exorbitant prices at some fine-dining establishments. Look forward to ingenious recreations of rojak, rice-based main courses like nasi ulam, kueh for dessert, and hyperlocal cocktails crafted by Side Door 's Bannie Kang. 2. La Terrace Shrouded by Dempsey 's lush greenery and parked right behind the old chapel that houses Claudine, La Terrace is the latest French dining concept by chef Julien Royer. While the two restaurants share a kitchen, the latter is an unfussy, laidback alternative to the dressier Claudine, and more suitable for everyday meals. Its semi-open design lets in plenty of breeze and natural light, while tasteful earth-toned decor like bamboo shades and paper lamps add to its cosy-chic vibe. The restaurant whips up home-style sharing plates that complement its environment – think half-roasted chicken ($58) that feeds up to three; hearty potato galettes ($18) with pepper, garlic cheese, and wild mushrooms; and tempura zucchini flowers ($24). Oh, and have we mentioned? Claudine's famed sourdough with Iberico ham butter ($8) is on the menu as well. G&T fans are also in for a treat with La Terrace's curated line-up of 25 gins – floral, citrusy, spiced, and even non-alcoholic. 3. Bonjour Ma Cuisine You might have seen this new brunch spot plastered all over social media. From the proprietors of Michelin-starred French wine bistro Ma Cuisine comes Bonjour Ma Cuisine, a breakfast concept with a completely different menu, but sharing the same shophouse space as the restaurant. Here's where to indulge in a bougie – and boozy – weekday brunch, the true Parisian way. From 8am to 2.30pm, find yourself lounging outside at the pet-friendly terrace, or snapping pictures of the charming interiors furnished with red leather banquettes. Must-orders on the menu are the croque monsieur truffle ($25.50), or the croque madame truffle ($28.80), where a perfect sunny-side-up egg crowns the sandwich. Other savouries include the fish quenelle drenched in a rich crustacean sauce ($20.80); the parmesan linguine ($14.80); and the Jambon Persille ($13.50). Meanwhile, sweet tooths can go for a remake of the classic French toast with kaya ($14.50). And those who don't mind a little bubbly can check out the wine list, where glasses start at $20. 4. Firebird by Suetomi Mondrian Singapore Duxton welcomes another woodfire-focused restaurant to its F&B line-up, after bidding goodbye to mod-Asian grill Tribal which had a much-celebrated one-year run. The new Firebird by Suetomi is a partnership between Ebb & Flow Group and Tokyo-based chef-restaurateur Makoto Suetomi, whose yakitori joint Makitori Shinkobe in Japan sees a one-year waiting list. As suggested by its name, Firebird zooms in on two things: open-flame cooking, and chicken or 'tori'. Its debut menu is a 13-course omakase experience (from $188), where guests will get to savour different parts of the chicken, from momo (thigh) and furisode (shoulder), to rarer cuts like seseri (neck) and harami (abdomnal wall muscle). Each dish is fired up at a custom-made grill modelled after the one at Makitori Shinkobe, and techniques range from grilling and roasting, to sautéing and smoking – all done over Japanese cedarwood. An unmissable highlight on the menu is the Soboro donabe, where sautéed minced chicken sits atop Japanese rice in a claypot. And to go down with your food, choose from a handpicked selection of sake, shochu, beer, and highballs on the drinks menu. 5. Vincenzo Capuano Opening on May 17 at Robertson Quay, Vincenzo Capuano is the namesake restaurant of Italian chef Vincenzo, who currently boasts 30 outlets worldwide. His pizzas are known for using 'Nuvola Super' flour – a proprietary flour developed with a manufacturer. The dough is then long-leavened and highly hydrated to achieve a fluffy, light texture. To test the quality of the crust and base, guests are invited to cut apart the pizza dough with a pair of golden scissors placed on each table – a highlight of the dining experience. In Singapore, you can look forward to signatures like the Abbraccio e Mamma, which comes with a ricotta-stuffed crust and handmade meatballs; Tetti Illuminati, with a fior di latte base and toppings of mortadella, pistachio, and Pecorino Romano; and the Napolitudine, where crushed tomatoes, meatballs, and basil take the centre stage. There's also Come Una Capricciosa, which sees cooked ham, champignon mushrooms, and artichokes as main ingredients.
Irish Times
26-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Dublin city is the biggest victim of Ireland's ludicrous taxation system
When it came to the art of taxation, there were few more adept than the Roman emperor Vespasian, who understood that was better not to have all your eggs in one basket. So rather than taxing a few things a lot, he taxed many things a little, leading to some unusual sources of revenue. When they weren't cheering Christians being eaten alive by lions, Romans had other outmoded habits, including cleaning their teeth and togas with urine. As ammonia in urine removes stains, rich Romans brushed their teeth with a pee-and-water-based paste. Such was the value of ammonia that Rome's gigantic public loos were home to a rather indelicate artisan: the urine collector. Vespasian, the tax-base-broadening emperor, saw an opportunity to tax urine and levied a charge per bottle, meaning that not only were there pee collectors, but there were specialist taxmen who collected tax from them. Who says every problem doesn't create its own solution? Vespasian was an outsider, a soldier who took advantage of the chaos at the end of the Claudine dynasty. His dynasty, the Flavians, were not patrician. The local aristocrats looked down their Roman noses at him and regarded his enthusiasm for money, tax and commerce as coarse. To this day, aristocrats' disdain for commerce is displayed like a badge of honour. No one pretends to dislike money more than the truly posh – particularly when they don't have enough of it. READ MORE When the patricians complained that raising money from such a fetid source was beneath the glory of Rome, Vespasian observed the aristocrats' contempt, relished it and retorted with equal disdain: 'pecunia non olet' (money has no smell). When it comes to taxation, it doesn't matter where the money comes from, provided it raises revenue. With a row erupting this week over a so-called Dublin tourist tax , the expression 'pecunia non olet' came to mind. [ The Irish Times view on dereliction in Dublin: a blight on the city landscape Opens in new window ] The idea of local authorities raising pennies from tourists to fund Dublin's crucial infrastructure – an idea the Government seems not keen on – prompts deeper questions about how we raise money in Ireland, particularly for our cities, which are in dire need of significant investment as they gradually descend into dereliction. Irish cities represent the economic engines driving national prosperity, but when it comes to money the central government treats them like children. Cities raise the money but don't get to spend it. Dublin epitomises this imbalance with remarkable clarity. The €40.9 billion worth of tax receipts collected from Dublin accounts for more than half (54 per cent) of the national intake and dwarfs the receipts collected in Cork (€12.5 billion), Galway (€2 billion) and Limerick (€1.8 billion). In 2023 Dublin's gross value added was €235.8 billion – 48.7 per cent of the national total, despite accounting for only 28.4 per cent of the population (1,501,500 of 5,281,600). Dublin accounts for more than a third (34.9 per cent or 937,470 workers) of total employment (2.684 million) in the country, again exceeding its share of the population more broadly. The city remains the primary magnet for foreign direct investment, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs and the lion's share of corporate tax receipts. Indeed, Dublin remained the primary focus for FDI site visits (46.5 per cent of all IDA visits) and investments generally (40 per cent of all IDA investments) in 2024. The people who make decisions about how much is spent and where are never or rarely the people who are close to the problem Now consider how much Dublin City Council receives to run the city and address its evident problems. Dublin City Council's budget is €1.5 billion or €2,506 per person, but the city raises more than €40 billion or €65,100 per person. Put simply, the city raises about 26 times more money than the council is given to run the place. Admittedly, the budgets of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Fingal – both centrally funded – bring this disparity down, but the gulf between what is raised by Dublin and what is spent directly on Dublin is still nonsensical and goes most of the way to explain why our capital city looks like it does, blighted by dereliction, vacancy and vandalism. For any local council to function well, taxes should be raised locally and spent locally. In Ireland, taxes are raised locally but go to central coffers and are doled out centrally, inserting a bloated bureaucracy and wedge of political middlemen between those who are taxed and where their tax money goes. Generally speaking, in Ireland local authority revenue is split 45 per cent from government grants, 22 per cent from fees for goods and services, 25 per cent from commercial rates and a paltry 7 per cent from the local property tax. While Dublin suffers most, the same gulf between the local and national remains. In all, the 31 local authorities in Ireland had a total budget of €7.4 billion for 2024; by contrast, central government spending is estimated at €84 billion – more than 11 times local government's budget . [ No European city would tolerate the decay and dereliction visible in Dublin Opens in new window ] What this means is that the people who make decisions about how much is spent and where are never or rarely the people who are close to the problem. Such a gulf contravenes the first rule of management, which is that the people dealing with a problem every day are the best equipped to solve it. They understand what is wrong, the source of the challenge and the complexity of the terrain, and are best placed to fix the trouble if given the means to do so. Most other countries have twigged this central rule of management and local government in other major cities raises its own revenue and spends it locally. Denmark's municipal authorities control about 65 per cent of public spending with substantial taxation powers. Swiss cantons and municipalities together raise 61 per cent of all general-government tax revenue – the third-highest share in the OECD – reflecting deep devolution of tax bases. In Sweden, municipalities and regions jointly collect 36.9 per cent of total government tax revenues. Other notable examples are Spain's autonomous communities and Belgium's regions. In all these countries, cities tend to be well run, well managed and blights such as dereliction and large-scale homelessness are rarer. There are many creative ways that cities can raise revenue for projects from congestion charges to site value taxes. Booming Ireland is about to go on a public building and investment bonanza, where millions of euro look like they will go to benefit land hoarders as land is rezoned by the State. Contrast this with Hong Kong, where the rise in value from land that is rezoned by the state for housing and infrastructure doesn't go to the owners as a windfall but to the state as the result of state intervention, which is precisely what it is. Why should a landowner who does nothing but hoard get the upside from state policy, which is paid for by the rest of the citizens? When Hong Kong was building its metro system, the city paid for 40 per cent of it by capturing the increases in value of land when it was rezoned from agricultural to residential along the route of the new lines. Hong Kong's railway system covers 221km and is used by more than five million people each day. It is time for a complete overhaul of the Irish tax and reward system to allow the country to operate more fairly and more efficiently. We are about to embark on the biggest building programme the State has ever seen while still operating under a Mickey Mouse fiscal system that would've made Vespasian weep. Change it.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
One of L.A.'s oldest restaurants is at risk of closing. Could a new bar save it?
After an onslaught of recent restaurant closures, one of L.A.'s longest-running restaurants might join the ranks. Owners of Chili John's, a Burbank institution since 1946, say they'll have to close or sell the restaurant if business doesn't increase. But a new, adjacent bar could help the legendary chili diner stay afloat. 'People will tell me, 'Oh, you guys can't go out of business because you've been here so long,' but it doesn't actually work that way,' said co-owner Steve Hager. 'It is a business and it needs to make money and sustain itself in order to stay. …You can't keep a restaurant open when people only come once every year.' According to Hager, who owns Chili John's with his wife, Claudine, the business never recovered from COVID losses; currently they're grossing only 20% of pre-pandemic sales. Read more: Red Hot: Jonathan Gold reviews Chili John's Guests have dined on the famous chili for decades at the diner's U-shaped counter, at times flocking to try the long-simmered stew or sample the lauded icebox pie — both of which were served at the first Chili John's (and original bar) in Green Bay, Wis., before making their way out west. 'We have amazing chili in my opinion,' Hager said, 'but people aren't coming in to buy amazing chili — at least not enough in order for us to stay.' That chili recipe was written down by founder John Isaac roughly 130 years ago, a spin on chuck-wagon meat preservation that he served at his Wisconsin bar and restaurant. In 1946 his son moved west and opened his own outpost in Burbank. Claudine Hager's uncle, Gene Loguercio, purchased the business in the '80s as a longtime family friend to the Isaacs. In 2016 she and her husband began helping Loguercio's widow and Claudine's cousins with the business, and around 2019 they formally took the reins. Today she and her husband grind beef suet in-house, clarify it for four to six hours, then add the meat and simmer for an additional 16 to 20 hours. The tart but creamy icebox pie, another signature, is the same as it was in 1900 when it was served in Isaac's Wisconsin bar. 'It is wonderful chili, dense and comforting, lean and hearty, with a cumin wallop and a subtle, smoky heat that creeps up on you like the first day of a Santa Ana wind,' Jonathan Gold wrote in 1991. 'It's the kind of stuff that stays with you for a while, flavoring your breath for half a day even if you don't pile on the onions.' From 2017 to 2019, Hager remembers a line of guests out the door and down the block, there to buy chili and sit at the restaurant's U-shaped counter. Now, he said, he's lucky if 10 people are filling the 25 swiveling orange stools along the horseshoe. On March 20 the Hagers launched a GoFundMe campaign, hoping to crowdsource finances to keep the historic restaurant afloat. They're also banking on the launch of the Taproom at Chili John's, an adjacent bar that's taken four years to open. But, he said, they might not have enough funds to last through the bar's opening. A Thursday Instagram post announcing the fundraiser elicited concern from fans and community members, including longtime supporter and comedian Patton Oswalt. 'The only thing that can tame the summer heat of Burbank are the harsh chilies and creamy pastas on hand at Chili John's,' Oswalt wrote in a message to The Times. 'Once that place goes, it's the apocalypse.' A 2021 appearance on reality show 'Restaurant Recovery' helped diversify the menu with burgers, specialty hot dogs, chicken sandwiches and fries, and began the bar's renovation next door. It also provided a bump in business due to the exposure, but those visits have come and gone. 'We're doing worse now than we did during COVID,' Hager said. Many L.A. restaurants trying to remain afloat from pandemic losses continued to struggle during the 2023 entertainment industry strikes. Many still have not recovered from the ripple effects of the strikes and the general downturn in local production. For a frequent filming location like Chili John's — which has appeared in 'Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood,' 'Twin Peaks,' 'Star Trek' and 'I Am the Night,' among others — the drop in business proved devastating. For years, the restaurant served as a filming locale once or twice a month. Last year, it wasn't rented for filming at all. Hager said that the previous year it was rented for two commercials, which typically do not pay as much as a feature film or miniseries. He added that the restaurant's clientele primarily work in the entertainment industry at nearby studios; without a pickup in production, its client base nearly vanished. Read more: This must be Burbank: A neighborhood guide The restaurant might have already closed had it not been for Hager's disability pension from his years in the military. Last year he received a retroactive deposit for two years' worth of payments; without much income from the restaurant, the Hagers have been putting the pension money into paying staff and the restaurant's bills. Recently, they ran through their retroactive lump sum. Soon their property taxes will come due. There's not much more they feel they can do to sustain, and Hager told The Times he hasn't paid himself in years. 'Right now is basically when all my savings went to zero,' he said. They're hoping that the adjacent Taproom at Chili John's — which is currently soft opening on weekends and set to fully debut in April — could change their future and be more relevant for the neighborhood. Chili fans, fear not: Bowls of the signature beef chili will be available at the bar alongside the chicken chili and the organic lentil-and-quinoa versions — even in flight, or sampler, form — alongside the chili spaghetti, chili dog and chili burger. But the taproom also will serve new burrata salads, charcuterie boards, a salmon plate, a steak sandwich and gourmet s'mores, with dishes inspired by Hager's 15 years spent traveling in the Coast Guard through Sonoma County, New Orleans, New England and beyond. (A favorite of his, a beloved New Orleans peanut butter burger, also is planned to make an appearance.) Local craft beer, calimocho and wine — keeping glasses around $10 — also can be found at the taproom. 'We're excited, it's just that we don't know if we're even going to be able to [financially] last through the opening,' Hager said. 'We've been putting a lot of money out for equipment and the kegs of beer for our tap system, our cases of wine and the food. We have reached a point where we're almost completely out of money, and we're not going to be able to pay the property taxes or the mortgage.' The Hagers hope to not only maintain the cherished restaurant for history's sake but to keep the restaurant in the family. Read more: The 25 best classic diners in Los Angeles The restaurant is set to turn 80 next year. With renewed support from the community, they're hoping guests will be able to gather around that horseshoe counter for from-scratch chili made from a century-old recipe at Chili John's 80th birthday, and for years to come. 'Even if people don't want to give us donations for the GoFundMe, I was hoping that maybe that would just make people aware,' Hager said. 'The problem would fix itself if we can just have enough people come and enjoy our food.' Chili John's, 2018 W. Burbank Blvd., Burbank, open Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sign up for our Tasting Notes newsletter for restaurant reviews, Los Angeles food-related news and more. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
