LakeFront aims for March opening

Restaurant holding job interviews Monday

MOSES LAKE — Sunlight streams in through the windows of the LakeFront Bar and Grill Wednesday morning.

In the early stages of renovation, Mike Wilcox blocked up the windows to keep curious onlookers from getting a sneak preview.

But that made it hard to see the paint work properly, so ultimately the paper had to come down.

"It looks good," Wilcox said. "I'm very impressed with it."

There's still a bit to do before the restaurant and bar, intended to be a family-oriented steakhouse offering certified Angus beef, opens on or before March 1, including several final inspections by the City of Moses Lake that Wilcox was expecting to run smoothly.

"I'll be glad when it's open," Wilcox said.

It's been a bit longer in the works than Wilcox and partner Dan Booth anticipated. They began leasing the building, formerly the Mighty Quinn, in August 2005 and originally aspired to open the new restaurant in November.

"Things come up," Wilcox said, attributing the delays to the fact he maintains his other business, the Potholes Sports Cafe, and weather-related issues. Some of the work has included redoing the bathrooms and restoring the interior.

People keep asking Wilcox what's taking so long with the business.

"You have to understand, there was nothing here," he said of the building. "When you're working with a building that there's not a straight wall, there's not a straight beam, when we've had to go in and try to make it look the best we can with everything we've had, to me, every time I come in here I look at it now and think, 'Holy moly, it's come a long way.'"

So much so that if Wilcox had to do it over again, he doesn't think he would undertake the endeavor.

"It involved way more money than we thought," he said with a chuckle.

The business is now looking for approximately 25 employees to begin with, and Wilcox said interviews would be held at the building Monday.

"People should just start coming here," he said, noting some applications were lost in the shuffle of operating two businesses.