Indecisive restaurant-goers now have an eatery in Gainesville with a menu that takes the hassle out of choosing.
Five Bar opened last week in the former Smokehouse location at 104 S. Main St. It features a menu with only five snacks, five entrees and five drinks from five different categories of alcohol.
The new location is the fourth in the restaurant family that also has locations in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Athens.
Each location has menu offerings that are unique to its city. For example, the Gainesville restaurant offers a glazed shrimp dish while the Tuscaloosa restaurant serves olive cheese bites.
“We like to keep it simple, but we like to keep it good at the same time,” said server Kim Vacca, a 21-year-old UF sustainability and the built environment senior.
Five Bar co-founder Charles Morgan opened his first restaurant, Harbor Docks, in Destin, said Gainesville Five Bar general manager Ben Janca.
This kind of dining started in 2011 in Tuscaloosa, Janca said. Owners wanted to simplify the menu for their patrons.
The company also has a charity program called American Lunch, which has a food truck that travels around to different cities to feed the homeless, Janca said.
The restaurant lets the food and the atmosphere speak for itself, he said.
“We put together what we think is a cool place that’s eye-appealing. Then you walk in, and you have this atmosphere and this meal that’s not typical,” he said about the restaurant, decorated with chandeliers, an open-wood ceiling and local artwork.
Its location in downtown Gainesville gives the restaurant the best diversity of people, he added.
“There are always … city officials, young professionals, doctors, lawyers, service industry workers and everything in between,” Janca wrote in an email. “We try to make a common ground that everyone enjoys and can take part of.”
Janca said the restaurant also offers a New Orleans-style brunch with a live jazz band playing every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Courtney Lehan, a 19-year-old UF health science sophomore, said she decided to visit the restaurant when she went downtown for dinner. Lehan said she enjoyed her entree: bacon-wrapped shrimp stuffed with crabmeat.
“The food here is worth the risk of trying a new restaurant,” Lehan said.
A version of this story ran on page 9 on 1/21/2014 under the headline "Restaurant brings options to downtown"
A new restaurant, Five Bar, opened Thursday at 104 S. Main St. Five Bar will be open for dinner and Sunday brunch. Five Bar also has locations in Athens, Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.
