City Tavern Taps Chef Roe DiLeo For Its Move to Elm Street

City Tavern, the Main Street institution for pub fare and live music, has officially closed up shop to move to a new location a block away on Elm Street.

It will debut its new digs on the bottom floor of the newly redeveloped Mid Elm Lofts at 1512 Elm Street at the end of this month or early next, co-owner Josh Florence tells Eater. After 12 years on Main, City Tavern’s landlord, who also owns The Mitchell bar next door, wanted to open his own concept in the space. “It was kind of him to let us go month-to-month while we found a new spot,” Florence tells Eater. “I feel extremely fortunate we could find a new location that’s a perfect fit for City Tavern so close to our original location in the timeline that we needed it. It’s truly remarkable.”

The new space will house “City Tavern 2.0,” according to Florence, which involves the same aesthetic of dark wood floors, wood-clad walls, a long bar top, and red booths, but with updated plumbing, heating and air conditioning, and most importantly for diners, brand new bathrooms. The new digs will only be on the ground floor (as opposed to two levels found on Main Street), but Florence promises there will still be room for a stage to host live music in the smaller footprint, plus seating for 65 between the bar, booths, tables, and the patio that faces Elm.

In another exciting move, City Tavern is bringing over Hell’s Kitchen chef Roe DiLeo, who’s known locally for her time at the Libertine Bar on Lower Greenville and Henry’s Majestic off Knox Street. DiLeo most recently helped launch Brooke Humphries’ new Deep Ellum honky-tonk Mama Tried and moved on from that project once kitchen operations were off the ground and running smoothly.

As far as City Tavern’s menu goes, she’s not “reinventing the wheel,” she explains, but DiLeo says her favorite meal is brunch, so expect a large brunch menu on weekends and some tweaks to the existing pub fare. DiLeo is also consulting on a revamp of Independent Bar & Kitchen’s menu offerings, owned by the same parent company as City Tavern. When City Tavern launches it will bring over its lengthy beer menu, with the additions of more local brews and a succinct menu of straight forward cocktails.

Stay tuned for more info and City Tavern’s official opening date.

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