6 Impressive Restaurants Opening Downtown

1. Black Sheep Hemming Park


Courtesy of http://sweetsbychan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_0100a.jpg

Black Sheep partners Jon Insetta and Allan DeVault plan to extend their restaurant business to the downtown area. Black Sheep, originally known as “Chew” used to occupy a space downtown in early 2011. However, the timing wasn’t right, as the ‘dining crowd’ had yet to develop for said location, so they changed the name to “Black Sheep” and headed in to the Five Points area of Riverside in 2012.

Insetta and DeVault plan to open up a Black Sheep ‘kiosk’ close to Laura Street and near the east-end of Hemming Park. They believe that this sort of construction will appeal to a younger crowd and will be able to provide fast-casual service to local employees who might not have time for a full lunch break.  Black Sheep’s new location will feature a simpler menu with a lower price point, featuring between eight to ten different dishes that Insetta and DeVault hope to change as much as possible.

The kiosk is going to be constructed out of old cargo storage units that are being donated by local companies like Crowly Maritime Corporation and CSX. Black Sheep is expecting the kiosk to open in the early part of 2016, costing a total of approximately $150,000. Because of their kiosk design, Black Sheep will also have to build bathrooms, which will be one of the highest costs. Hemming Park is contributing about $85,000 to the project, with Black Sheep matching that sum.

In addition to the Hemming Park project, Black Sheep recently announced its intention to open a new downtown restaurant in the 100 North Laura Street building. Anticipated to open in spring 2016, the restaurant will initially only be open for lunch, featuring Black Sheep's fast-casual lunch service at the 5 Points location. Future plans call for expanding to dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

For information and updates, visit: https://blacksheep5points.com/