Tommy Joe’s is set to open in its new space this week.
Owner Alan Pohoryles said Wednesday the longtime Bethesda bar and restaurant has nearly finished moving from its longtime spot on Montgomery Avenue to the former Urban Heights location on Norfolk Avenue and is set to open Friday.
The new restaurant is a team effort between Pohoryles and the Robert Wiedmaier Restaurant Group, which owns several restaurants in the region ranging from the high-end, much-lauded Marcel’s in Washington, D.C., to the Bethesda rock venue Villain & Saint. The RW group previously operated Urban Heights at the location before joining forces with Pohoryles to move Tommy Joe’s there. Before Urban Heights took over the space, Pohoryles had operated the short-lived Roof there.
“We’re both learning a little bit from each other,” Pohoryles said Wednesday. “It’s a new world for them—they’re some of the best fine dining chefs in the country. But we have a good relationship.”
Pohoryles said workers have installed a new dance floor on the second floor of the two-story restaurant, which sits above Smashburger in Woodmont Triangle. They’ve also installed additional TVs and a big screen projector in the dining room as well as charging stations for cell phones at the bar.
The menu, fine-tuned by chefs Robert Wiedmaier and Brian McBride, includes Tommy Joe’s favorites such as Poho-style wings as well as brisket chili, a filet mignon and a variety of salads. The restaurant also will offer an oyster bar and chilled shrimp as well as soft pretzels and complimentary popcorn.
“The menu is priced as bar food and presented as bar food, but some of the little changes chef Wiedmaier and chef McBride have come up with should be great,” Pohoryles said. “I can’t even sit with them and talk about the menu because I get so hungry.”
One change from the previous restaurants that occupied the Norfolk Avenue space is that Tommy Joe’s plans to focus more on hosting private events. The layout of the space is conducive to events, Pohoryles said, because it has four distinct areas—the bar, dining room, second-floor patio and rooftop patio. He said customers can rent any of the spaces or the whole restaurant and that a few bar and bat mitzvahs celebrations are already booked.
The bar will also offer a happy hour and two of Tommy Joe’s signature weeknight events—karaoke and trivia nights. Pohoryles said trivia night will start next Thursday, while Karaoke Tuesdays will return once he completes a deal with a new company in the next few weeks. Half-price burger Mondays and taco Tuesdays will continue as well after the bar opens.
