Baja Fresh debuts, Landry's just got cheaper

Baja Fresh appears to be making a come-back. The once-promising Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based chain fell on hard times after its 2004 sale to Wendy’s and never seriously challenged Chipotle’s national footprint (now at 700-plus restaurants). Progress comes in baby steps today, and Baja Fresh is making them. To wit: the chain is debuting a "Fresh Express" unit in LAX and at a food court at the University of Southern California. 
   The new unit billed as "a highbred [sic] version of Baja Fresh." In short, customers build their own burritos. "Our new Baja Fresh Express speeds guests from start to finish in less than four minutes," says a company official.

Storms and roiling credit markets dampen the price for Landry’s.

   Landry’s shareholders can forget about getting $21 a share from the company Chairman and CEO Tilman Fertitta. As observers of this eager executive know, he intends to buy and take private the casual dining/casino empire he built over the last 15 years. Hurricanes and roiling credit markets have dashed the price and, according to a press release, Fertitta is now meeting with bankers "about the financing for a transaction at a substantially reduced price."
   More on government intrusion. Washington Post health writer Jennifer Huget says that "various cities, states and counties — including the District of Columbia and Montgomery County — across the country are mulling similar measures" to California’s new mandate that restaurants post nutritional information on menus and on signs inside the restaurant. She also notes that the National Restaurant Association prefers that the Feds simply require all chains to post such information instead of the piecemeal approach now getting underway in states and cities. She cites a bill recently introduced by two U.S. senators showing support for that approach.
   Oh, and just in case you haven’t checked the damage done to restaurant stocks in yesterday’s free-fall, here’s a look. Ouch!