Many may have noticed when walking in downtown Hamilton that there are several changes in food options. Parkside Deli is suddenly for rent, and a few doors down Sushi Blues is undergoing some major changes, beginning with its name.

On commencement weekend 13 years ago, husband and wife duo Arthur and Candi Ramer opened up Sushi Blues. Due to the combination of the reces­sion, reliance upon student pa­trons and ongoing experiments with food over the past year, the Ramers have decided to make a few changes.

First, they are redesigning the restaurant’s interior, which has already begun its transi­tion. The Ramers hired their local friend to be their interior designer. The new design is in the hopes that “the focus can be on the food,” Candi said. This includes new sleek black walls, a mosaic of mirrors, and strings of blue lights.

Perhaps the most obvious change is the restaurant’s name. Sushi Blues will be called The Blues Concept from now on.

“As we started broadening our menu, we could not overcome the name … 25-30 percent of the [current] menu is new,” Can­di said. “This new concept, The Blues Concept, allows us to play with things.”

Changes to the menu will include price markdowns of 20 percent in some cases and ad­ditional items such as Arthur’s own aged steak and Japanese comfort food such as okonomi­yaki, a Japanese seafood stuffed pancake. Okonomiyaki is a pop­ular late night food in Japan be­cause of its contents, sauces, and entertainment value.

“It had two kinds of sauces. One was creamy and the other was kind of spicy. It was a nice blend. Also the bento flakes on it were moving because of the heat. I have not seen food act that way before,” first-year Gil­lian Moore said after trying the new menu addition.

The Blues Concept’s menu will not change its policy on provid­ing the finest ingredients. All meats come from local, naturally raised livestock from the Halycon Grange in Earlville. “We keep our ingredients as local and as fresh as we can,” Arthur said.

The Blues Concept will also be experimenting with their hours. The normal hours are from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on weekdays. Hours are extended until around 10 p.m. on weekends but they are “not religious about closing time,” Arthur Ramer said. How­ever, Wednesday April 13, Friday April 15, and Saturday April 16, The Blues Concept will be open from 11:30 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. for late-night snacks. “The foods will be cheap, fun, and fast,” said Candi. The foods will take under five minutes to make, be easy to carry out, and cost under five dol­lars. They will also serve comfort foods including mac n’ cheese.

“Though I will miss the funky feel of Sushi Blues, the new look is very chic and cosmopolitan. The character of the restaurant is not lost,” first-year Caroline Kraeutler said.

Blues Concept employees feel the same way. The old store decorations were sold in a silent auction to help pay for the reno­vations. Only one or two of these items will go back up. “I am very sad to see things go,” said Candi. “It is going to be different”.

The Blues Concept is open to new ideas and suggestions, which can be sent to Candi at Can­[email protected]. When asked when The Blues Concept renova­tions will be completed, Candi said that she will be extremely dis­appointed if they are not done by the time students leave.

Once renovations are com­plete, one can expect to see sus­pended white tigers, moving food, a new menu, but the same extraordinarily entertaining and friendly atmosphere.