11 Hotel Restaurant and Bar Openings of 2019

Gerber Group will officially open its first D.C. property when 12 Stories, the newest bar in its portfolio, launches at The Wharf in late April. With panoramic views of both The Potomac and Washington monuments and landmarks, 12 Stories has 3,500-square-feet of space on the top floor of The Intercontinental Hotel. Industrial design touches include concrete flooring, wired pendulum lighting, and furniture made of velvet, marble, leather, and wood.

This fall, San Francisco Bay Area Chef Ken Tominaga and MINA Group are set to debut a third location of their partnership, PABU. With existing locations in San Francisco and Boston, the modern izakaya and sushi bar will be MINA Group’s second project at the recently opened JW Marriott in Downtown Nashville. The street-level restaurant will serve fish flown in from Japan and light fare including a selection of sashimi, nigiri, and tartare.

In February, AND Fish Kitchen + Bar marked its grand opening inside the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Pompano Beach Resort & Spa. The fresh-catch, 115-seat indoor restaurant has a contemporary nautical setting designed by Bigtime Design Studios of Miami. Its décor includes subtle sea and sand graphic nods to its beachfront locale, marine life, and fishing and diving lore with ship ropes and rigging accents.

After a dramatic transformation, the space formerly known as Cafe Dupont reopened in February as The Pembroke. The farm-and-sea-to-table restaurant seats 127 guests inside with 78-person seasonal terrace outdoors. Interior designer Martin Brudnizki led the redesign, updating the restaurant with plush blue velvet semicircle banquettes, coral couches, brass light fixtures and hardware, and marble tabletops. Chef Marlon Rambaran helms The Pembroke’s kitchen and works closely with local farms and purveyors to source organic and sustainable products.

This spring, The Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails will open in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Working alongside international designer, Vincent Celano, the full-service men’s grooming salon and Prohibition-style speakeasy showcases an intimate space with plush leather seating, an extensive whiskey collection, and live music. The tucked away speakeasy has iconic pieces of décor such as the vintage Brunswick bar, which was a starring visual element in the 2017 hit motion picture film, “The Greatest Showman.”

DoveHill Capital Management and Wurzak Hotel Group recently opened The Dalmar in Fort Lauderdale, a new-build lifestyle hotel that is part of Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio. The city’s highest rooftop bar, Sparrow, will open on the hotel’s 25th floor in spring 2019, joining several other F&B concepts. Sparrow is created and operated in collaboration with Proprietors LLC, the hospitality company and team behind cocktail institution, Death & Co.

Hilton’s Conrad Washington, DC., recently opened along with its signature restaurant, Estuary, by James Beard Award recipients and Top Chef finalists, Bryan and Michael Voltaggio. The farm-to-table restaurant serves seafood from the Chesapeake Bay and, in line with the Voltaggios’ Maryland roots, locally-inspired dishes like Atlantic Cod, ‘Maryland Crab Pretending to be Shrimp Toast,’ and Fried Calamari and Crab Rangoon.

NorthPointe Hospitality Management recently opened Crowne Plaza North Augusta, including Salt + Marrow Kitchen, a specialty wood-fired grill restaurant with a street entrance for local guests and views of SRP Park, home of the Augusta Green Jackets. Grillworks, a method of cooking with an American artisanal wood-fired grill that has signature cast aluminum crankwheels, allow Executive Chef Dominic Simpson and the culinary team to adjust the height of the cooking surface.

Formerly The Montauk Yacht Club, the new Montauk: Gurney’s Star Island Resort & Marina will debut this spring after a $13 million upgrade along with the resort’s centerpiece restaurant, Showfish. Showfish’s entire menu is locally sourced with seafood caught daily, brought to Gurney’s docks by local fishermen. Virtually all produce is sourced from farms on the east end, located within 20 miles of the property and prepared on display at the restaurant’s “vegetable butchery.”

Baker’s Cay Resort Key Largo opened in February as part of Hilton’s Curio Collection. Under the leadership of Executive Chef Andy Papson, who brings a dash of New Orleans soul to the eateries, the Baker’s Cay Resort culinary team leverages local ingredients from the island and its rooftop garden to create dining and craft cocktail experiences with fresh menus. Calusa, an indoor/outdoor Caribbean-Creole restaurant, has panoramic views of the bay, turquoise-tinged décor, and dishes like Johnny Cakes and a Creole Skillet.

Earlier this year, Vision Hospitality Group opened Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Memphis and debuted The Greyhound, a bar with an outdoor patio. Built on the site of the city’s former Greyhound bus station, the bar offers a variety of libations with an emphasis on gin cocktails. Using a curated menu of premium craft gins, spices, tonics, and bitters, each cocktail is uniquely created tableside on The Greyhound’s signature “Gin+Tonic Trolley”.