Rensselaer Adventures

This blog reports events and interesting tidbits from Rensselaer, Indiana and the surrounding area.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

An inside story

Two months ago I had a post on a new eatery under construction next to the College Avenue Bridge. I got a chance to peak inside this week to see how the renovations are going. As the picture below shows, the dry wall has been installed and painted. Obviously there is still a lot left to be done, such as the floor and lighting, but one can start to get some sense of what it will look like when it is completed.
Going through the doorway into the kitchen area, I was struck by the impressive electrical box. The electrician still needed to run quite a few wires and install lights, but he will not have to worry about about running short of amperage.
Below you see the area in which food will be cooked. The oven hood is still on the lift but has been attached to the ceiling. The hood fan, which still needs to be installed, is on the floor at the end of the room in front of the sinks. Steve Marzke said that installing the hood and the fan was one of the big jobs. The things that still have to be done in this area are, he says, much simpler.
Below is a better picture of the hood fan.
As I looked at the place, it seemed to me that there was still a tremendous amount to be done. But Steve said that the really hard things had already been done, and if they worked really hard, they could get it ready to open in about a week. However, they are are taking their time and expect to open sometime around Halloween--maybe a bit before, or maybe a bit after.

I had to ask if it was not risky putting in so much time and money into renovating a place that he is only renting. He said that he has a long lease, so he is not worried about that. So "A Slice of Pie Pizza" is taking a while to open, but expect it to be there for many years. (And there is room for expansion. If you look closely at the building and then see how much of that building is currently being taken up by Aydas and this new restaurant, you will notice that there is a big area in the back that is unaccounted for. That area was originally where dry cleaning was done. In more recent years there was a pool room back there. I never was in it, but during the time that the Ho Ho Vac Shop was where Aydas is now, there was a sign that promised pool.)

PS Speaking of Halloween, the Halloween decorations around town look like they will be bigger and better than ever.

Update, Oct 6. The hood fan has been installed.

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