Kitchener gets cheesy

Lovers of the late night grilled cheese sandwiches offered out of the Princess Café will soon be able to satisfy their cravings during the daytime hours too. Uptown eatery Cheeses Murphy now has plans to open a permanent location in Kitchener.

“It had always sort of been in the back of our minds as something that, you know, we would like to do in the future,” said Cheeses Murphy and Princess Café co-owner Marc Lecompte. “The opportunity presented itself to us at a great location, so we just sort of jumped at the opportunity.”

The permanent location will be located at 8 Duke Street in an area which Lecompte refers to as “the Duke food block,” due to the variety of restaurants in the area.

Neighbouring eateries to the permanent location will include popular spots Bread Heads and Holy Guacamole.

“It’s sort of a food destination spot,” he noted. “That’s why we jumped at the opportunity, just because we’ll have good neighbours and people are going there to get food all the time, so it made sense.”

An expanded menu is going to be created for the new restaurant, including items such as soups and salads in addition to sandwiches.

“It’s super fun for me to come up with menu items that are just to me what’s going to be the best thing to eat when you’re drunk. I won’t necessarily be thinking that way when I’m planning the menu … for the new space,” Lecompte considered.

The new location won’t be offering late hours, – it will likely be operating between 10:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. – but Lecompte intends to maintain the Waterloo location.

“It’s helpful that we sort of have been doing it for a year and a half now … so in starting up this new venture, we’ve already laid the ground work for it, we’re not starting from scratch,” said Lecompte. “So that makes us feel a little bit more confident about it, that there are lots of people who already know and sort of appreciate what we do.”

So far, the reaction of customers through social media has been encouraging.

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive and has made us feel really good,” said Lecompte.

Although the space will have to be completely renovated, he hopes to have the new location up and running in about a month’s time. Provided they don’t hit any “major hurdles,” people can expect a permanent Cheeses Murphy location to be open to the public in June.