The opening of the Hill’s new Italian eatery Café 1919 has been postponed until January due to unforeseen conditions in the air circulation system.
The university had hoped to open the new restaurant this week, but construction was set back a few weeks ago when the air circulation system did not pass safety inspections, said Pete Angelis, assistant vice chancellor for Housing and Hospitality Services.
The problem was not noticed earlier because most of the system is located above the ceiling, so it could only be seen after the ceiling was torn out, Angelis said.
There is no way to determine exactly when construction will be completed, said Daryl Ansel, food and beverage director for Housing and Hospitality. He said he hopes to begin employee training the first week of January and to open two weeks later.
At first, the cafe will only be open for breakfast and lunch to facilitate training, and approximately one week later it will open for dinner as well.
Contractors must fix the circulation system before the cafe can gain clearance to allow employees inside for training, then install computers, the point-of-sales system and all the cooking systems, Angelis said.
Angelis said because they have missed the holiday deadline, it will be difficult to complete the project before January.
“When you miss Thanksgiving and hit the holiday season, it gets hard to get all the ducks lined up for inspections and get all the people who need to be involved to open a new outlet,” Angelis said.
Students said they were not surprised by the delay but still look forward to the opening of the new eatery.
“Around here, when they say construction will be opened by a certain date, it never is,” said Christine Bonthius, a fourth-year Spanish and Portuguese and geography
student.
The new eatery is replacing Puzzles, the 20-year-old restaurant on the Hill that was closed earlier this year due to outdated equipment as well as declining popularity.
Bonthius, a resident assistant in Hedrick Hall, said most freshmen have not felt the effects of the delay because they were not around for Puzzles, but upperclassmen miss the extra options and smaller lines that Puzzles offered.
Café 1919 has greater flexibility in addressing student needs and tastes, and student input was used throughout the development process, Ansel said.
“I’m excited to have some healthier options,” said Alexandra Greenfield, a third-year communication studies student.
Although the cafe is currently set to serve Italian food with a Florentine feel, the flexibility of the equipment allows for easy menu changes if students do not enjoy the food, Ansel said. Rather than having equipment mostly built into the building, many pieces are interchangeable so that they can be used to make different items.
“We’re trying to beat the quality level you see in Bruin Café,” Angelis said.
The aesthetic of the cafe is also completely changed from Puzzles, so that students will be drawn to the food and the atmosphere itself.
“That room will be unrecognizable from what Puzzles was,” Angelis said. “And it’ll be beautiful.”