Cornish Pasty Co. moving to Arts District

Today, we have good news and bad news for Cornish pasty fans.

The bad: The Cornish Pasty Co. won't be at its current location at 953 E. Sahara Ave. in the Commercial Center after late next spring.

The good: It's moving to a bigger and better location in the Downtown Arts District.

Co-owner John Bender said he wanted to offer a full bar, as opposed to the current beer and wine, but couldn't do it at the Commercial Center without expanding the restaurant. While he looked at expansion plans, he also looked at alternative possibilities, and decided to move to 10 E. Charleston Blvd., just east of Main Street, which puts it squarely in the Arts District.

"We're going to be right in the middle of First Friday, so I think that'll be good for us," Bender said. "The one thing we're missing right now is the bar crowd, particularly because the location we're at now is a destination spot. And we'll have full liquor, which will attract a lot of people." Plus, he said, by the terms of their current license, customers are required to buy food if they want to have a drink, but that won't be the case in the new location.

Bender said he's hoping for an opening date of April or May, and has started the necessary permitting processes. And he said current fans of the almost two-year-old restaurant should feel right at home.

"We're actually going to move all our furniture over and build more to match what we already have," he said. "We'll keep going with the open-kitchen concept. We're going to try to make it feel much like what we already have."

For the time being, he said, they'll remain in operation in the Commercial Center, and shouldn't be closed more than a few days during the move.

"I think it's going to be all positives," he said. "The space itself is going to be really cool. It's an old building, not a run-down strip mall like we're in now. Overall, I think it's going to be a very positive thing for our business and for customers."

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.