A little more than a year after Flagpole reported on Hidden Gem, a new bar from Sam Frigard (Normal Bar) and Bain Mattox (Normal Bar, Automatic Pizza, Buvez), it’s open for business as of tonight (Dec. 21) at 625 Barber Street. The new place has lots of sweet dive-bar character (soft lighting, thrift-store paintings, a beautiful wooden bar) and is open 6 p.m. to midnight this week. You can follow it at @hiddengemglobalhq on Instagram for updates.
Just down the block, on the lot that housed Jittery Joe’s Roasting Co. before its move to Fritz Mar Lane, Normaltown Brewing is getting going on an expanded space that will involve a move from the Tracy Street Warehouses. Still not in Normaltown (we’ll allow it), the new place should offer “a space that highlights locals and what they are creating,” a good fit for a lot that has hosted many a community event in the past. Normaltown’s owners are shooting for a March/April range for opening, but construction is subject to a whole lot of delays these days, so don’t be surprised if it’s later.
Over in the William, the student apartment building at Finley and Reese streets downtown that wasn’t open in time for hundreds of tenants who had signed leases there starting fall 2022, Southern Brewing Co. is opening a taproom in early 2024, according to the brewing company’s sign on its float in the Downtown Holiday Parade of Lights this year.
Looking forward to Dry January already? Home.made, on Baxter Street, is trying out Bar Sober, a source for alcohol-free cocktails launching Jan. 3 and running Wednesday evenings. Longtime home.made chef Homero Elizalde’s still newish Homy’s Food Truck will be on site slinging tacos, and those who don’t drink booze but want a little somethin’ somethin’ in their drinks can add Delta 9.
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