Ames has officially joined the roster as a location of an Old Chicago restaurant. Located at 1610 S. Kellogg Ave., construction of the building has been completed, and the restaurant opened Tuesday.

“I think [Ames] is a very vibrant town surrounding the university,” said David Forsythe, Director of Operations for the Ames Old Chicago.

“We hope to see a cross-reference of customers.”

He said the restaurant has a pool table, TVs and a shuffle board.

“We hope to see different ages at different parts of the day,” he said. “I hope we don’t have a certain segment of people.”

Forsythe said opening day was successful, as expected.

The Old Chicago menu largely consists of made-from-scratch items, from salads to pastas and sandwiches to desserts.

A “healthy choices” menu provides alternatives for patrons wanting a meal with lower fat or carbohydrates, in addition to vegetarian choices throughout the menu.

For others, the classic deep dish Chicago-style as well as thin-crust pizza is available with 35 toppings to choose from.

Erin Petersburg, senior in animal science, said she looked forward to Old Chicago’s opening.

“I’ve never eaten at one, but I hear they’re good,” she said. “I look forward to eating there.”

With a catch phrase of “Travel the world, one beer at a time,” Old Chicago has a bar stocked with 110 different brews, including domestic bottles of Pete’s Wicked Ale and imports such as Bass Pale Ale and Murphy’s Irish Stout.

The restaurant offers a contest called The World Beer Tour, which involves an electronic card that tracks every beer on your voyage with no obligation to complete it. Those who drink all 110 beers will get their names emblazoned on The Famous Hall of Foam.

Other Old Chicago locations in Iowa include Coralville and Bettendorf.