Sabor De Mel Moving

According to the signs posted, Carbondale's popular Brazilian restaurant Sabor de Mel will soon move across the street into the space occupied recently by Cafe Melange. Likely a good move as the restaurant does not have much space in its current location.

Reopenings

Both Melange and Club TwoThirteen have reopened in recent weeks, Melange under new management and Club TwoThirteen apparently under the previous management.

It will be interesting to see what each one does differently.  They apparently did not do well enough following their previous marketing strategies to remain viable so doing the same thing again will probably wind up with the same results.  One possible change for Melange would be removing the wall the previous management put up surrounding the patio. While it did block people on the patio from having to see the Strip and the people on it, it also prevented people walking along the Strip from seeing people eating on Melange's patio and enjoying themselves and considering doing it themselves.

Seasonal Closures 2

The Newell House closed for the holidays just before Christmas and won't reopen until Jan 3. That leaves Melange as the nicest restaurant open for your New Year's Eve dining pleasure and with the reports that it's closing on Dec. 31, that may leave Appleby's as your selection for fine holiday dining.

Comings and Goings

According to a couple of posts on Facebook, Melange will be closing (again) on December 31. Apparently the well wishes of local wine, beer and food devotees were not enough to keep the doors open.

On the other hand, the Open sign is on at La Unica Bakery in the 200 block of West Main Street.

Further Melange

According to the Beer Philosopher, due to the number of calls, for the forseeable future, Melange will give up on brunch and open 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Now, we'll have to see if the number of people calling equates to the number of people coming in and spending money. Plans are to reduce the number o f menu offerings and reduce the price on some of them, so we'll see if that helps. I've also heard a major complaint is the amount of time it takes to get served, even just a cup of coffee when Melange was a coffee house, so we'll have to see if the staffing improves as well.

Melange Open

In the ongoing Melange saga, apparently, due to the number of phone calls and customer comments, yesterday they decided to remain open for the immediate future with reduced hours. Of course, now we'll have to see if the customer calls are backed up with customer spending. All the customer goodwill in the world won't pay the bills from your suppliers, so if you want them to remain open, go in there and spend some money.

CrossFit Gym

Crossfit Gym will be moving into the old Saluki Central location just south of Melange. Not certain if the planned remodel of the Melange building has anything to do with the gym or not and no one seems to know for certain.

Melange Update

Latest I have heard on Melange is that the owner has sent out an email announcing closing this Sunday at 3 p.m, but I'm hearing second hand that it's closing for remodeling, said remodeling to start on the 26. Whether it reopens as Melange or under another name and when it might is anybody's guess.