Sacramento restaurateur Ernesto Jimenez was excited, yet afraid to take on the challenge of creating a restaurant in a 6,000-square-foot corner space in the old Arnold Brothers Motor Cars building. He already was the owner of the colorful Mexican restaurant Ernesto's when he and partners bought the 77-year-old building in 2001. And he'd been dreaming about his next restaurant for years. He wanted it to be something special. "It was a beautiful old building, so the restaurant had to match the exterior," he said. "I didn't want it to be just another restaurant. It had to be something beyond that." His visits to the new space at 18th Street and Capitol Avenue told him there was a lot of wo

Zócalo restaurant plans to expand its space for celebration by adding a banquet room. The 1,000-square-foot banquet room will increase the L-shaped 3,500-square-foot dining area by nearly a third. The room will contain pre-Columbian-style artwork and noise-reduction features including "big, beautiful doors" that can be closed and rugs that will make the new room quieter than an existing 500-square-foot banquet room, said restaurant owner Ernesto Jimenez. "We get a lot of requests for groups — especially this time of year," he said. "It's a good celebration place." A bank has given verbal approval for a loan, but now paperwork must be completed, Jimenez said. The plan is to start work b