The New Restaurant in the Family is taking shape, The Olives Bistro, at Madera Plaza, will be open by May 1st – The good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise!

The new place will be a Mediterranean themed concept, featuring some old favorites like:

The Greek Salad
The Black and Bleu
The Ahi Tuna Salad
The Gyro
The Turkey Snadwich
The Jalapeno-Bacon Cheeseburger
The Veggie Pita
Spanakopita
Pastitsio

And some New Tapas plates:

The Greek/ Spanish/ Italian/French Platter, each featuring a little meat, some bread, unique Olive, and some veggies, served with a glass of Wine

Crostini varieties
Chilled Shrimp
Grilled Veggies
Fried Green Beans
Hummus and Pita
Olives and Crusty Bread

We will also have daily features, bottled beer, and wines by glass or bottle, and our awesome desserts.

We are really looking forward to seeing you again and having all of you come and dine with us at out new place.  As we draw closer to our opening date our updates will come more and more frequent.  Watch your inbox.

Thank you again for your patience and your loyalty.  See you real soon.

- Jen Paulos

Personal updates:

• As most of you know, Nick has been diagnosed with something called Abdominal Aortic Aneurism and was scheduled for surgery in early March.  Well, surgery is over and Nick came through very well and was back at work this week, 3 weeks to the day after the Abdominal Aortic Aneurism repair!

He is a non-smoker now, after 50 + years- another reason to be proud of him! He is Executive Chef at the Elks Lodge Green Valley, and as an Elk himself for more than 35 years, he’s enjoying the new “club” atmosphere. Different from owning his own Restaurant, but great for him right now.

• George is at Torres Blancas, managing the Dining Room where, not surprisingly, service has improved with his tutelage

News about some familiar names and faces:

• Marco is also with the Metro Restaurants Group, at Grill on the Green. He hopes to join George at the Torres Blancas location.

• Kimmy (from Amado Café) is now working with Nick, as a server at the Elks Lodge.

• Patrick and Matt are both serving at Arizona Family Restaurant.

• Brett is serving at Lavenders’ Restaurant (where we find the finest cuisine in Green Valley!).

• Alexis is working at the front desk at The Canoa Ranch Resort.

• Beth returned to New Jersey to enter Grad School for her Master’s degree in Journalism.

• Billy is currently working hard on opening Elliott’s On Congress, his very own restaurant and bar- We Wish him all success!

• And finally, Janie continues to strengthen and improve! Her doctors are thrilled at her recovery, and so are we

Please, forgive us for our silence over the last couple of months but we finally have some GREAT NEWS! We have found a new location to call home.  And with a new location comes a new name: The Olives Bistro in Madera Plaza.

We are currently busy with permits and Licensing and are looking at opening our doors May 1st -”ish”(early May.). We will be starting off with a casual Mediterranean Menu.  Days will mostly be our focus with a schedule for a Dinner Menu to come based on demand from you.

We will get back to you when things settle down just bit, we can take a deep breath, and we have more of the particulars to share.  Until then, it is our hope that you are as excited about this news as we are! We are looking forward to seeing and serving each and every one of you in the very near future.

We want to Thank You for your patronage and look forward to seeing you very soon in the coming year.
Have a Safe and Happy New Year.

May God Bless you and your loved ones.

Hello everyone, we really miss seeing you.  As you know, our hope was to have a new place for all of us to call home by the Holidays, however things have not gone as anticipated.  As the saying goes: “If you want to hear The Lord laugh, tell Him your plans.”

Never the less, big happenings have been taking place for George and Nick and I over the past month or so: Nick took a job at the Elks Lodge of Green Valley in late November to help “keep body and soul together,” as the old saying goes, and is enjoying his position as Executive Chef there very much. He has been a member of the Elks Tucson for more than 40 years, so he is comfortable with the Lodge and it’s organization. It has been a very busy time for him, getting to know the new kitchen and staff, and with holiday banquets around every corner he is back to working 10 to 12 hour days- just as he likes it! He has committed to stay there at least through the 2012 season, and will most likely stay until we find a “Fine Dining” venue for him to tackle.

George has just recently joined the “Metro Restaurants” Group, and will be managing the Torres Blancas Restaurant. We all know George has plenty of personality to share, and this is a great way for him to keep his hand in the local business community while doing something he loves. Be sure to stop by and say hello.  The Dining Room is open to the public – and you know the food will be good with George in charge

Meanwhile, I am working on a new concept for the family in the fast-casual segment of the Restaurant business. I’m hoping to close the deal within the next month, and be able to start to work at putting a place together for all of you to come to.  In the meantime, I am keeping busy at home baking up new menu ideas, and conjuring new recipes for all of you to try.

As I mentioned earlier, we really miss seeing all of you that did not have a chance to join us for dinner, and hope that all of you are doing well.  Lord willing we will see you in our very own dining room very soon. Please be sure to keep us up to date on what’s happening either through our FACEBOOK Page, or by email at:solarisaz@cox.net

In other news…

Great News For Janie!!!
Janie was seen by her Specialty Dr’s for a 6 month follow-up, and they are (really) amazed at her progress! Things looked bad for her at the time of her diagnosis, with her condition badly deteriorated so quickly, but now the Drs tell her that her recovery  is phenomenal. She is doing so well, though it is still a fact that she has MS, and a pretty aggressive case too. She is taking good care of herself, and following all the rules- and it’s paying off!

So, tremendous “Thanks” to all of you who helped her through this, whatever your gift- keep her in your prayers, and lets watch her take her life back!

We want to give A Great Big “Thank You” to all of you who have been so incredibly kind, supportive, and helpful during this most unexpected and eventful time in our lives. You know who you are, and we love you and appreciate you

Have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful and safe New Year.
Thank you again for your loyalty.

- Jen Paulos

First and foremost, we want to let you know that we continue to work on 2 projects and hope to have news of our future location by next month’s newsletter (If you have not signed up for our newsletter please do so by entering your information in the form on the right side of the page.).

And YES, Solaris Gift Cards will be accepted wherever we end up.)

The American Legion Dinners have been successful, fun, and a true Godsend for the family during our “unemployment.”  Thank You to all of our friends and family who have turned out to enjoy the great food!

We have only one more dinner scheduled at American Legion post #66 on Duval Mine Rd.

Saturday October 15th from 5pm – 6pm
We will have 2 different Entrees to offer:
Liver and Grilled Onions $ 10.00
Salmon with Hollandaise $12.00
Either dinner will be served with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes,
Peas-n-Pearl Onions, and Lemon Sheet cake for dessert!

Tickets are available through the Legion Lounge at 520-399-3604

We really miss seeing all of you that have not had a chance to join us for dinner, and hope that all of you are doing well.  Lord willing we will see you in our very own dining room very soon. Please be sure to keep us up to date on what’s happening either through our FACEBOOK Page, or by email at:solarisaz@cox.net

Thank you again for your loyalty.

- Jen Paulos
Again, we want to give A Great Big “Thank You” to all of you who have been so incredibly kind, supportive, and helpful during this most unexpected and eventful time in our lives. You know who you are, and we love you and appreciate you.

We have heard from several of you about the opportunity at the Best Western Green Valley – Thank You.  However, Bernie tells us that he “Psychic-ly” knows, “There is no Hotel in our future.”  In fact, we have heard that TWIST-N-SHOUT will be opening at the Best Western Green Valley Inn later this year.  We wish them the best of luck there!
We are continuing our search for a new place to call home, and have several proposals out there right now.  Please stay tuned to this newsletter for updates.  Rest assured we will notify you once something comes to light.

Nick and Jen spent early August in Sacramento, celebrating Jen’s brother Gerry’s 60th birthday and Retirement from AEROJET, where he worked for over 15 years in the Hydrology Dept-mgmt.

California in the summer seems like a typical choice for an Arizonan, but we found almost no out-of-state license plates anywhere we traveled. And believe me, we know now that driving to Sacramento requires pretty much driving through the whole state! We may have missed all that was north of San Francisco, but we drove through the rest! It’s a beautiful state, one where the scenery constantly changes, where each hill takes you into another valley with another crop, some with Grapevines covering their steep hillsides, the next growing Almond trees, then Citrus, Olive trees, or artichokes. So diverse, all green (A color often missing in Tucson’s palette.).

Northern CA seems a little more conservative than the southern CA coast that we are more familiar with. There is more emphasis on clean living & reducing our Carbon Footprint, and our impact on the environment.  Jen’s sister-in-law Debbie Flower is a well-known Professor of Horticulture and Master Gardener (yeah, the name adds irony )who teaches what she lives a sustainable lifestyle. She composts virtually all kitchen trimmings, recycles EVERYTHING, and has the most beautiful garden you can imagine. We had to stop and wonder what Monet would have made of her yard, and we bet it would have outshone his paintings of Giverny.

The drive home encompassed a trip to Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey – with some award-winning Clam Chowder, and a slow, leisurely drive down the PCH, which took 4 hours to go 100 miles! There is nothing quite like witnessing Sunset on the Pacific!  After that we were so “beauty’d” that we were searching for an escape route when we came to the SR 46. What an unexpected bonus! We drove through Paso Robles, and San Luis Obisbo, just more CA beauty on display. Exhausted, we stopped in Santa Maria for the night, and continued home the next day, via San Diego.  What did I tell ya? The WHOLE STATE!

George had guests from Canada come in, getting in a quality visit like he hasn’t had the time for in three years! He stays busy playing golf too, and has been enjoying the down-time.

WE really miss seeing everyone, and hope that all of our friends are doing well.  Please be sure to keep us up to date on what’s happening with Solaris as well as Weekdays with Bernie either through our FACEBOOK Page, or by joining our Newsletter.  email us at:solarisaz@cox.net or through our contact us form.

Thank you again for your loyalty.

- Jen Paulos

P.S. Be sure to join our newsletter to be kept up to date on all things Solaris!

First and foremost,  let me say Thank You for all of the warm sentiments and well-wishes that we received from all of you.  It fills our hearts with appreciation and lets us know after all this time working in the food service industry we’re still doing something right.
I thought I would take this opportunity and use this newsletter to put to rest some rumors and keep you up to date on all things Solaris on a regular basis.

All of our former employees are okay, many waiting for us to open again at a new location so they can come back to work for us. We try to stay in touch with all of them as much as we can and are planning a get-together for them real soon.

Currently we spend our days finishing up all of the left over Solaris work, and getting ramped up for a new place! It’s something for all of us to look forward to.  We are still looking for that new location.  We have a couple of proposals out there, with no word yet on either.  If anyone knows of a restaurant location in Green Valley seeking tenants be sure to let us know.

We miss seeing our friends, family and loyal customers and hope that all of you will check in now and then on either our website email contact, or our Facebook page where the adventures of Bernie are recorded (See below).

Thank you again for your loyalty.

- Jen Paulos

P.S. Be sure to join our newsletter to be kept up to date on all things Solaris!

Regretfully, Solaris Restaurant is closed. After repeated attempts over the past year to renegotiate the lease with our Landlord, We have failed to come to an agreement. The effect of the Economic Downturn has been dramatic on the Food Industry nationwide, especially here in southern Arizona – as evidenced by recent news of restaurant closures all over Tucson.

Please see our most recent BLOG post for some Exciting News

Did you know that you can eat Lunch at Solaris this Summer for under $10? Meals like: Gyros, our famous Greek salad, Reuben sandwich, turkey sandwich, and Hamburgers. For Dinner we have meals for under $15. Meals like: Greek salad, Greek chicken, Greek spaghetti ,The Kobe platter, Steamed Mussels and Clams.

A wonderfully flavored New Twist on an Old Classic.  Battered chicken pieces, slathered in honey then deep fried to a golden brown. Served with vegetables and a small salad.