Restaurant

Buffalo Wild Wings, a national chain restaurant, opened its first Anchorage location on Thursday, March 8. The restaurant was insipred by NY-style wings and also serves as a sports bar. It's located at 3400 C Street in the same building that used to house Anchorage Billiards and prior to that Wayne's Original Texas BBQ. On its opening weekend, the restaurant will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., March 8 to March 11. The addition of...

Vallartas Mexican Restaurant $8-$15 per plate 5437 Northern Lights Blvd. #7 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 8 p.m. Sunday 907-338-2500 http://www.vallartasak.com (under construction) There are many Anchorage institutions that serve Mexican food, names well-known to the local diner: Gallo's, La Mex and Taco King, to list just a few. Beyond those small chains, though, there's also a rich selection of smaller places around town that aren't household names but offer many variations on standards of the cuisine.

Olive Garden $7-$22 per plate 1186 N. Muldoon Rd. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday 907-333-1300 http://www.olivegarden.com/italian-restaurant/AK/Anchorage/4412/ Usually it's hard to review a chain restaurant, precisely because it's part of a chain: what distinguishes the location you're at from the one across town? In this case, however, there's never been a second restaurant across town, or even across the state; comparing it to another location would require a plane ticket Outside.

Kriner's Diner $7-$18 per plate 2409 C St. 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kriners-Diner/121380924574223 Fresh off a review of classic Anchorage restaurant Arctic Roadrunner, I thought I'd try to hit something different and innovative. On a frigid Saturday afternoon, however, I found myself visiting another renowned source of comfort food, albeit on my first visit to a relatively new establishment in the city's dining scene.

An Olive Garden restaurant in East Anchorage -- Alaska's first -- opened for business Monday afternoon, as a hungry crowd streamed through its doors. By 2 p.m. Monday there was already a line outside the Italian-themed chain eatery at Anchorage's Tikahtnu Commons mall, and by the time it opened at 4 p.m. there were about 50 people waiting in line. The restaurant seats slightly more than 250 people, and on its first night open the wait to get in was about 90 minutes. Olive Garden does not accept reservations.

George Brown, owner of Lucky Wishbone restaurant in Anchorage, had a milestone birthday on Saturday that was open to the public. Brown turned 90 years old, and spent the day at his restaurant, amongst customers, staff, family and friends. Mayor Dan Sullivan presented Brown with a proclamation, declaring George Brown Day. Brown's daughter Pat Heller says her father did not want a party and only asked to spend the day at the restaurant. But the celebration was anything but quiet as long-time friends and customers flooded in with birthday wishes.

If there's any Anchorage cuisine my colleagues and I at Channel 2 are familiar with, it's the Midtown restaurants in the immediate vicinity of the station where we grab a quick bite for lunch between stories. We're particularly blessed by the broad selection of Asian food clustered around the intersection of 36th Avenue and the Old Seward Highway: the Asian deli at New Sagaya, Yamato Ya's Japanese cuisine and Thai food from Chiang Mai Ultimate Thai Restaurant. This crowded field saw another entry this summer, but can it cut the hot mustard?

The Bridge restaurant opened in 2005 with high hopes of helping to revitalize the Ship Creek area and make it a tourist destination. Just a few years later The Bridge closed its doors and has since sat empty. Now a couple of local chefs hope to have better fortunes and are reopening the downtown landmark. Chef Al Levinsohn and his partner Chef Patrick Hoogerhyde were gearing up for their first catering gig, Friday night at the newly reopened and renamed Bridge Seafood. Lauren Hazelton and her new husband were holding their wedding reception at Bridge Seafood.

At Jens' Restaurant in midtown, Jens Hansen is reacting to Tuesday night's news that the Anchorage Assembly passed an ordinance requiring liquor stores to card everyone who buys alcohol there. "They knew they could not get the whole package, could not get it through, because it's idiotic," Hansen said. The ordinance, which passed 10-1, would only require liquor stores to check, not any other kind of business. But when it comes to getting carded at places like bars and restaurants, a couple of weeks ago, Jens had a prediction, when he said on May 5: "I think they're sitting us up like little ducks, and they're going to shoot us one at a time.