Post date: Apr 16, 2013 8:6:52 PM

Johnson Lake restaurant can serve alcohol

By HARRY G. PERKINS Hub Regional Correspondent http://kearneyhub.com

JOHNSON LAKE — Lakeshore Bar and Grille at Johnson Lake will open this week.

Co-manager Deb Korte said the liquor license application for the restaurant has been approved by the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission.

The approval was granted at a hearing Thursday. Korte said all that remains before the bar and grill opens is paperwork to be done at the Dawson County Clerk’s Office.

“We’re so excited to have people come and see how beautiful it’s become,” she said.

Owners Kris and Scott Hancera of Danbury hoped to open in the first week of April, but a protest from a neighbor over a new deck planned for the east side of the building held up approval of the facility’s liquor license until the hearing by the liquor commission.

The bar and grill has been extensively refurbished. Korte estimated the dining capacity has been increased from about 130 to an estimated 180 people. The legal capacity on the restaurant license is listed at 327.

The changes include both a new interior and exterior with a covered entrance.

The old boat docks that extended into the Lakeview Acres bay have been removed to open the view of the bay and homes across the way through new, enlarged windows.