Interview with Korey Konopasek, owner of Empire City Gastropub
13475 Atlantic Blvd #1
Jacksonville, FL 32225
Phone: (904) 475-2914
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.empirecitygastropub.com/
Hours
Monday 11:30AM–10PM
Tuesday 11:30AM–10PM
Wednesday 11:30AM–10PM
Thursday 11:30AM–11PM
Friday 11:30AM–12AM
Saturday 11:30AM–12AM
Sunday 10AM–9PM
What is your business?
I would describe the gastropub as a restaurant with high quality food with a variety of cuisines, many different cultures are included in the menu.
Where are you located?
Off of Atlantic Blvd before crossing over the bridge to the beach.
What are advantages or disadvantages to your location?
Disadvantage is that the restaurant is close to the beach but not quite at the beach. However, the shopping plaza that it’s centered in helps bring people to Empire City.
What kind of weekly specials do you offer?
Monday through Friday from 2 pm to 6:30 pm is happy hour. Along with that, we have additional daily specials. For instance, on Tuesday nights we have #TenderloinTuesday where guests can order beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes and their choice of a vegetable all for $19 from 4 pm to close.
What is your specialty dish?
We’ve created a new lunch menu that features a variety of unique mac n’ cheese combinations and grilled cheese sandwiches. As for dinner, our biggest selling item is the Bi BIM BAP. The menu description of this dish says, “hot stone pot with jasmine rice, egg, kimchi, pickled cucumber,pickled mushrooms, pickled daikon radish, scallions, julienne vegetables, white sesame seeds, sides of gochujang paste and korean bbq sauce.”
What’s your most popular drink?
For guys, it would have to be the Ryevolver. It has Redemption Rye Whiskey, Averna Amaro, vanilla infused maple syrup and barrel aged cherry bitters.
For women, Hello Spring seems to be the most popular. It’s ingredients include, Ruffino Prosecco, St. Germain Elderflower, house infused hibiscus and lemongrass
Would you consider your restaurant to be lively or more intimate?
More lively, we like to keep the music a little louder. There are lots of booths but there is also a bar inside the restaurant and we have large TVs for sports games.
To see more of the restaurant’s upscale cuisines and cocktails, check out their Facebook or Instagram @empirecitygastropub or make a reservation at EmpireCityGastropub.com
