Restaurants: What's new or coming soon to Jacksonville's downtown, historic neighborhoods
In 2021, Jacksonville's restaurant scene continues grow, with new restaurants opening or planning to open in the coming months. Here's a look at what's opening or coming to Jacksonville's downtown and historic neighborhoods of Springfield, San Marco, Riverside, Avondale, Murray Hill and more.
Prospect Five Points
Prospect Five Points, a wine bar and restaurant, opened in January at 1521 Margaret St. in Five Points in the former Safe Harbor Seafood Riverside and Marah Brewing Co. building. The renovated Victorian house is also the former home of Five Points Tavern and O’Brothers Irish Pub.
Poke Burri
Poke Burri opened its first Jacksonville restaurant in January at 2545 Riverside Ave. across from Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside Medical Center. | Read more
More restaurant updates: What's new or coming soon to Jacksonville's Town Center, Southside
More restaurant updates: What's new or coming soon to Jacksonville's Beaches and Intracoastal neighborhoods
More restaurant updates: What's new or coming soon to St. Johns County
Bee Friends Farm
Bee Friends Farm opened its first brick-and-mortar store at 1118 S. Edgewood Ave. in Murray Hill in February, offering Bee Friends’ full line of liquid, creamed, raw and specialty honey, along with beekeeping supplies, hand-poured beeswax candles and gifts ranging from $5 to $35 and up. | Read more
Back to the Grind
Offering freshly made coffee, smoothies and milkshakes, Back to the Grind cafe opened in February at 223 N. Hogan St. in downtown Jacksonville.
Bento Asian Kitchen
Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi opened in March at 50 Riverside Ave., in Brooklyn Place shopping center in Jacksonville's historic Brooklyn neighborhood. It joins Chipotle and the planned Panera.
Anejo Cocina Mexicana Riverside
Anejo Cocina Mexicana Riverside opened in March at the former Brixx Wood-Fired Pizza spot at the mixed-use 220 Riverside project in the historic Brooklyn neighborhood near downtown Jacksonville. It is a sister restaurant of the popular Anejo Cocina Mexicana Ponte Vedra. | Read more
Blue Orchid Thai Cuisine Riverside
Blue Orchid Thai Cuisine Riverside received a city building permit April 22 for an estimated $1.1 million renovation of a former medical office at 1551 Riverside Ave. into its second restaurant in Jacksonville. Occupancy is listed up to 181 people in the 4,450-square-foot restaurant, according to the permit. A September opening is planned. | Read more
Crazy Beans Coffee Company
Crazy Beans Coffee opened in April on the ground floor of the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center in LaVilla — the first restaurant to open in the neighborhood in more than 15 years. The cafe is owned by brothers Edgar and Herbert Bartley and managed by respected Jacksonville pastry chef and chocolatier Erika Cline. | Read more
Vegan Cafe Jax
Jenna Bardroff and her brother, Chef Mat Bardroff, opened Vegan Cafe Jax, an all-vegan restaurant, in St. Nicholas at 2624 Atlantic Blvd. in April. The restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, offers a selection of vegan sandwiches, wraps, burgers, and bowls. | Read more
Publix in East San Marco
More than a decade in the planning, work is finally underway for Publix at the planned East San Marco shopping center in San Marco at Atlantic Boulevard and Hendricks Avenue. | Read more
Estrella Cocina
Estrella Cocina, a rooftop restaurant showcasing coastal Mexican cuisine, opened May 27 at the VyStar Credit Union campus downtown. Located at 100 W. Bay St., it is the first of three new restaurants to open at that location. Coming soon are the Bread and Burger, a gourmet burger, fries and milkshake eatery, the third Bread & Board artisan sandwich shop and Bread & Board Provisions, a specialty marketplace. All are concepts from the founders of The Bread & Board. | Read more
Bread & Burger
The owners of The Bread & Board in June opened new concept Bread & Burger, showcasing gourmet burgers, fries and milkshakes in converted shipping containers in the breezeway at the VyStar Credit Union campus at 100 W. Bay St. in downtown Jacksonville. The new eatery joined sister restaurants Estrella Cocina, The Bread & Board and Bread & Board Provisions marketplace at the site. | Read more
Fizzies & Fare
Fizzies & Fare, the new restaurant, soda shop and ice cream parlor from Sweet Pete's, opened July 9 at 400 N. Hogan St. in downtown Jacksonville. The restaurant has at least 600 flavors of bottled soda pop, and a menu including gourmet milkshakes, floats, sundaes and ice cream cones. | Read more
Falafel x Bar
A vegan and vegetarian restaurant, Falafel x Bar, opened July 12 at 4162 Herschel St. in the former Chomp Chomp location. The Levantine menu includes falafel, hummus, seafood, Jerusalem bagels, acai bowls wine and cocktails. Diners can customize meals with sauces, homemade pickled vegetables, hot peppers and more at the toppings bar. | Read more
The Bearded Pig
The Bearded Pig barbecue opened in its new location July 31 at 1808 Kings Ave. in historic San Marco. The restaurant is less than a half-mile from its original location at 1224 Kings Ave. | Read more
The Bread & Board
Popular artisan sandwich, board and bowl restaurant The Bread & Board opened its new flagship restaurant Aug. 19 at VyStar Credit Union, 100 W. Bay St. in downtown. It joins restaurant founders Dwayne Beliakoff and Jonathan Cobbs' other concepts at the downtown campus, including the new Bread & Board Provisions (see next), rooftop Coastal Mexican cuisine restaurant Estrella Cocina and Bread and Burger. | Read more
The Bread & Board Provisions
Also opening Aug. 19 was The Bread & Board Provisions, a specialty marketplace offering locally produced gourmet foods, craft beers, grab-and-go meals and other artisan food and beverages. | Read more
Iguana on Park
Iguana on Park opened Aug. 30, bringing Latin American and Mexican fusion cuisine to Avondale, at 3638 Park Ave. in the former South Kitchen spot. The restaurant is the second of owner Al Mansur's Iguana concept, which debuted in 2013 in Neptune Beach as Flying Iguana Taqueria & Tequila Bar. | Read more
Wine Cellar
The Wine Cellar, a downtown Jacksonville landmark for 47 years, closed its doors permanently Oct. 16. The fine-dining restaurant at 1314 Prudential Drive on the Southbank was the "go-to" for special occasions such as engagements, weddings, promotions, anniversaries and graduations. The longtime owners cited retirement and the fact they'd received the right offer from an unnamed buyer. | Read more
Panera Bread
Panera Bread received an Oct. 15 permit to build out a new restaurant at 10 Riverside Ave. in Jacksonville's historic Brooklyn neighborhood. The projected cost is $699,985. It will be near Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi, Chipotle, Mayday Ice Cream and Chop Barbershop. | Read more
First Watch
First Watch opened its 10th Jacksonville breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant Oct. 25 at Ortega Park, the former Roosevelt Square shopping center. The estimated construction cost of the new 4,282 square-foot restaurant at 4407 Roosevelt Blvd. is $350,000, a city building permit showed. | Read More
Peterbrooke Chocolatier Downtown
Peterbrooke Chocolatier celebrated the grand reopening of its newly renovated and redesigned downtown confectionary shop on Oct. 15. It's on the first floor of the VyStar Credit Union building, 100 W. Bay St. The shop had closed temporarily due to extensive building renovations. | Read more
Main Street Food Park
Jacksonville couple Cherron Johnson and her husband, Hector Zayas Sr., opened Main Street Food Park on Oct. 9 at 1352 N. Main St. near Fourth Street in historic Springfield. The couple, who own and operate NOLA's Snoballs and Sweets & Savory Eats, renovated an old used car lot into an oasis of family-friendly space, including a rotating array of food trucks, live music and other entertainment, a family activities area, outdoor seating and more. | Read more
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville restaurants: What's new in downtown, Riverside, San Marco
