After eight years of being next door to Pasquini's at 1312 South Broadway, Tavern 13 is moving a few blocks south to 1643 South Broadway, in the space of the former Heidi's Brooklyn Deli. Owner Natalie Robles, who took over Tavern 13 in May 2009 after managing it, says she's still waiting on three inspections from the city and hopes to have the new spot open by this weekend, but she's thinking next week might be more realistic.
Tavern 13 was Robles's first venture, and when she took over the bar, she says, she wasn't quite sure what to look out for, and she ended up splitting costs to fix the roof, which she found out later was only patched and not completely redone. Not even a year into it, the roof started leaking everywhere, and it got progressively worse. And then last November, she paid $10,000 to get the sewage lines replaced.
After that, she tried to talk to the landlord about doing something else with the lease, but he wasn't willing. Since Robles also wanted to put in a kitchen, she figured it would just be easier to find a different place. So she closed the old location three months ago and recently got the green light to transfer her liquor license last Friday.
The new location already had a kitchen, but Robles says she still needs to buy some equipment. She hopes to be serving wings and burgers, which will be locally sourced and fresh, not frozen, within a month.
At the new place, Robles has about 500 more square feet (mainly patio) to work with, and the second floor of the building will be used as a game room where there will be a pool table, foosball and eventually Skee-Ball.
The way the bar, which is a block south of Herman's Hideaway, is laid out with two levels isn't necessarily conducive to live music, but she's talked with people about possibly doing solo or duo shows or maybe having music on the patio next summer.
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