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Carmichael Times

Rolling Out the Barrel

Dec 16, 2015 12:00AM ● By Story and photo by Susan Maxwell Skinner

Developer Allan Davis (center) joins River City Brewing Company owners Beth Ayers-Biro and Steve Cuneo in prepping for their move to the Milagro Centre, Carmichael.

Davis’s import of glamorous eating places to central Carmichael has begun in earnest: River City Brewing Company is one of two businesses slated to open at Milagro soon after the new year; a 250-seater banquet room will be ready to host events by late February; and a mall-launching celebration is scheduled for March.

In June, falling business and an unrenewable lease obliged Beth Ayres Biro and partner Steve Cuneo to move their 23-year-old brewhouse eaterie from Sacramento’s K Street Mall.

“Starting a restaurant anywhere,” attested Ayres-Biro, “is a leap of faith.”

The co-owner added, however, that “it helps to have a landlord who seems almost like a partner. Allan Davis [the Milagro Centre developer] is hands-on. If we run into problems, he’s concerned. He’s not all about the rent, he wants to do something important for the community.”

Partners since 2006, these owners have another reason to support the Milagro (Spanish for miracle) Centre. They are both Carmichael residents: Cuneo (57) strolls 200-yards to work at the center that rose in achingly slow stages from a neglected Fair Oaks Boulevard mall. He and his partner hope Carmichael will eventually raise mainstreet standards level with Milagros’s multi-million dollar bar. Along with indoor/outdoor seating for 180, their eaterie alone brings 40 new jobs to the area.

Already blessed with an foodie following, the Brewing Company will offer hand-crafted beers and American-style farm-to-fork cuisine.

The Brewing Company is one of two businesses slated to occupy Milagro before the new year. More restaurants—plus gelato, coffee, and pizza purveyors—will join them in 2016.

“We investigated other downtown spots,” recalls Ayers-Biro (38). “We looked at East and West Sacramento and Rancho Cordova. We didn’t consider Carmichael until we saw what Allan was doing at Milagro. We’re happy to be part of the change it brings for this area: people will have downtown-style restaurants in their own back yard.”

The brewers’ immediate neighbor, an upmarket Mexican eaterie called Mesa Mercado, may even beat Ayers-Biro and Cuneo to the barrel.

“We love having a variety of restaurants in one place,” approved Cuneo. “Allan is completing his late wife Nancy’s dream. We have amazing street visibility—we never had that downtown. We share beautiful design, gorgeous landscaping, and free parking for our guests. We’ve met all the other vendors. We’re not in competition; we have the same goal.”

Milagro owner Allan Davis is already salivating. Mesa Mercado and River City Brewing, he said, exemplify what’s in store for Milagro patrons.

“They’re classy but casual,” he said. “They and the other restaurants will make Carmichael an exciting destination for all Sacramento.”

Learn about the Milagro center at  www.milagrocentre.com.