Todd P: Former Mo Pitkin's Will Have Pacific Coast-Style Mexican Cuisine, Won't be a Rowdy Club

First and foremost, Patrick -- better known as the underground show organizer/promoter Todd P. -- wanted to clarify that Jevan Damadian, who is one of the four partners behind the venue, is not the former owner of Aces & Eights, the widely loathed bar that succeeded Mo Pitkin's.

"He was the leaseholder, not the operator and not the manager of space by any stretch of imagination," Patrick says (for more on the long and convoluted history of Aces & Eights' ownership, go here). He adds that Damadian will have no creative control over the new space, which will look "towards the avant-garde. Imagine something that brings back the concept of Tonic, and hearkens back to the original Houston Street Knitting Factory. Very academic, focused on the downtown experimental underground."

Patrick says that he and his co-partners (who also include Mo's/Two Boots owner Phil Hartman and Mike House, an architect whose projects include work on Santos Party House) all want to create a venue that "reflects and serves the surrounding community. No one wants this neighborhood to be this gauntlet of bars where you can get Jell-O shots. We are very happy to remove that stain [of Aces & Eights], but at the same time, no one wants more overpriced boutique restaurants."

The new space will have a ground-floor restaurant that, Patrick says, "will be the main revenue source and the main face of the business." Its menu will be seafood-based "Pacific Coast-style Mexican cuisine" (Pacific as in Jalisco, not California) and its atmosphere "casual yet fairly sophisticated as well. We envision high-quality and not bargain-base-priced cuisine, but also not prices that price out the average individual." Right now, the partners are in discussions with two candidates to run the restaurant; both, Patrick says, have extensive experience in the business.