Azucena Corner Deli plans its invitation-only grand opening at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Forsyth and Ocean streets Downtown in a 100-year-old building that has been remodeled to open up what is believed to be the original brick walls.
The restaurant opens to the public at 7:00 p.m. Thursday.
The dark-toned wood and brick interior is a significant remodel of its former life as Jax City Subs, Jax City Café, Brazilian Corner Café, The Corner Diner and, long ago, a Krystal.
Restrooms were fully remodeled for ADA compliance.
The high-profile site is at 100 E. Forsyth St. Combined Industries LLC was the contractor for the project, which owners estimate at more than $180,000 for construction and equipment.
Azucena will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday.
It will be closed Sunday and Monday, although it could open for Florida Theatre patrons those days if needed.
In addition to traditional breakfast food, Azucena will offer four featured coffees daily, espresso and individually brewed tea.
For lunch and dinner, the menu includes salads, gyros and wraps. Examples include seared tuna salad and buffalo chicken salad; and herb-grilled shrimp or jerk ahi tuna gyros. All gyros can be made as wraps if the customer prefers. The produce is from local farms.
In addition to wines, Azucena will offer 10 beers on tap that are customer-activated by an RFID chip through the “Pour My Beer” system.
A customer opens a tab on a credit card and is issued a wristband with an RFID chip, which he or she uses to activate the tap. When the customer closes the tab, the chip will have loaded the beer purchases on the credit card.
Among the 10 beers are several local brews, including Aardwolf Brewery and Intuition Ale Works. Tap 9 always will be a seasonal brew, which now is Jack-O Traveler Seasonal Shandy.
Azucena will seat about 50 patrons inside at bar and counter areas and at high-top tables with views of four TVs. It also intends to offer 10 outside seats.
Customers will pay at the counter and be served at their tables.
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