CLASSY SPEAKEASY OFFERS NEW DINING EXPERIENCE IN THE UPPER KEYS

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The elegant bar and eating room is dimly lit, the dapper workers is dressed all in black with pink suspenders and bow ties, and the refined music taking part in within the background is a throwback to a bygone period. 

The eye to each element contained in the Armory Speakeasy at VFW Submit 10211 is nothing in need of spectacular. It’s an institution like no different within the Higher Keys and patrons are taking discover.

“I just like the music and the ambiance and I like the best way they deal with you,” mentioned buyer Diane McKinley.

“The speakeasy and the darkness, it makes you wish to gown up a bit bit extra coming in right here,” added lifelong Key Largo resident Carolyn Thomas. “It’s form of like once you exit to Ocean Reef; it might make me really feel like I’m in New York or someplace.”

Thomas is a detailed good friend of veteran John Donnelly, a trustee of VFW Submit 10211 in Key Largo, and is thrilled with the brand new restaurant and bar situated contained in the publish at MM 102.

“This associate has gone past our wildest desires and expectations, not solely within the tangible property right here however how they conduct themselves, how they forge relationships, their curiosity in veterans is past evaluate,” mentioned Donnelly.

That “associate” is restaurant proprietor Janessa Silvestri. When she discovered the lease on the VFW publish was obtainable, she jumped on the alternative.

“I got here in right here and I met with John Donnelly and he stole my coronary heart,” recalled Silvestri. 

Virtually instantly, she got here up with the speakeasy idea for the restaurant.

“I envisioned all of it that evening. I went dwelling and I used to be like, the title is the Armory and it must be a speakeasy,” mentioned Silvestri.

Silvestri enlisted the assistance of her builder father, JR Silvestri, to supervise the mission that includes a big beauty revamp. The foremost transformation in type, look and design took seven months to finish.

“I feel she’s provide you with an awesome thought; it’s precisely her imaginative and prescient,” mentioned JR Silvestri. He is aware of a factor or two about constructing eating places, having constructed the Massive Chill, Snooks and Skippers. However this place is noticeably completely different. 

“We didn’t desire a tiki hut, and we needed one thing good for the neighborhood to take pleasure in,” he added. 

Diners will certainly take pleasure in that focus to element, proper right down to the soundproof ceiling tiles that assist hold ambient noise to a minimal.

The decor is a tribute to veterans of overseas wars. Shell casings and photos of servicemen and -women line the partitions. There’s even a cordoned-off missing-man desk on the entrance, meant to remind patrons of the fallen, lacking or imprisoned army personnel.

“I needed to guarantee that this was a spot that the veterans had been honored the best way that I feel they need to. They’re on the market risking their lives for us,” mentioned Silvestri.

“We find it irresistible, we find it irresistible,” mentioned VFW Submit 10211 quartermaster Mark Birk. He calls the partnership a win/win for this VFW publish, which six years in the past had fallen on exhausting occasions and was prone to being shut down. 

“It’s the VFW nevertheless it’s open to the general public to allow them to assist us to maintain funds moving into and supporting the VFW,” added Birk. Monroe County State Legal professional and veteran Dennis Ward is the commander of VFW Submit 10211 and attended the grand opening.

However there’s much more to the Armory Speakeasy than army decor. Silvestri believes diners shall be impressed with its meals. She studied culinary arts and has been working alongside chef Frank Bozza for the final 4 months, cultivating a global menu that guarantees to supply one thing for everybody’s palate.

“We’ve got a worldwide menu,” mentioned Bozza, who hails from Costa Rica however was working in Ohio earlier than touchdown the job on the Armory. “We’ve got a hummus, we’ve got a ceviche, and our steak is a bit little bit of a French approach. We’re attempting to present the perfect to our clients.”

In the course of the grand-opening ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 8, Silvestri held her 18-month-old son in her arms. She acknowledges she has so much on her plate, however this new restaurateur wouldn’t have it some other approach.

“I hear folks say that Key West and Islamorada get all of the enjoyable, so I’m joyful to deliver one thing enjoyable and completely different up right here,” mentioned Silvestri. “I simply felt like there was one thing lacking within the Keys, a spot the place we are able to gown up and have a extra formal, sexier evening out if we needed to,” she added.

The Armory Speakeasy on the Submit shall be open from 4 p.m. to midnight and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. It’s situated at 102255 Abroad Freeway in Key Largo.

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