Please wait to be sated: Restaurants sometimes slow to show

FARGO – When a restaurant brand whets the public's appetite with hints it will be coming to the Fargo-Moorhead area, people don't forget.

And they tend to send emails to the newspaper asking: Whatever happened to (insert name of favorite restaurant here)?

Below is an update on some of the business names that have been mentioned as possibly setting up-or expanding-operations in Fargo-Moorhead.

Johnny Rockets

Known for its fresh (never frozen) 100 percent beef burgers, Johnny Rockets is set to open a Fargo location in the West Acres shopping center July 8.

Grand opening events are marked for July 25, though details are not yet available.

In addition to burgers, Johnny Rockets' menu includes hand-spun shakes, chicken sandwiches and salads and veggie Boca Burgers.

Buffalo Wings and Rings

The sports restaurant chain with 45 sites in the United States, including one in Minot, N.D., mentioned earlier this year that the Minot franchisee was scouting potential locations in Bismarck and Fargo.

The Minot franchise is owned by Al and Mary Hauck.

Al Hauck said Fargo is "definitely" on their radar, but just when a Buffalo Wings and Rings may show up here, he couldn't say.

He said plans call for their next restaurant to be set up in Bismarck, but if that doesn't materialize Fargo could replace Bismarck on their priority list.

Hauck described his family's Minot operation, which they've had for a little more than six years, as a family friendly sports restaurant and bar, though he added, "We're a lot less of a bar atmosphere and more of a restaurant."

King Leo's

The King Leo's restaurant under construction at 1443 42nd St. S. in Fargo has royally fired up the interest of many who remember the name from a chain of eateries that dotted the region in the 1970s.

Tom Poole, a developer of the project, said recently that the new restaurant is looking to open the first week of September.

He said a second King Leo's is still planned for the 1100 block of 19th Avenue North in Fargo, which he expects to open sometime next year.

McDonald's

McDonald's has purchased land at 49th Avenue and 45th Street South in Fargo, but there are currently no plans to build a new restaurant in the neighborhood, said Gregg Matejka, director of operations for a number of McDonald's restaurants in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

PizzaRev

In early 2014, PizzaRev announced that a development group in Sioux Falls, S.D., planned to open PizzaRevs in Sioux Falls, Lincoln, Neb., and Fargo.

The Sioux Falls PizzaRev opened earlier this year.

It is unclear where plans stand regarding a Fargo location; a message left with the development group in Sioux Falls was not returned.

A PizzaRev official declined to talk about when a Fargo location may open, referring questions to the development group that holds the franchise rights to North Dakota.

The PizzaRev website lists states where restaurants are "coming soon," but North Dakota and Nebraska are not mentioned. Upcoming PizzaRev locations are placed on the list only after a lease has been signed.

It may be that a Fargo PizzaRev is coming, but when that may happen is a mystery.

PizzaRev is a fast casual chain of franchise pizza restaurants based in Los Angeles, though the company itself owns several stores as well. The company website lists 28 restaurants in five states.

Red Robin

The restaurant chain submitted plans with the city of Fargo to build a store at 4159 17th Ave. S., but the company has since notified the city that a redesign is in the works. City officials consider the project to be on hold.

Messages left with the company were not returned.

Tim Horton's

The company indicated in early 2014 that it planned to open 15 locations in the Fargo and Minot, N.D., areas, with Fargo restaurants opening as soon as this year.

The stores were to be a mix of full-service restaurants with drive-thrus, as well as "nonstandard" restaurants located within businesses such as gas stations and hospitals.

No plans have been made public for a Fargo location and messages left with the company were not returned.