Dominic's Downtown Cafe will re-open as the Coal Street Pub

Angela Chavez mixes up a latte Thursday at Angela's Cafe Con Leche in the Gallup Cultural Center. Chavez and her husband, Ramon, have purchased Dominic's Downtown Cafe on Coal Avenue and said they will have it re-opened as the Coal Street Pub in early April. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Good bye Dominic's Downtown Cafe. Hello Coal Street Pub.

In a move that promises to change the sounds and smells at the corner of Coal Avenue and Third Street in downtown Gallup, Angela and Ramon Chavez have bought Dominic's from the Biava family. The owners of Angela's Cafe con Leche inside the Gallup Multicultural Center hope to transform the space into an upscale bar and grill by early spring.

The cuisine, said Ramon Chavez, will lean heavily American, with steak and fish in the evenings, and a few Mexican staples thrown in.

"And pizza," added Angela Chavez, Ramon's wife.

The Chavezes have a thing for Dominic's pizza. But they're crazy about their red chili. Ramon Chavez promised their pub would give customers the option of ordering anything on their menu with a splash ofchili, at nor extra charge.

"If you want chili," he said, "hey, it's still there."

The Chavezes plan to open for lunch at 11 a.m. Monday through Saturday and close at 11 p.m. during the week, an hour or two later on weekends.

They're not yet so sure about exactly what they want the pub's beer and wine selection to look like. They'll have at least a half-dozen beers on tap, and plan on offering a good selection of microbrews, "to capitalize on the younger crowd," Angela Chavez said.

They definitely won't be serving any hard liquor or package alcohol. To do that, they'd have to find a local liquor dealer willing to sell his or her full dispenser's license, a much more difficult and expensive proposition than acquiring the simple beer and wine license they have now.

Ramon Chavez also wants to stay as far away as possible from the persistent controversy swirling around the local liquor industry, recently heightened by the coming March 28 referendum that could lead to a pre-noon ban on alcohol sales across the city.

"I just don't want to get into the whole ... liquor thing," he said.

As for redecorating the space, with its black-and-white checkered floor and its red-white-green color scheme, Ramon Chavez said they'll be doing a little "Durangoizing."

Though loyal Gallup residents and business owners, the Chavezes have developed an affinity for the Old-West/mining-town feel of downtown Durango, in southwest Colorado. They want to bring a bit of that atmosphere to Gallup with the help of wood floors and wood paneling four feet up the walls.

They also plan on expanding the bar at the back of the restaurant and adding stools and a few TV sets.

The Chavezes found a home for their pub thanks to an article in The Independent. When this paper published a story in mid-January about their plans to open a downtown restaurant, they had their eyes on the southeast corner of Coal Avenue and First Street, which has been vacant since the Gallup Police Department's sub-station moved out. After reading the article, said Ramon Chavez, the Biavas called to offer their space.

It wasn't a tough decision. Since the space is already equipped for a restaurant, the Chavezes will save both time and money on renovations.

With its late hours and plans to host weekly live music act, Coal Street Pub could turn into the latest step along a road leading toward the creation of a thriving downtown entertainment district, said Glen Benefield, the city's economic development director. Gallup MainStreet, the local branch of a national program that helps communities revitalize their downtowns, is studying the feasibility of just such a future for the city.

The City Council has already invested millions of dollars in downtown Gallup most prominently on the historic El Morro Theater and a new courthouse plaza to help make it happen. But the business community will have to make its own investments to pull it off.

"We want to all tie it together where we're all helping to promote each other," Benefield said.

Angela's Cafe con Leche, meanwhile, will keep doing what it's been doing all along.

"Angela's is doing fine," said Ramon Chavez. "We're not moving it, we're not closing, we're not changing."

With two restaurants to manage instead of one, however, the Chavezes will be ending their catering services.

As for Dominic's, the restaurant served its last meal Friday evening. The Biavas could not be reached for comment.