Dahlia's Pour House and other stuff

[RockStar]

The new taco and beer joint being opened by Chris and Andrea from Northstar will be called Dahlia's Pour House on Post across from Walker's.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dahlias-Pour-House/312695632089849

In other news:

The space formerly known as the Sinclair reopened, but I don't know the name or operator; same with the old Cafe 331 space (although I think that's called Sweet Lady Blue?? or something close and from what it sounds like will be a soul food joint (don't quote me). Should give that end of Forsyth a boost with what Phoenix taproom is already doing.

AND, someone is opening a live music venue next to LIT on Ocean, in the space where the scooter shop and cigar shop were. Their intention (from what I've heard, so again, grain of salt) is to bring quality acts similar to the level you get at Freebird's. Beer and wine as far as I know.

So, lots of positive DT development...

Hope everybody has a great NYE and a prosperous 2012.

Yours,

~J.

[tufsu1]

thanks for the update...I talked w/ Andrea about their new venture last week...they hope to be open in February

also noticed the activity next to Lit recently and was curious...sounds promising

[BridgeTroll]

Appreciate the update Jason!

[Tacachale]

Thanks for the info. I heard through the grapevine that there would be a number of places opening up downtown, but I filed it away in under the "cautiously optimistic but I'll believe it when I can eat/drink there" category in my mind. If these places open up, it will be the most downtown joints open together in a long time.

[RockStar]

More from the rumor mill - heard the Cozy Tea people were opening an Indian restaurant in the old Deco Bistro space. (Ironically, I checked the space out with the thought of doing the very same thing. It's a great remodel with a private back patio and bar...).

If it's true, awesome. No more having to drive to Little Bombay aka the Indian District aka Baymeadows Road to get my naan on. 

[Dog Walker]

I heard the same rumor many months ago and asked the owner of Cozy Tea if it was true.  He said no, that they had enough to do to at Cozy Tea.  I hope he has changed his mind and has maybe brought in relatives to help out.

[Captain Zissou]

February is a pretty brisk build out time.  i hope they are able to hit that time table.  All the businesses opening downtown is great, especially the live music venue.  Small shows in the core have been nice, but they are no substitute for larger acts like they have at freebird. 

[RockStar]

The Florida Theatre routinely has big shows: Deathcab for Cutie, TV on the Radio, Jeff Beck, Primus, Fleet Foxes, just to name a few this year. And with 4000sq/ft, I'm not sure that their capacity will be big enough to generate the kind of revenue needed to bring a "freebird" type act, but we'll see.

I am stoked to see what they'll do though. I like how much of a live music scene is developing DT. With the eclectic mix that Burro and Phoenix brings and now this new venue, there should be something for everybody on any given night, which is great. 

[Tacachale]

Any new live music venues will be good for the city. We currently have a significant dearth in them and it stifles the local music scene and causes us to miss touring acts. We have huge gaps in mid-sized, about 500-1000 capacity venues and in upper-mid, 1000+ capacity venues. Currently through the entire metro area we have only a handful of mid-sized venues and almost nothing that seats between 1,000 and 10,000 people. With the latter, those that we do have (Florida Theater, Times-Union Center, UNF Arena, UNF Amphitheater, St. Augustine Amphitheater, etc) each have drawbacks and limitations in terms of live music programming. This is really unfortunate, as more and more touring acts are booking venues of this size. It's hard to underestimate what we lost out on when our cultural myopia thwarted the downtown amphitheater project.

4,000 square feet for the Ocean Street space would be smaller than Freebird, but larger than most of our other venues, especially in the urban core. I'm stoked to see how this turns out. We may finally be a turning point in the live music scene.

[RockStar]

@Tach. I agree. However, after they put bar, stage, bathrooms, office etc in that 4000sqft, I'm curious to see what their capacity will be. Certainly not 500.

[Tacachale]

^Yeah, it's hard to imagine 500 people in a space that size. It would still likely be bigger than most of the other venues we currently have. At any rate we need more venues of all sizes. There's certainly a demand for them that currently isn't being met.

[Northstar Substation]

Captian Z: Feb is pretty early, and probably too quick. With all the other taco joints moving into Riverside we have decided to focus on beer and cut out food for now. Due to the last minute changes this is pushing us back a month, hopefully not too much longer. We are very excited and are looking to start with hopefully 50 taps and 4 pool tables; along with a stage for live music to make the bar a great place to relax, meet new people and enjoy their night.
  We will offer/allow food from caterers or local restaurants. Our beer selection will be primarily Florida brewed beers and will have to see how well this works being so close to two of the breweries. We find that Florida beers are always a great hit at Northstar.  Both locations can house, comfortably, up to 120 taps, which we hope to get them both to within the year.  Both places are on Facebook where we update a lot of info., also please feel free to e-mail me directly with any questions at Dahlia@dahliaspourhouse.com or northstarsubstation@yahoo.com.
  We are glad to see the buzz is going around and as soon as we have a closer opening date and more exact details on how we are going to operate we will let everyone know
Thanks! We are looking forward to meeting everyone in Riverside soon!