Two weeks after we first posted a story about the La Shish name reappearing in Dearborn, the Detroit Free Press finally got around to writing its version, done by Associated Press reporter and Dearborn resident Jeff Karoub.

We didn’t have the name of the new owner when we first published our story but the AP story says the new owner of the La Shish is Restaurateur Carmel Halloun. Halloun told the AP he has acquired the rights to use the La Shish name and plans to open a restaurant in March in the former chain’s first location in Dearborn.

Halloun, 40, said he employs people from the former chain at his Taboon restaurants in Flint Township and Sterling Heights and uses La Shish recipes.

Halloun told the AP he is not connected to former owner Talal Chahine, who fled the U.S. in 2005 and was charged with multiple counts of tax evasion and citizenship fraud. Federal investigators, who allege Chahine skimmed $20 million in cash from his business, say they believe he’s in Lebanon.

The La Shish chain closed in 2008 after nearly 20 years in business.

Several former La Shish restaurants and its Dearborn headquarters have been acquired by a chain called the Palm Palace, including the La Shish in west Dearborn on Michigan Avenue, between Monroe and Mason. That building was purchased in a government auction last year for about $250,000. It is not clear when or if that restaurant will reopen.

Halloun’s landlord, Bilal Haidar, filed articles of incorporation for La Shish Inc. last July, after the corporation registered to Chahine dissolved, according to the Michigan Department of Labor, Energy and Economic Growth, AP says.