By: Catilin Andrews, Concord Monitor

Be sure to check over your shoulder when heading into Chuck’s BARbershop.

The location feels ripe for individuals looking to avoid extra attention. Start with the name of the alleyway: 90 Low Avenue, located in a tucked-away corner of Eagle Square.

The shop – a red-framed storefront – by all accounts, looks deserted. Tattered signs hang in the windows, warning that it has been closed down by authorities.

“For violation of National Prohibition Act by order of United States District Court,” one reads.

But the signs – and the barber chair set up just beyond the front door – are a smokescreen. And soon, with the right knowledge, you’ll be able to get behind the facade and enter the third speakeasy-style cocktail bar run by Claremont native Liu Vaine.

By: John Koziol, Union Leader

After four winters of increasing success, Utah-based Ice Castles LLC is again bringing its ephemeral creativity to this resort town in the White Mountains.

Next year, it will move to its own property in neighboring North Woodstock.

In 2013, the company created its first Ice Castle on the East Coast at Loon Mountain. It was so popular there that it moved to a much bigger venue at the Hobo Railroad the following year.

At the Hobo, Ice Castles annually added 30 percent more lights while also seeing its attendance, which was in the tens of thousands, go up by 20 percent each year. That kind of growth ultimately led the company, which this winter will have four Ice Castles in the U.S. and two in Canada, to make the decision to buy its own site.

"We've never had this opportunity before," said Tayler Christensen, the Lincoln Ice Castle "build manager" and the nephew of company founder Brent Christensen. During a recent interview, he said "the sky's the limit" on the 60 acres the company has acquired in North Woodstock on Clark Farm Road.

By: Kimberly Houghton, Union Leader

Renovations are nearly complete at the former Wendy’s on Whitney Street, which is in the process of being converted into a new Mexican restaurant.

“We were hoping to open by Christmas, but now we are thinking the first of January,” said Francisco Jalme of Don Ramon, LLC.

The new Don Ramon Mexican restaurant will occupy the former Wendy’s site at 6 Whitney St. near the Common Man restaurant and Exit 11 Car Wash.

Work has been underway inside of the 3,090 square feet restaurant for several weeks.

Last week, Jalme approached the Merrimack Planning Board seeking a waiver of the full site plan review.

“Basically everything is staying in the same spot,” he told planning officials.

Although the building has two existing drive-thru windows, Jalme said one of the windows will not be used.

The second window, however, will remain open for meal pickups, he explained.

By: Bret Thorn, Nation's Restaurant News

In 2018, American kids will be eating a wider range of foods and grown-ups will be swapping out carbs for vegetables and eating heritage breeds of meat with uncommon herbs, according to chefs polled by the National Restaurant Association.

In its annual What’s Hot survey, the NRA asks members of the American Culinary Federation to rank a long list of items as either a “hot trend,” “yesterday’s news” or “perennial favorites.”
New cuts of meat ranked in first place, same as last year, followed by house-made condiments, which leapt five places to second. Street-food-inspired dishes, ethnic-inspired breakfast items and sustainable seafood rounded out the top five. They all scored in the top six last year, with ethnic-inspired breakfast jumping up two spots to fourth.

By: Bryan Wroten, Hotel News Now

The work habits of guests are changing, and hotel companies are changing their workspace offerings along with them.

While there are still business travelers who prefer to work in the privacy of their own guestrooms, many more travelers want the space and opportunity to work alongside other people, whether they are colleagues traveling as a group or they simply want to get out of their rooms and be in a livelier environment.

The changing work habits and need for more collaboration by business travelers is why the Crowne Plaza brand has introduced its Worklife guestrooms and Plaza Workspaces as part of its Accelerate Program, a three-year, $200-million-investment initiative by InterContinental Hotels Group in new innovations and marketing at the company’s hotels in the Americas region.

By: Tom Eastman, The Conway Daily Sun

Merlino’s Family Steakhouse’s “Sign of the Steer” has been a landmark along Route 16 in North Conway for more than 50 years, symbolizing good food and great prices.

First run by the Merlinos, it was purchased by the Luciano family in January 1967.

The late Audrey and Dick Luciano moved their family of four boys and four girls to the Mount Washington Valley from Hingham, Mass., after they purchased the restaurant.

They had first been introduced to the area on their honeymoon, and years later, after running successful service stations in Massachusetts, decided to relocate to the valley.

“They kept the Merlino’s name — along with the steer sign,” said Rick Luciano, the oldest son and a 1972 Kennett High graduate. The former KHS baseball star took over the management of the operation after earning a business degree from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., in 1976.

By: Melissa Proulx, Union Leader

Great New Hampshire Restaurants celebrated the grand opening Tuesday of its second Copper Door, extending the reach of the company’s upscale brand.

More than two dozen people gathered on a drizzly afternoon for the ceremony, including many town officials. Gov. Chris Sununu said the restaurant marked just one of the positive economic gains coming to Salem.

“This entire area is going to be completely transformed in the next couple of years,” Sununu said.

The new Salem restaurant sits at 41 S. Broadway, which was the home of the Weathervane Seafood Restaurant. Great NH Restaurants tore down the existing restaurant that served patrons for more than three decades and built a new 8,300-square-foot Copper Door, which opened a couple of weeks ago.