Fuego Hibachi opened Wednesday at the corner of Main St. and University Ave. while Craftz Lounge, formerly Hotz Kitchen, reopens Friday around the corner on Mission Inn Ave.
Riversiders  looking for more Downtown dining options have two new reasons to be excited (and a third coming later this year).
The last retail vacancy in the Imperial Hardware Lofts (IHL) building has been filled as Fuego Hibachi celebrated its Grand Opening at the corner of Main St. and University Ave. on Wednesday, April 5. For readers who don't frequent downtown, IHL is the five-story apartment building that opened in 2018 and is the home of the new Salted Pig. Fuego Hibachi doesn't have a website, but its Instagram account leads with the tagline "micheladas and sushi bar" over photos of craft cocktails and flamed filled teppanyaki grills. With large open windows facing University Ave., Fuego Hibachi looks to be a great dinner option for those who love an urban vibe.
Around the corner, at 3720 Mission Inn Ave., Craftz Lounge, formerly known as Hotz Kitchen & Cocktails, opens Friday, April 7 as a newly reimagined restaurant after closing for three weeks for a remodel and rebranding. Craftz features both indoor and outdoor dining with a covered patio kitty-corner from the Mission Inn.
The State Restaurant, which first opened in Redlands and has a second location at Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga, will open a new location in Downtown Riverside later this year. Their website features a message stating "Riverside: Coming Winter 2023." This address listed is 3800 Main St the former home of the closed Encore Arts Academy and sits directly across University Ave. from the new Fuego Hibachi.
This week, as pomegranate season peaks and trees all over Riverside are bowed over with heavy fruit, Seth learns about a project at UCR that aims to diversify the world of pomegranates with research into varied and delightful cultivars beyond the Wonderful.
In today’s Eat This column, a conversation with a respected donut shop owner led Seth down a donut rabbit hole to investigate whether Riverside’s independent donut shops are all serving more or less the same donuts made with the same industrially packaged donut mix. Spoiler alert: they are!
