After 28 years, midtown Sacramento's Celestin's Island Eats is closing.

But its space at 1815 K St. won't be dark for long. Owners Phoebe and Patrick Celestin have leased out their building to Jerry Mitchell, owner of the Capitol Garage, who will be opening a "Southern-influenced" restaurant there in November.

Mitchell had been planning to lease the former Whiskey Wild Saloon space at 19th and Q streets for his new venture. But there were delays getting approval for that deal from Union Pacific.

Then, says Mitchell, the 3,600-square-foot Celestin's site "fell in our laps."

The Celestins were eager to step down after recently moving back into a business they turned over to their son and his wife in 2006.

Mitchell says the new place – called The Porch Restaurant & Bar – will feature fresh local food cooked in Southern style.

"A lot of people think of Southern food as fried. That's not necessarily the case," he says.

Gumbos and other Celestin's mainstays could remain on the menu.

The Celestins will close their place after serving dinner on Sept. 30. Then Mitchell will take over and start a remodel that includes adding a backyard patio. His goal is to reopen in early November.

Tracking a deal

Despite the Celestin's deal, a new eatery could still be coming to the Whiskey Wild site.

Colliers International broker David Herrera, who handled the Celestin's lease deal, says Union Pacific finally has signed off on a lease for the land between its tracks and the bar site.

Discussions are under way with a restaurant group interested in the site. One of the potential partners in that venture: Capitol Garage's Jerry Mitchell.

Rain delay

A Sacramento PR firm was planning to take New York by storm.

Then Hurricane Irene hit, washing out the "cool museum" Runyon Saltzman & Einhorn was set to open up a couple of weeks ago in Union Square.

But the show must go on. The event – a pop-up display of vintage and artistically "repurposed" refrigerators, aimed at promoting energy efficiency – is now slated to be held Sept. 20 at Washington Square in Greenwich Village.

RS&E has arranged to bring in a half-dozen "art fridges" – old-time coolers that have been turned into sculptures and were displayed previously in Chicago, Atlanta and Seattle. Also on display: eight retro fridges dating back to the 1930s.

Another fridge will be "filleted" to show how RS&E's client, JACO Environmental, is able to recycle 95 percent of the material in older boxes.

The event is co-sponsored by Con Edison and is aimed at bringing some Big Apple media attention to a topic that's not terribly sexy. As RS&E partner Chris Holben puts it, "there's only so much news you can squeeze out of a refrigerator."

But he reports growing media attention for this event – the result of what he calls "New York-sized thinking."

Car talk

Speaking of pop-up events, midtown Sacramento's Hot Italian eatery has been getting great response to the two shiny new Fiat 500s parked for the past few weeks in its showroom.

The room is usually reserved for displays of Italian scooters and biking attire. The tiny, three-door cars went in last month, barely squeezing through the front doors at 16th and Q streets.

Owner Andrea Lepore tells us she was asked to drive one in. Seeing the 1-inch clearance on each side, she wisely passed on the opportunity.

"Like a good Italian, I like to drive fast," she says. A lighter foot was required.

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