Basement Bar and Grill, 16691 Highway 13, is expected to open this week.

New owners Steven McKenna and Steve Higgins renovated the space formerly occupied by Hollywood Bar and Grill. Upgrades include gleaming hardwood floors, a brand-new, spacious bar, a larger stage for entertainment, and a game room and lounge.

The outdoor patio will stay in place, but customers will no longer enter from the patio. Two side doors will serve as the main entrance points.

Higgins said the owners have updated and satisfied all of the red flags raised by the State Health Department in 2007, when the restaurant was under previous ownership. Hollywood closed in November 2007 after the state Health Department found numerous building code violations, including outdated equipment, inadequate ventilation and floor tiles, walls and ceilings that were falling apart. The department had given Hollywood permission to continue operating even though the business’ food license expired in December 2006.

“We got rid of the walk-in coolers and put in new ones,” Higgins said. “There’s an all-new kitchen. The new bar is twice the size of the old one, with all new equipment.”

The bathrooms also are new, complete with updated tile and fixtures. A large dining area sits along one end of the bar, near the stage. The exterior also has gotten a makeover, with some rotten wood replaced and a fresh coat of paint added.

The bar will host live entertainment on weekends, but bands probably won’t start until September, Higgins said.

Menu-wise, the pizza recipe perfected by Ray Lemley, who owned Hollywood several years ago, will be back, along with burgers, appetizers, salads and sandwiches.

Higgins, also a co-owner of Doherty’s Tavern in Spring Lake Township, said he will sell his share in that bar to focus full-time on Basement Bar and Grill.

“I looked at this [location] even before we looked at Doherty’s,” he said. “The size was a deciding factor. We didn’t have the space at Doherty’s to have live events.”

– Lori Carlson