November 11, 2024
@theoldebar/Facebook
Jose Garces' Olde Bar has closed its bar and restaurant. The Garces Group says the restaurant, located in the Old Original Bookbinder's oyster saloon, will function as a catering and events venue.
The Olde Bar, the restaurant and bar that took over the Old Original Bookbinder's oyster saloon, has shut down regular service.
The retro restaurant's owner Garces Group confirmed on Monday that it had ended bar and restaurant service as of Saturday, Nov. 9. Olde Bar had been open for nearly a decade. The hospitality group, led by chef Jose Garces, says the Olde Bar, at 125 Walnut St. in Old City, will still be open for special events and catering.
The move is "part of a larger strategic plan," Laura Fehrle, vice president of Garces Events, said in an email, also teasing more announcements from the restaurant company before the end of the year.
Every staff member at Olde Bar has been offered jobs at other Garces Group properties, she added.
Garces opened Olde Bar in 2015, six years after the Old Original Bookbinder's closed. Nicknamed Bookie's, the historic seafood restaurant was a hot spot for tourists and celebrities alike. It opened in 1893 and operated for over a century. The owners declared bankruptcy in 2009, ending Bookie's as people knew it.
The Garces Group's updated version sought to capture some of that old charm with its wood paneling, red leather bar seats and stained glass signage bearing the original restaurant's name. The Olde Bar served cocktails and seafood dishes that ran the gamut of classic to modern. It also offered a raw bar of clams, shrimp and East and West Coast oysters.
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