Celebrity chef to open restaurant at 220 Riverside in early 2015
By Roger Bull, The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"I think it says a lot for a celebrity chef like him to make the decision to come here," said
Sbraga, who was in
"We don't want to transplant what we're doing in
"It's tougher in
He opened namesake restaurant Sbraga in 2011 and last year it won the Eater Award for the best restaurant in
Fat Ham opened in December with Southern influences and dishes such as
He plans to open a third restaurant,
ONE OF THREE
Sbraga's
A casual restaurant, most likely by a local restaurateur, will be announced in about a month, he said. A bar and grill will be announced about a month after that.
The restaurants will overlook
Hallmark worked with VSAG, a
"It's really a culture match because all the principles are aligned," he said. "Community matters to Kevin and being connected to his surroundings in an authentic way really matters."
Simons said he's been to
"I think it's a dining scene with local folks working really hard and there's some good stuff going on," he said. " But it's young in its culinary development. It's early. It's a teenager trying to figure out who it is.
"The offerings are behind what the city wants, so I think the population, the diners are more advanced in their desires for food and beverages than what the scene is giving them."
GROWING UP
Those who have been around
"I think it was apparent that
Gray grew up in
But he came back home in 1999 as executive chef and operating partner at Bistro Aix.
"There really weren't very many restaurants to choose from," he said. "There were plenty of chains, but not that many independent restaurants that did true made-from-scratch food with local ingredients. For me, it was a bit of shock."
The local ingredients were a particular issue. Gray was used to the
Since few restaurants were using ingredients from around here, few farms were producing them.
"There was
"And with our style of food," he said, "we struggled at first. Nobody really knew the style of food we were making, French Mediterranean. When you go out, people like to describe it as 'It's like this," but there was no other like this."
But it did catch on. More customers appreciated what they were doing, more restaurants began seeking local ingredients and more farms began supplying it.
The key, he said, is independent restaurants.
"The decisions that chains are making are not necessarily in touch with their immediate restaurant," he said. "It's harder to adapt to the people around you when the decisions are being made in a different time zone.
"Independent restaurants can be much more creative and ingredient-driven. We don't have a corporate contract with a semi that rolls in at 3 in the morning."
Gray talked about the gradual progress he's seen in
Tastes have changed, said Felver, who has a bakery and serves only lunch at his French Pantry.
"When we opened in 1987, I was bringing in goat cheese from
MORE COMING?
And there's indication of more high-end dining coming to downtown.
"Absolutely, something upscale and urban chic," he said. "I"ve got two or three entities still circling. It's just a natural. It's next to the
He's also negotiating to buy a building at
"You really need clusters of restaurants to create a restaurant-row mentality," he said. "Then people think of downtown as a dining destination.
"I just believe downtown needs a couple of those, needs half a dozen of those. Like Mitchell's,
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