by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
There’s a new bar coming to San Marco, but the location will be familiar to fans of the area’s night life.
Bistro Aix, one of San Marco’s most popular restaurants, is expanding into the retail space adjacent to its San Marco Boulevard location. The expansion will feature two private dining rooms, a wine cellar and a lounge area. Construction is underway and the lounge is expected to open Sept. 20.
The expansion will close the restaurant for about two weeks leading up to the project’s finish. The restaurant’s operations will be otherwise unaffected, including its catering business.
Bar manager Alin Bibart said the idea for the renovation was to extend the restaurant’s already popular Friday and Saturday nights. Bistro Aix’s dining room typically stays crowded until around midnight on the weekends, but chef Tom Gray saw a way to keep the crowds for after dinner drinks and bring in additional customers, veterans of San Marco’s bar scene.
“We have everyone here already on Friday and Saturday nights,” said Bibart. “Why let them go down to San Marco Square when we can take better care of them here? They’re our customers, we know how to take care of them.”
Bibart described the atmosphere as “laid-back lounge.” The design will be placed in the hands of interior decorator Terry Schneider, one of the restaurant’s partners. Schneider designed the current dining room. Bibart said the design for the lounge should be in keeping with the restaurant’s established decor, but he expects some unique twists as well.
The project will also renovate the restaurant’s kitchen and add a new catering kitchen. The project broke ground in June.
When finished, the renovation will increase the capacity of the restaurant’s private dining room, already at 100 seats. The project will build two private dining rooms separated by a retractable wall. Together the dining rooms will allow the restaurant to host large wedding receptions, private parties and catered corporate affairs, according to catering manager Christine Moore-Doherty.
Bistro-Aix’s French and Mediterranean menu has become one of the downtown area’s most popular since the restaurant opened in 1999. The restaurant expanded two years ago when it added the first private dining room.