Restaraunt to Get New Life

This article was written by Jim Hunter of the Citrus County Chronicle. Click here to view the entire story on the chronicle website.

A restaurant on State Road 44 east of Crystal River that has been through numerous personalities in the past couple of decades will soon live again.

The new owners have named the restaurant The Supper Club. It’s west of Manatee Lanes, and through the years it has been J.D. Cricket’s, The Prime Minister, and Villa Maria. At one point a controversial Tampa radio shock jock had it for a short time. It has been closed for the past few years.

Whatever its past permutations, the new owners, Joe and Joann Dibella plan on a totally new personality for the restaurant and the attached lounge. The restaurant will be fine dining and won’t specialize in any one kind of food. The menu could probably be termed traditional, the owners said.

Or, a good way to describe it could be Continental with maybe a slight Italian twist, said Joe Dibella, who is working hard to open the restaurant by the beginning of the year. The couple would like to have it open by New Year’s Eve, but they are awaiting some final permits and aren’t sure if that will be possible.

The menu will be more sophisticated than the mom-and-pop restaurant, but it won’t be white glove either, said Joann Dibella. She said the meals will average between $15 and $25. Dinner seating will be between 75 and 85.

One of the chef’s specialties will be beef and pork tenderloin with his signature hint of smoke flavor with peppercorn coatings and glazes, she said. There will be steaks, pasta dishes and some seafood, such as grouper, swordfish, tuna and linguini and clams.

“It’s going to be very nice portions,” Dibella said.

She said the chef will have various appetizers, as well as bar foods for the lounge, like cheese fries and wings, but also some specialties like his own unique spring rolls, Ahi Tuna and stuffed portabella mushrooms.

The inside of the restaurant has undergone renovation, as has the front of the building. There will still be a good-sized waiting area with the bar at the entrance. There will be two dining rooms with a kind of Tuscan motif, Dibella said, and a third area set off by a glass wall that will afford privacy and be available for groups. There will also be a separate wine tasting room for such events.

In the beginning, the restaurant will serve only dinner, and it will open at 4 p.m., with the last serving at 10 p.m. It will be closed on Mondays and likely also on Tuesdays, Dibella said.

The restaurant was built to give close, easy access to the spacious lounge at the back of the building. Dibella said the lounge will have D.J. and live music — but stressed it won’t be the wild rock and roll that characterized it in one of its last incarnations. “There won’t be techno, rap or crazy rock and roll,” she said.
She said the lounge, which they haven’t named yet, will cater to the 35-and-older group. In addition to D.J. music, the lounge will have groups like The Saints, an oldies group from this region, and will have some jazz, blues and piano — and maybe a little classic rock. The lounge will be open until 2 a.m. Until the kitchen closes, dinner will be served in the lounge also, she said. After that, bar food will be available from a smaller kitchen.

She said there will be some special nights scheduled, such as a karaoke night for families.
Dibella grew up in the restaurant business in Connecticut and she and her husband had a restaurant in Staten Island before coming to Citrus County eight years ago. She said she has been looking for some time for the right place. She thinks she and her husband have found it.

“It’s a perfect location and a perfect setup,” she said of the facility. “I’m excited about it.”

Dibella said the restaurant would announce its opening as soon as the last permit was approved.

Filed under: Supper Club by Joe Dibella