A restaurant with a concept new to Minot is scheduled to open to the public April 8.

Zach and Katie Fitzgerald are the owners of Lucky Dog Grilled Cheese Pub, located at 101 W. Central Ave. That’s downtown, where Big Time Bistro was.

The couple is not new to the business. They opened Fat Daddy Pizza last November in Dakota Square Mall, which is doing very well for them.

Zach Fitzgerald, deep-frying a batch of beer-battered spicy green beans this past Friday afternoon, paused from testing appetizers to explain what Lucky Dog is all about and where the name came from.

“It’s named after our dog….This is Lucky. He’s a three-legged rat terrier,” Fitzgerald said, motioning toward the pub’s logo in the front window.

“We wanted to do something different in Minot,” he said of the grilled cheese theme. “We didn’t want to do another pizza place in town because that’s getting full. We’ve seen that grilled cheese restaurants are becoming pretty popular gourmet grilled cheese so we figured we’d give that a run here,” he said. “It’s primarily a sandwich shop.”

For those sandwiches, customers will be able to choose either white or rye bread specially made, of course and then from a list of cheeses that will constantly be changing.

“We’ll use high-end cheese,” Fitzgerald said. “Right now, we have seven selected. There isn’t any processed cheeses of any kind (on the menu). They’ll all be a little different,” he said.

But what’s a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich these days without some kind of topping or filler? For example of what’s on the board, the Fitzgeralds will serve up a sandwich with poutine topping (french fries, cheese curds brown gravy) and a pot roast filler.

“It’s delicious,’ Fitzgerald promises.

Remember, though, that Lucky’s is a pub so there will be 14 craft beers on tap among the beverages available to diners.

“We’ll have some beers on tap that a lot of places (in Minot) don’t,” so customers looking for change or something new have that to look forward to as well.

The Fitzgeralds are still doing some remodeling within the pub, but things are shaping up to host a family and friends event in early April with an April 8 opening for the general public. The pub will be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. with the kitchen closing at 9 p.m.