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March 7, 2003|Volume 31, Number 21|Two-Week Issue



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President Levin speaks at the opening of the MexiCali Grille, while owners Than Merrill (left) and Charles Hague prepare for the official ribbon cutting.



Second phase of Broadway
revitalization now underway

The Broadway district's newest addition, the MexiCali Grille, opened its doors to the public on Feb. 28, ushering in Phase II of the area's revitalization by Yale's University Properties.

MexiCali Grille is located at 320 Elm St., next door to the Ivy Noodle, and offers both take-out service and on-site seating in an informal setting. The café is open until 2 a.m. seven days a week to serve the needs of visitors to New Haven as well as nearby Yale students who like to stay up late. The menu features fresh grilled burritos under $4 and tacos for under $2, with most items priced between $3 and $4. Patrons can customize their burritos and watch them cook on an open grill.

MexiCali's owners are Charles Hague, local proprietor of Aunt Chilada's, and Yale alumni and former football team members Than Merrill and Peter Mazza. Aunt Chilada's, a popular Mexican restaurant in Hamden, was voted "Best of New Haven" in 2002 by the New Haven Advocate. Mazza, a Cheshire native who was captain of the Yale football team, worked in Aunt Chilada's as a teenager. He approached Hague to partner in this venture with him and Merrill, an ex-Yale football player who went on to play for the Chicago Bears.

"This idea started when Than and I were undergrads," says Mazza. "We wanted a fast, healthy and inexpensive food alternative on Broadway. And we love burritos. It is an absolute thrill to be able to serve the Yale community in this capacity."

"We listened to the student focus groups that asked for an inexpensive, late-night burrito restaurant on Broadway, and we searched carefully to find the right operator," says Bruce Alexander, vice president of Yale's Office of New Haven and State Affairs.

Yale students -- including members of the Yale Precision Marching Band, which performed "La Bamba" at the MexiCali Grille's grand opening -- were among the restaurant's first-day customers who could purchase burritos for $1.

The Broadway revitalization has brought 12 new merchants to New Haven since 1997. While Phase I of the revitalization included the development of 29-45 Broadway and the recruitment of a few high-profile retailers as anchor stores, Phase II seeks to support small, independent and local merchants and to increase Broadway's identity as a unique, regional boutique-style retail district.

Alexander notes, "We needed to start off the revitalization with a few key anchor retailers to give Broadway a regional draw, but Broadway's competitive advantage lies in the unique local merchants that will draw shoppers past area malls and back to the downtown. We now have a great selection of local merchants to fill out our merchandizing strategy."

Recent merchant additions have included:

* Thom Brown Shoes, a small, independently-owned fashion-forward women's shoe store located at 37 Broadway. Owner Thom Brown manages his three Boston-area stores while son Jason manages the Broadway location.

* Ashley's Ice Cream at 280 York St., which returned to Broadway this September under the operation of its original owner.

* Bistro La Mensa, owned by New Haven restauranteurs Ficre and Gideon Gheybreyesus, which will open later in the spring in the newly created space adjacent to the Yale Bookstore. Bistro La Mensa, also open until 2 a.m., will feature authentic northern and southern Italian cuisine entrees under $10 in a casual setting. The brothers also own Caffe Adulis, an Eritrean restaurant located at 228 College St.

In addition, a current Broadway merchant, Alexia Crawford at 37 Broadway, was recently refurbished and restocked with an expanded line of original handbags and jewelry designed by Alexia Crawford, who operates another store in New York City's SoHo District.

"It's great to have three new local merchants here," said Yale President Richard C. Levin at the grand opening for MexiCali Grille. "It's part of our continued effort to bring quality to Broadway to make it even better.

"It's so clear that downtown New Haven is on a roll to develop the kind of retail that both students and citizens of New Haven seem to want and enjoy. The number of people coming downtown is up from three or four years ago. New Haven is becoming a 24-hour city and Broadway leads that trend with retailers that stay open as late a 9 o'clock and food operations that stay open even longer," said Levin, adding, "We're glad to be able to contribute both to the development of the city, its atmosphere and its climate and to help the city fiscally at the same time."

Of the 71 merchants in Yale's University Properties portfolio, 66 are small, independent merchants while five are national retailers. Most are open until 9 p.m. to accommodate evening visitors. Because of its commercial portfolio, Yale is the largest real estate taxpayer in New Haven.

-- By Thomas R. Violante


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Second phase of Broadway revitalization now underway

Kagan awarded National Humanities Medal

Scholarship recognizes vital role of diversity in education

'Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day'

Former Yale provost, dean and scholar Georges May dies

Forum explores strategies for 'Teaching the Tough Stuff'

Yale Rep show offers new and old twists on Shakespeare's . . .

Mapping of peptide may lead to ways of regulating appetite . . .

Exhibit features work by alumnus Joshua Meyer

Goldman-Rakic talk will benefit Fellowship Place


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