Restaurateur Norm Abraham has decided to close the popular Two Doors Down restaurant Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving.
That means the blue-collar workers, dark-suited lawyers and judges, uniformed police officers, mothers with babies in strollers and myriad other customers who patronize the Brooklyn diner will need to find another source of comfort food and comfortable conversation.
“I always feel like I’m visiting with friends when I come here,” said Richard Gropper, major gifts officer with the American Red Cross Northeast Florida Chapter.
Gropper visits three or four times a week, sometimes for breakfast and lunch the same day. He was introduced to Two Doors Down by former University of North Florida colleague Alan Verlander.
“I had to Google it,” said Gropper after Verlander suggested they meet there.
A customer for about three years now, Gropper said “you’re never a stranger when you’re here.”
At least not for long. Sitting near the front door during lunch Monday at the 436 Park St. location, Gropper met developer Michael Balanky and his wife, Gayle. Balanky, in turn, shook hands around the restaurant as he found a booth against the wall.
The Balankys sat near Florida Public Service Commission Chairman Art Graham, who was meeting with Cleveland Ferguson III, a vice president for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
Graham said his first visit to Two Doors Down was with Kerri Stewart, now chief of staff for Mayor Lenny Curry, and he’s returned at least 10 times since. Graham said he’ll miss the place because a meal there allows him to catch up with people during his time away from Tallahassee.
The only issue, he said, is staying focused when meeting someone. “There are people you see,” he said, as Drummond Press President John Falconetti, a prominent Republican, took a seat nearby with colleagues and jovially greeted Graham.
Ferguson said he’s eaten at Two Doors Down at least 20 times and takes the opportunity to “have good conversations with friends and getting caught up.”
After it closes, he’ll make his lunch trek “probably back to my desk.”
As usual, several practicing lawyers were in the house, including the veteran Bill Birchfield, who took a seat at the counter.
Abraham was circulating among the patrons, shaking hands and sharing news, as well as running the register and rounding up orders for waitresses to deliver to the tables.
“I’ve made so many friends in this business. They’re not just customers,” he said.
One of his most loyal customers, Beaver Street Fisheries chairman Harry Frisch, couldn’t be there Monday because he was attending a Junior Achievement event.
He is such a regular that his assistant called Two Doors Down in the morning to alert Abraham to their absence. Abraham keeps a table reserved for Frisch’s group.
Abraham said Frisch took it hard when he heard the news of the impending closure. “He’s the man,” Abraham said. “He helped build the business.”
Abraham, who’s been in the restaurant business for four decades, has known Frisch for years and welcomed him as a loyal customer since opening Two Doors Down six years ago.
Frisch said Monday afternoon that he will miss Abraham, the staff, the food and their efficiency. At 92, Frisch said time is a commodity that he cherishes. “Every second counts,” he said.
He said lunch at Two Doors Down took just 40 minutes from leaving his office to returning. It also had convenient on-site parking.
“I never, ever had a bad meal there. I never had a problem there,” he said.
Frisch said Abraham also was open to suggestions. Abraham credits Frisch for the idea of posting the daily specials at each table rather than only on the specials board.
“He’s got personality. He’s a friend to everybody,” Frisch said. “You’re treated like it’s a home away from home.”
Abraham learned in late June he needed to vacate the leased site by Dec. 29 because the property is being sold. He has known that was a possibility since he opened there in 2009. The property owner, Ware Family Realty LLC, has not commented about the future land use.
Abraham looked nearby to relocate the business, but none of the possibilities worked out.
He wanted a site in Brooklyn, Riverside, LaVilla or elsewhere Downtown that could accommodate a 5,000-square-foot restaurant that could seat 125 customers and provide plenty of parking.
He also wanted minimal downtime to prepare a new location so he could keep his team of nine, including him and his business partner and cook Enos “Whitey” White Jr. The hours of operation are important to them, too: Breakfast and lunch, 6 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.
The sites presented were too far from his customers, would take too long to build-out or would require night and weekend operations. He considered the unfinished Sax Seafood & Grill building in LaVilla, but among other challenges, it had a lounge and Abraham said he isn’t in the lounge business.
“I had to make a decision,” Abraham said Monday morning.
The restaurant’s closing, in two months, gives Abraham five weeks to sell the furnishings and equipment before the lease is up.
It also means his staff, which he credits for their work and rapport with customers, also likely will be looking for jobs. The important part of running a restaurant is not the recipes, he said. It’s the people who work there.
He said that while he could start over, that wouldn’t be fair to Carol, his wife of 52 years, his family and friends, or himself. At 74, Abraham said it was time to have fun doing what he hasn’t had much opportunity to do, such as travel.
To make sure Abraham had a plan, his son, Jay, pinned down that the first trips would be to Alaska and Canada. “You got to do it when you can,” Abraham said.
He’s at peace now over the decision, more now than two months ago. “We’ve given our life to the business,” Abraham said.
Abraham’s restaurant ownership experience goes back 40 years, including a decade at the former Tad’s Restaurant “two doors down” on Park Street, hence the name.
As Graham paid his lunch ticket Monday, he sympathized with Abraham over the closing and the difficulty in finding a new site.
“There’s nothing two more doors down,” Graham said.
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