Shop Around: Barbecue chef headed to Jake’s on Devine

If you like Jake's on Devine and you're a fan of Yellow Dog Barbecue, your taste buds are about to be very happy.

On Saturday, Will Lacey, owner of Yellow Dog, will take over officially as kitchen manager for Jake's, where he will create a new menu featuring his locally famous barbecue mixed in with some other new menu surprises.

Lacey also will add a Sunday brunch to Jake's weekly lineup.

"It's going to be a really, really fun Sunday brunch," Lacey said. "We're really excited about the whole venture we'll have going on there."

While Lacey will start the new menu on Saturday, he will roll out a full grand opening on Oct. 27.

But taking over Jake's kitchen isn't Lacey's only venture right now. He also is working on bottling his barbecue sauces for sale.

"The flood kind of pushed everything back a couple of weeks, but I should have all my nutritional (information) stuff sent off next week so after that it's just getting the labels and getting the production started pretty soon afterward," Lacey said.

Initially, the sauces will be sold at Jake's but Lacey hopes he can get the sauces distributed into area grocery stores soon. The sauces will include a Sour Savvy ketchup-based sauce that Lacey describes as a sweet, tangy Kansas City blend, and a Dixie mole-inspired bold sauce.

▪  Also kicking off Saturday is the grand opening of Coco Yoga and Smoothie Bar at 1044 Wildewood Centre Dr. in Northeast Richland.

Locally owned by Ridge View High School graduates Kristi Fox and Heather Drake, Coco Yoga combines yoga, dance, fitness and Zumba classes for adults, as well as preschool and youth dance and fitness classes for kids.

“Heather and I are moms who worked full-time jobs before starting the studio,” Fox said. “With our children spending a large portion of their time in daycare or after-school programs, the last thing we wanted to do was take them to a gym and put them in another childcare so we could get in a workout, even though there are classes we would have loved to take. So immediately we knew we would offer child classes during adult class times.”

As an added component to the business’ fitness angle, Fox and Drake added a smoothie bar after losing weight on their own power smoothies over the last several years. The Coco portion of the name refers to the coconut water used in many of the smoothies.

▪  Salsarita’s will open a new location in the Academy-anchored shopping center on Park Terrace drive across from Sam’s Club. In addition to Academy, the Harbison shopping center added Guitar Center, which opened in April, and will soon be add the LeBron James-backed Blaze Pizza next month.

▪  Also in Harbison, Red Robin will open Nov. 2 at the main entrance of the Columbiana Mall. The gourmet burger restaurant has a location at the Village of Sandhill.