It wasn’t quite “Restaurant Impossible” fast, but the restoration of Applebee’s on West 12th Street was plenty fast.
Four days after the restaurant closed its doors Sunday, it is set to reopen at 4 p.m. today with a new look and new food and drink selections.

The restoration is part of a broader effort by the Applebee’s chain of about 2,000 locations to renovate each of them through a cooperative effort with the franchisees.

The most visible exterior change will be the replacement of the exterior, striped awnings with new oversized awnings designed to elongate the look of the building.

Inside, pop culture memorabilia has been replaced with photos and murals, designed to give the restaurant what Applebee’s calls “a neighborhood feel.”

Guests are told to expect warmer color tones and a contemporary design.

Nick Scott Jr., vice president of Scott Enterprises, which owns Applebee’s locations in Erie and Meadville, said “We are breathing new life into our West 12th St. Applebee’s location, giving it a stronger connection to its neighborhood and providing our guests with new experiences.”

Members of the kitchen staff were also given additional training during the restaurant’s brief shutdown.

Two years after Pio’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria closed its doors, the smell of pizza is once again wafting from the building at 813 East Ave.

This time, however, those smells are coming from Empire 13 Pizza, a father-and-son business owned by Halid and Amar Jasarevic, who came to the United States from Bosnia in 1995.

The restaurant, which offers pizza, subs and other food in its dining room and for takeout, features both regular, hand-tossed dough and a version made with bacon.

“A lot of people are liking it, but a lot of other people don’t want to try it,” said Amar Jasarevic, who worked in a number of other restaurants before starting his own.

The former Pio’s, which opened in 1970, struggled to regain its footing after a 2008 fire closed the restaurant for more than four months.

When Pio’s did reopen, it faced financial problems and unpaid bills related to the fire. The restaurant closed in March 2010.

The former Bruster’s Ice Cream location on Peach Street will soon be home to a new Chipotle Mexican Grill.
Nancy Augustine, zoning administrator for Summit Township, said that MGD Associates has received a building permit to build a 70-seat restaurant at 6611 Peach St.
Chipotle, the name for a smoked jalapeño pepper, is also the name Steve Ells gave to the restaurant chain he founded in Denver in 1993.
That chain, publicly traded since 2006, now includes 956 restaurants in 35 states.
Chipotle trades heavily on what it calls “Food With Integrity,”a commitment to increased use of foods grown organically or without the use of pesticides and antibiotics.