Lancaster Restaurant Finding Haven in City’s Plans

No business wants to move from a long-time location where it has been built up a loyal customer base but Nick and Sharon Giannini had little choice in the summer of 2009. The owners of the Lake Elizabeth Golf Course decided they wanted to operate the course’s restaurant long-owned by the Antelope Valley couple. Instead of being permanently out of the restaurant business, the couple landed on their feet in Lancaster. Not just in any part of the city but in the downtown, on Lancaster Boulevard, at a time when serious strides have been made in a revitalization project to create a destination area for residents and visitors alike. “We are growing with the city,” Sharon Giannini said. “It gives us credibility.” There are a handful or so of regular diners from the Lake Elizabeth days who still come to the Giannini Bistro & Grill but otherwise it is a different clientele coming to partake on the steaks, chicken, pasta and seafood served there. The dinner crowd is growing. The eatery proves popular with the staff at the nearby City Hall who come for business lunches. There is a separate room off the main dining room that Mayor R. Rex Parris uses because it gives confidential space, Sharon Giannini said. To continue to have people coming in the door, the Gianninis resort to what Sharon calls retraining – that residents no longer have to gravitate to the commercial centers close to the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway for a decent meal or socialize. Despite the success in the new location, Lancaster was not the first choice. As the Gianninis live in West Palmdale, Sharon said they would have liked to find a location closer to home. It was the suggestion of a city employee that frequented the Lake Elizabeth location that had the couple taking over a vacant restaurant space on Lancaster Boulevard. “They filled what was a big hole in downtown,” said Deputy City Manager Jason Caudle. There’s been a lot more hole filling in downtown Lancaster these days. Just about the time Giannni’s opened, the new Brooklyn Deli also opened its doors. A few blocks away developer Scott Ehrlich – responsible for the deli – is taking a long-time vacant building and transforming it into the Bex restaurant, scheduled to open in early 2010. Further down the boulevard is mainstay The Lemon Leaf serving Mediterranean and Greek cuisine. Sharon Giannini doesn’t see herself and her husband as being in competition with the other restaurants. They don’t go after the same clientele and don’t serve the same food, she said. “She (Lemon Leaf owner Maria Elena Grado) does pizza; we don’t do pizza,” Giannini said. As the city moves ahead with its downtown improvement plan and its goal of making a pedestrian-friendly area with dining, entertainment, art galleries and museums Giannini Bistro will adapt to those changes. When the weather turns warm the restaurant will offer outdoor seating, Sharon Giannini said.