Seven months ago, I wrote a Fat City post about restaurateur Anton Kotar turning the old Daddy's Backdoor gay bar at 1610 Main into a sophisticated restaurant, saloon and butcher shop. At that time, Kotar said the venue would be open in mid-March.
That was really wishful thinking, as it turned out, but Kotar's vision for the old brick building (which had been the home of Irene's Restaurant & Bar for several decades) was elaborate: a tilapia fish farm in the basement level, a butcher shop and saloon on the street level, and a larger dining room on the second floor. I would peek in the plate-glass windows (after the brown-paper covering was finally taken down) from time to time and check on the progress of the place. The worn wooden floors have been painted, harlequin-style, in a black-and-white diamond pattern, and I think I saw a crystal chandelier or two. The other half of the first floor has been tricked out with ceramic tiles and refrigerated butcher cases, all ready for some chubby lengths of fresh sausages.
So when is this joint opening?
"We're hosting a soft opening on Friday, September 7, during First Friday," Kotar says, "but that's just an open house. The real grand opening will be October 8."
Kotar says he's waiting on his health permit and that his liquor license should be in his hands by mid-September, if not sooner. "We're currently in the process of hiring," he says. "We'll need between 40 and 50 employees. Servers, bartenders, employees in the butcher shops. We're taking applications right now."
Interested applicants, Kotas says, should come to 1610 Main: "The applications are at the bar."
When Anton's opens, he'll be serving food from 11 a.m. to midnight, Kotar says. The restaurant will be open on Sundays, but a Sunday brunch isn't in the immediate plans. "That's at least a year off," Kotar says.
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