Rising from the ashes: Collectors Cafe to return with open-air courtyard, open kitchen
Collectors Cafe and Gallery will rise from the ashes and reopen with al fresco dining in a large open-air courtyard, an indoor/outdoor bar, increased dining space, and other changes and additions.
The fine-dining restaurant that featured artwork from artists including managing partner Tommy Davis and previous co-owner Mike Smith has been closed since it was heavily damaged by a fire in July 2020.
“We were open for 26 years, and what I plan on doing is building something that is going to last for the next 26 years,” said Davis, whose family owns the building. “Now we have an opportunity. I’m building a legacy for my family.”
Davis said he has traveled to places including Rome, Cartagena, Colombia, and Asheville, N.C., for building and decor ideas.
“I’m not even looking at what used to be; I’m walking around now seeing what’s going to be,” Davis said. “I’m envisioning this and that. I’m already seeing it and feeling it.”
Davis plans to host ‘The Blank Canvas’ art show in the courtyard in July, around the two-year anniversary of the fire, with drinks and entertainment to preview the restaurant, which he hopes to open by the end of the year.
“I’m working on it every day,” he said.
Rebuilding Collectors Cafe
The roof on the south side of the business, which housed the coffee house in the former restaurant, is being removed to create the outdoor open-air courtyard that will share a bar with an indoor dining room.
A V-shaped butterfly-style roof made out of cypress wood and steel will cover the courtyard 20 feet above the ground. The front facade of the building along the roof will remain, and an iron or steel gate below it will serve as the courtyard entrance.
The courtyard will be heated and cooled and feature trees, ferns and other vegetation, as well as a live wall with plants possibly including confederate jasmine. There will be live plants inside as well.
“It will be real plush green,” Davis said.
The front building facade will also feature ivy or other vegetation.
“We’ll try to make it look like a Dublin-style pub,” Davis said.
The initial dining room that will be accessed through the main entrance and courtyard will have velvet booth and table seating, an open kitchen so diners will see meals prepared, and at least two bars with seating. Davis said the seating capacity will exceed 200 inside and out, and bar space will increase 150 percent compared to the pre-fire setup.
Davis expects the main dining area to be somewhat casual, and a second room will be quieter for fine dining and may feature a more high-end menu.
“I don’t want it to be so fine dining all the time,” Davis said. “I want people to come in on a regular basis and have more casual food up front, but still have a menu for nicer things like fish, steak and our specialties.”
A dessert and coffee bar is planned for the primary dining area near the entrance. An extra 1,000 square feet is being added to the restaurant that was previously a neighboring hair salon behind the neighboring Subway, and it is currently being used as an art studio.
Davis is still contemplating its future use, and it may become a storage room for wine and high-end whiskeys and bourbons that is used for special events and private dining, or a speakeasy with couches.
Completing the return
The front of the building has already been repainted, and the sign and lion’s head are black against a white background. Interior colors will be light and soft.
Perhaps most importantly, a sprinkler system is being added to the interior.
“You’ve got to have it,” Davis said.
Collectors opened in 1994 after a seven-month renovation of a former doctor’s office.
“We took a doctor’s office and turned it into a restaurant,” Davis said. “Now we’re able to take a restaurant and turn it into an even better restaurant by putting things where they should have been.”
Davis, who will be seeking a management team in the coming months, considered a name change to go along with the restaurant’s new beginning.
“But so many people told me they wanted it to be Collectors, so that encouraged me to call it the old Collectors,” he said.
This story was originally published April 11, 2022 at 10:42 AM.
