No more prime steak or oysters after April 20th at 117Prime. That’s when the Downtown steakhouse at 117 Union Avenue closes.
But food lovers will still be able to get steak frites at Belle Tavern. The cozy bar/restaurant immediately behind 117Prime will remain open.
“The menu will get a little bigger,” says Ryan Trimm, chef/owner of both places. But, he says, “You won’t be able to enter through Union any more. You’ll have to enter through 117 Barboro Alley.”
Belle Tavern has been open longer than 117Prime, Trimm says. The bar, which opened around 2015, “closed during Covid” and reopened after they rebranded.
Asked about the attraction of Belle Tavern, Trimm says, “I always wanted a little bar. A place where I feel like I can hang out. And it’s just relaxing and low level and fits a need.”
He describes Belle Tavern as “a borderline dive bar. It’s not a dive bar. But it’s a little hole in the wall.”
Belle Tavern is a place where he can hang out with his friends with a good whiskey and beer selection.
As for 117Prime, Trimm says, “Sales have not been what they were. A lot of fixed costs. A steak house, fine dining restaurant, it gets pretty difficult to keep that moving. And it just got to the point where we were like, ‘You know what? The environment downtown is getting more difficult to navigate. And we just need to try something else.’”
And, he adds, “I don’t think a steakhouse was a good fit for Downtown at this moment.” It was hard to stay open with “valet and linen tablecloths and heavy staff and food costs.”
Trimm isn’t sure what they will do with the 117Prime space after the restaurant closes at the end of this week. They might open something “a little more fitting” or “lease it to somebody else.”
