ELLICOTTVILLE — Cadillac Jack’s, a longtime staple for patrons of Holiday Valley looking for a bite between slope runs, is relocating to Monroe Street in the former Hoagie’s Sub Shop.

Located at the base of Holiday Valley Road since 1994, the once-seasonal Cadillac Jack’s will be mixing a new style with old favorites and it transitions into its new year-round location.

Tina Zerbian, co-owner of Cadillac Jack’s along with her husband Tom, said their landlords at the Holiday Valley location, Jim and Janet Tekavec, had “other intentions for the property” and could no longer lease the building.

It was then she and her husband decided to expand year-round and try to evolve the business.

“We were located so close to Holiday Valley before that we could really only sustain a seasonal business,” said Zerbian. “Now that we’ll be located right downtown we can expand into a year-round operation.”

Her husband had been a part-owner of Cadillac Jack’s new location on Monroe Street since the early ‘80s, which most recently housed Hoagie’s Sub Shop with a residential unit on the upper floor.

The couple bought out the part-owner of the Monroe property in December and decided to completely gut the location soon after to make way for their new restaurant. They secured private investment and equity of $425,000 for the project, which included adding two stories to the rear of the building.

“We’ve got great folks we’re working with on our design team and our contractor is Kinley Corporation. We’re really maximising the space while still maintaining an intimate setting,” said Zerbian. “We added an addition on the back for outdoor seating and an upper deck for additional seating and dining. We have space for larger parties upstairs and a separate private party space, which we didn’t really have room for at the old location. This design is really a fresh start.”

Cadillac Jack’s will also be getting a fresh new menu, which will change seasonally while maintaining old staples.

“Some favorites will be carrying over like our mussels — we’re famous for those — and things like our lobster bisque, our burgers and some of the great steaks we had,” said Zerbian. “We’ll be adding things like a great wine list list and doing some fun, unique cocktails we didn’t specialize in before. Our menu will also be very eclectic from latin to asian and everything in between. We’ll have a nice variety of fresh seafood, pastas, crepes, and depending on the season we’ll be offering a raw bar as well.”

She also added that Cadillac Jack’s will be compiling a menu that will be very flexible and changing with the seasons. Both the design and menu of the new location are meant to embody their new business model, she said.

“This is obviously going to be a slightly different approach. We won’t have people in ski boots looking for something hearty to get back out on the slopes. We were more of a break from their destination and now we are going to be a destination.”

Although they are moving from their home for two decades, Zerbian and her husband said they are confident their customers will follow them.

“We are very confident. We have a strong following of folks that have been our patrons for a very long time,” she said. “We also have a very good management team and staff that are just real go-getters. Our service is really outstanding and people will recognize that.”

If all goes according to plan, the new Cadillac Jack’s will be opening in a matter of weeks, aiming to be in operation the day after Christmas.

“It’s a very ambitious undertaking but I think we can do it,” said Zerbian. “Things are really happening in Ellicottville that weekend and we’d like to be able to showcase the new location. We’re just encouraging folks to come in and check us out.”

The Cattaraugus County Legislature’s Development and Agriculture and Finance committees on Wednesday was expected to review a proposed loan-grant to Cadillac Jack’s.

Development and Agriculture Committee Chairman Howard VanRensselaer, R-Randolph, and Vice Chairman Susan Labuhn, D-Salamanca, were proposing a $75,000 loan-grant for the relocation using casino revenues. The loan would be repaid over seven years at 5 percent interest.

The new restaurant will create 10 full-time-equivalent positions and several part-time positions equivalent to nine full-time positions. Sponsors are proposing forgiving up to $25,000 of the loan if the restaurant can document the creation of at least five full-time-equivalent positions.

(Olean Times Herald reporter Rick Miller contributed to this report.)

(This story appears in the Dec. 4, 2014 edition of The Salamanca Press.)