Los Cocos owner to open Derby eatery

Less than three years after opening his first Los Cocos Mexican Restaurant , Luis Alfaro is preparing to start work on a third, this time in Derby.

"We just got the land," Alfaro says of 1257 N. Rock, which is next to Applebee's .

"It's the first one that we're going to build from scratch."

Alfaro is planning a 180-seat restaurant with a 30-seat patio.

He had planned to open a Derby restaurant after opening in Wichita at 1335 N. Tyler in the former Brews Brothers and Mom's space.

Instead, Alfaro says Manhattan was his next choice because of good opportunities there.

He hopes to have the Derby Los Cocos open by early November.

Alfaro is already scouting land on the east side for his fourth restaurant. That could be in east Wichita or Andover.

His plan is to open a restaurant a year.

"We've just got to go one by one."

Holy war

Rhode Island-based Cathedral Art Metal has filed a federal lawsuit against Wichita-based JT Enterprises for copyright infringement.

Cathedral Art designs and manufactures inspirational, religious and other gifts and jewelry.

JT Enterprises is a distributor of a variety of fundraising items.

At issue is a line of religious and inspirational bookmarks, a plaque with the Lord's Prayer and an art angel logo, all of which Cathedral Art says it created.

Cathedral Art contends that JT Enterprises has sold and tried to distribute virtually identical items. A lawyer for Cathedral Art didn't return a call for comment.

John Auch, president of JT Enterprises, says he can't comment on the case.

Cathedral Art claims JT Enterprises "has derived substantial revenue from the sale of the infringing works, which revenue it is not entitled to retain."

In addition to recovering that money and legal fees, Cathedral Art wants the court to prohibit JT Enterprises from being able to continue selling those items in the future.

You don't say

"The west side's so proud of their property."

—Larry Harmon , who wants to open a west-side Larry Bud's Sports Bar & Grill but can't find an economical site

This story was originally published May 25, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Los Cocos owner to open Derby eatery."