click to enlarge File: Daria Bishop

Copey Houghton

Landmark downtown Burlington restaurant Daily Planet will reopen at 4 p.m. Friday, owner Copey Houghton told. The restaurant closed abruptly on October 30 after a pending sale of the business fell through.Houghton said he has since hired new staff members, including chef Jeff Perkins, who said he was executive chef at the Mount Mansfield Winter Academy in Stowe for about 10 years.“I used to come here 15 years ago,” Perkins, 35, said. “I wanted to get back to this style of food — the American-French eclectic type thing. I like the fine dining with a casual setting. It’s perfect.” The Daily Planet barroom and greenhouse will reopen Friday, but not the main dining room, Houghton said. He expected the dining room would open by the end of November.“I have most of the staff [hired] but many of them couldn’t work right away,” Houghton said.The Daily Planet will serve a limited menu, offering food from its “classics” menu including Parmesan herb fries, slow-roasted beets, the Planet burger and duck poutine, Houghton said.Houghton, 58, has owned the Daily Planet for 28 years. The restaurant and bar on Center Street opened in 1982. The business is for sale, Houghton said. It’s listed with VT Commercial for $285,000.