The Vic Village Tavern will fill the space left behind by The Shrunken Head at 251 W. Fifth Ave.
The new spot comes from an experienced name in the bar business – Quinn Allen, who owns fellow neighborhood mainstay Zeno’s with his brother, and The Library Bar on campus with Matt Herron and Lonnie Kubankin.
Allen, Herron and Kubankin will go for round two with Vic Village Tavern, aiming for an experience that’s a melding of campus bar and long-running neighborhood watering hole.
“We want to make it look and feel like it’s been here with this community for 30, 40, 50 years and be embedded in the fabric of the community,” Allen says.
In an era of rooftop bars and members-only clubs, Allen wants Vic Village Tavern to be a comfortable spot, a place where patrons don’t have to get dressed up, can knock back a few and have a good convo and a good time.
“I want to create that experience for everybody where they feel at home,” Allen says.
On the drink menu, that translates to a beer and shot kind of bar. Call liquor, throw-back beers, all at an affordable price. Vic Village Tavern will stock old-school favorites like Blatz, Stroh’s and Old Style, plenty of mainstream domestics, as well as local brews. There will be bourbon and tequila, and a straight-forward menu of cocktails where nothing’s smoked or overly fussy. Wine and a selection of seltzers round things out.
There will be a stage for live music – mostly acoustic – and bar activity classics like karaoke and trivia. There will be plenty of TVs as well, but they’re not defining themselves as a sports bar. It’s a neighborhood/dive bar.
Work is underway on the space, with the goal to be open by the March drinking season (March Madness and St. Patrick’s Day). It will be an eclectic mix of booths, community tables and high-top tables, with exposed brick, wood floors and tin ceilings lending to the been-around-for-decades vibe. The bathrooms will be brand new, though, and the patio’s getting a cozy refresh with more TVs and greenery.
There’s no food – yet. There are two open spaces next to the bar that Quinn would like to see filled with some food options, even mentioning the possibility of knocking down a wall to create a pass-through. They’ve got the bar side down, so they’re working their connections to find operators that are passionate about the restaurant side.
Although experienced in the industry, Vic Village Tavern represents a new direction for Allen. Zeno’s was his dad’s, The Library had a long history before he took the reins in early 2020. But now he’s excited for the ownership team to create something new for themselves, something they can take credit for.
As the team was looking for their next project, connections and opportunities lined up to secure the space. Quinn is obviously familiar with the neighborhood, Zeno’s is only two blocks south, and was familiar with the bar from his time as their rep when he worked for Superior Beverage. He also felt like the neighborhood needed another nice, classic bar.
It’s a community he knows, and hopes will support another venture in the area.
“They know Zeno’s, they know our family,” Allen says. “We’re only a couple short blocks away, so I think it’s going to be real nice to see how the community responds to this.”
Follow @vicvillagetavern on Instagram for updates.
