Spokane-area restaurateurs Pat and Diane Ferraro have leased the former Dewey, Cheatam & Howe restaurant site, at 3022 N. Division, and plan to open a new business, Dewey's Burgers & Brew Inc., there later this month.

The Ferraros also owns Ferraro's Homemade Italian Restaurant, at 11204 E. Sprague in Spokane Valley, and the Steer Inn, a drive-in restaurant at 7920 N. Division.

Dewey's will be a sports bar offering some Italian food such as lasagna in addition to sandwiches and burgers, Pat Ferraro says. The building has about 3,000 square feet of floor space. To prepare for the opening, Ferraro says, they did a minor remodel of the interior that included installing some new equipment.

The building most recently housed a Mexican restaurant called El 7 Mares. However, Spokane residents probably would remember it best for Dewey, Cheatam & Howe, which operated there for more than 20 years.

Pat Ferraro says he came up with the name Dewey's Burgers & Brew because so many people he talked to identified the location with Dewey, Cheatam & Howe.

"I own Ferraro's in the Valley, and we were going to call this Ferraro's Burgers, but people would ask me, 'Where are you going to be?' and it's always been Dewey's; that's how people know the location," he says.