PENDLETON – The dust is off the doors at the old Cimmiyotti’s restaurant. Today at 4 p.m., Virgil’s at Cimmiyotti’s will open at the site of the once-popular steak house at 137 S. Main St. in downtown Pendleton.

Owner Jennifer Keeton held a limited opening Tuesday for 72 guests, including other restaurant owners she has met in Pendleton.

Keeton, a first-time restaurant owner, kept the Cimmiyotti name, the old restaurant’s ambiance and its well-known red velvet wall paper. But she named it Virgil in honor of her late father.

Although it has been a few years since a restaurant operated at Cimmiyotti’s, Keeton chose the establishment after viewing it during a chance visit to Pendleton. Keeton also has made this venture a bit of a family affair, having brought in her sister to help design the menu and to maitre d’.

– Phil Wright