Downtown becoming a boomtown?
Two new restaurants hope to breathe life into nightlife

The stylized interior of the the Camille's Side Walk Cafe. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — For more than two decades, people have been waiting to read the obituary in the Independent formally announcing the death of downtown Gallup.

City and county officials had hoped that the new downtown plaza would bring area residents to the downtown area. Except for a few events a year, the downtown area continues to operate on life support, especially at night and on Sundays.

That may change, however, with the opening of two new restaurants in the downtown area in the next month.

“These restaurants are exactly what we need,” said Joe Tanner, owner of Tanner’s Indian Arts at 237 W. Coal.

The first restaurant expected to open is Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe, which is located just off of Second and Aztec in the space that was occupied by Gallup Title Co. before it expanded. The restaurant is owned by Tiara’s Inc., which owns all of the Taco Bells in town as well as the Kentucky Fried Chicken on the northside and in Tse Bonito.

Part of a chain that now operates 120 restaurants in the Southwest, this is the first Camille’s to open in New Mexico. Manager Kate Hill said Gallup’s franchise is expected to open in mid-November.

Promising healthy food — not one thing on the menu is fried — Camille’s features wraps, flatbread pizza, sandwiches and salads, all made from fresh ingredients.

Another of its major attractions is its view.

The restaurant has an inside patio and an outside seating area that has spectacular views of the downtown plaza so people will be able to eat in the summer outside and watch the dance performances put on nightly by the Gallup Chamber of Commerce.

Later in the month will be the opening of the long-anticipated restaurant owned by Sammy Chioda, general manager at Millenium Media.

Named Sammy C’s Rockin’ Sports Pub and Grill, the restaurant with a full bar is located on Coal Avenue a block east of El Morro Theater. With several hundred thousand dollars invested in the project, Chioda is hoping the new restaurant will attract area sports fans as well as those who enjoy eating and drinking in a pub-like atmosphere.

Tanner said he really liked the idea Chioda had of having local businesses sponsor a table at the pub. “That will make his place feel like our place,” he said.

Mike Enfield, a consultant to the city of Gallup on economic development matters, hopes the new restaurants will have a domino effect on development in the downtown area by having people start coming downtown, see the opportunities and then decide to start businesses of their own.

Since both restaurants will be open at night, there is also a hope that as people start coming downtown in the evening to enjoy dinner, other businesses may decide to stay open later to take advantage of the potential customers.

Getting them to come downtown is one thing; finding them a place to park is another.

One of the biggest obstacles to development in the downtown area has been the lack of parking spaces — or at least the impression that there is a lack of parking spaces.

City officials have argued for years that there is plenty of parking downtown, pointing out that there are three major parking lots for people.

“People want to be able to park right in front of the restaurant,” said Brett Newberry, president of MainStreet, a state program that has been working to revitalize the downtown areas in the state. “They have to get over that,” he added.

He pointed out that other towns in this area — Albuquerque, Farmington and Durango — have restaurants where customers are expected to walk a little to get there.

“There’s no reason why people can’t walk a block or two,” Newberry said, adding that “it will probably be good for them.”

There is a city parking lot just behind the sports pub and another one within half a block of Camille’s, so parking at night should not be a problem.

The bottom line is that there are a lot of businesses and people in town who are admittedly excited about the prospect of the two restaurants opening downtown.

“This is going to help everyone’s business,” said Tanner, “as well as their attitude about downtown.”