(by Lee Landenberger, The Athens Messenger 1985 (excerpt))

"Walking the thin line between the old and the new has become a habit for the workers who will be running the revamped Casa Que Pasa restaurant.

“'We want to impress the community, the utilities and past creditors that we are definitely different.' Said Leslie Schaller, interim president of the Worker Owned Network, which will operate the restaurant at 41/2 W. State Street when it opens sometime in September. 'But we also want to keep the things that made Casa a popular place.'

"The restaurant’s new name, Casa Nueva, straddles the line the Network wants to walk.

“'This was still a profitable business when it closed in June,' Schaller said. 'We did a feasibility study and found we could still make a go of it. And we have been doing some fund-raising.'

The restaurant closed in a May, after it was evicted for non-payment of rent, according to Schaller and Mike L’Heureux, of Cline and L’Heureux, who own the property.

“'But I want to emphasize the positive', L’Heureux said. 'I’m all for incentive for everyone. To me, people who start with a little investment and a lot of work should become successful. That’s why I’m backing the people at the restaurant. By knowing their business, they should be successful.'

“'The food will still be predominantly Mexican,' Schaller said, 'but we’ll have a lot more specials at all meals. There will be more American regional foods; like during the summer months, there’ll be more seafood, plus more pasta and vegetarian food. Hopefully we’ll be able to use cheese from the Athens Cheese Barn. We’ll be more tuned to seasonal changes, and stay in the moderate price range.'

"Schaller, who said Casa Nueva plans to be open seven days a week, also said the liquor license went out the door with money owed on the previous lease. 'We never really made much money on liquor, but it would be nice to get a beer and wine license. If we do get one, we’d probably end up doing what we used to do, which was serve some domestic beers, but mostly Mexican.'

"Casa Nueva opened its doors on October 9, 1985."