The Jacobson opens on Wednesday
I say you have to love any restaurant that displays the work of only local artists on its walls. And the Jacobson — no connection to the Michigan-based department store that had a short but glorious run in Johnson County — has some great paintings on its walls, including Larry McAnany’s “Atomic Age,” along with the flat-screen TV monitors that seem to be the latest version of “artwork” in most restaurants.
The full name of this venue is the Jacobson Food + Bar + Patio, but managing partner Michael Werner (Fat City introduced Werner and the unfinished restaurant to Fat City readers last June) is perfectly happy for patrons to simply call it the Jacobson. He does not want to be called a sports bar, however. “I don’t know how that story got started,” says Werner, who has already weaned his front-of-the-house staff based on the reality that he visualizes the venue as a sophisticated lounge and restaurant. “A couple of our early hires thought they were working in a sports bar,” Werber says. “We’re going to be projecting a very different attitude.”
It’s a dining room with a view: of the historic loft apartment buildings surrounding the venue at 2050 Central and a very attractive patio with a fountain feature that utilizes both water and fire. Werner and his partners, including Pat Phelan and the building’s owner Michael Edmonson, have really created a silk purse out of a sow’s ear with this restaurant.
