Carson City businesses making debuts

Downtown Carson City storefronts are filling up.

Come spring, a new restaurant is slated to debut in the former Horseshoe Club on Carson Street. That should be followed by the completion of 308 Curry Street, a mixed-use project with office, retail, and restaurant space.

Those ventures will join the first store to go in part of the old casino later this month, called Rustically Divine, as well another new shop that opened on Curry Street late last year.

Gather

Gather, a locally-owned fine casual eatery, plans to open at 402 N. Carson St., on the corner of Carson and Telegraph streets.

It’s the first restaurant venture for Angela Bullentini Wolf, a Carson City native and attorney in Kilpatrick & Bullentini Law Office.

“The restaurant has been a dream of mine,” said Wolf. “It’s the right moment for me and also the right moment for downtown. We’re seeing a renaissance there and people want more restaurants that are affordable and comfortable and offer fine food.”

Wolf was inspired by her great-grandmother and grandfather and several dishes will be made from family recipes, including chicken soup and a chicken sandwich.

Long-time residents also may be excited to see on the menu Ralph Marrone’s spaghetti and meatballs, a recipe once served at Marrone’s, a former Carson City restaurant.

Wolf is talking with area farmers now to use locally-grown produce and meats.

“I’m trying to create a symbiotic relationship so a farmer can go to the chef and say I have this, what can you do with it,” said Wolf.

To that end, Gather’s menu will feature Regulars, including burgers and sandwiches, a stir fry of the day, and homemade soups, as well as Special Guests, entrees and appetizers based on locally and seasonally available ingredients.

Wolf also plans to offer an extensive kids’ menu, she said, with smaller portions of menu items as well as what she calls deconstructed sandwiches that appeal more to younger eaters.

The restaurant also will bring something unique to downtown: a small market selling locally-sourced eggs, meat and produce alongside the tables inside the 2,900 square-foot space.

Gather plans to open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner.

The building is undergoing renovations right now and Wolf is hiring for all positions with a goal to open in April.

“I think there’s room for everyone in the restaurant space and room for more,” said Wolf. “People want variety and people are ready to come downtown.”

Vintage at the Corner

A new antique and collectibles shop opened its doors on Curry Street last December.

Vintage on the Corner, at 512. N Curry St., features an eclectic mix of items, from pharmaceutical scales used when drug stores still made their own medicines to antique furniture, deco-designed Jadeite and Sarsaparilla glass dishes, a Hamilton Beach malt mixer circa the 1950s, and collectible German beer steins.

“I sold two, 20-inch steins last Saturday,” said Jim Valenti, one of three owners in the new business. “We try to have a mix of things, price wise.”

Valenti, who has scoured yard and estate sales for years, got the idea for the shop when he saw the building, which once housed the Yarn Niche, being repainted and readied for a new tenant.

“I saw them working on it and thought, wow, that would be cool,” said Valenti. “So I talked to Sandy and Brinda and here we are.”

That’s Sandy Scott and Brinda Schloss, Valenti’s partners in Vintage on the Corner, two friends he had made during days hunting for antiques and collectibles.

Each partner has a room in the store, located in the 700 square-foot, 156 year-old house on the historic Blue Line and wine walk route.

“I have the kitchen,” said Valenti, whose room features a 1962 Charmin’ Chatty Mattel doll, 50 year-old Samsonite carry-on, and a trolley train luggage rack, among other things.

The store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Coming Soon

Rustically Divine, a do-it-yourself pallet party paint studio, is on track for a soft opening this month and a grand opening in early February, said owner and operator, Kim Saucedo.

The 2,400 square-foot store, the first business to open in the renovated Horseshoe Club property, will feature classes as well as space and materials for parties to make pine pallet signs. It will also sell furniture and other handcrafted items made by Saucedo and others.

The store will be located at 410 N. Carson St.

And several businesses have already signed leases for downtown’s biggest project at 308 Curry St.

The mixed-use building being built by the Hop & Mae Adams Foundation was scheduled to open last fall but construction delays pushed it out to sometime this spring.

The eight apartments have a long waiting list and several businesses are lined up for more than 11,000 square feet of Class A office space and more than 10,000 square feet of retail storefront, said Bruce Robertson, a senior adviser for NAI Alliance-Carson City, the broker for the building.

A regional restaurant is opening a new location in 3,976 square feet, said Robertson, and an engineering firm, mortgage company and a financial adviser with offices nationwide are already lined up for office space.