Kirkwood Aces Bar & Grille to reopen as Jak’s All Inn

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Dive bar to reopen as ‘family-friendly gastropub.’

UPDATE (January 8, 2012): Kirkwood’s ‘The Pullman’ announces it’ll open January 13

Aces Bar and Grille, a dive bar in Kirkwood, is reopening as Jak’s All Inn.

Josh Adam Kahn opened Aces six years ago and has spent the past few weeks molding the concept into a “family-friendly gastropub” — something he feels the community needs.

“We didn’t let children into [Aces],” Kahn told What Now Atlanta in an interview Monday. “We need to appeal to families.”

Though signage isn’t expected to grace the facade until the end of June, Jak’s is slated to officially open Thursday just in time for team trivia at 8 p.m. The gastropub had its soft opening this past Friday.

Jak’s menu will mainly consist of items made in-house and will feature a kids selection; something Aces didn’t offer. Menu items include pork tenderloin, chicken tenders and a daily fish.

The gastropub will be opened to families from 5 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. and then transform into something Aces’ patrons are more familiar with: 21 and older (smoking is allowed), according to Kahn.

The new space will boast a hand-crafted outdoor patio area, bar style with stools looking out into the street — think of it as a bar without the bartender — with six stools on either side of the entrance for a total of 12. The interior has gone from a dark red to light blue and dart boards are on their way to replace a pool table.

The name, taken from Kahn’s initials, is his way of calling a spade a spade.

“After this, I’ve got no more money to invest,” Kahn said. “I’m all in.”

 

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

7 Responses

  1. The food at Ace’s was great, so I can’t wait to see the new menu at Jak’s. Looking forward to it!

  2. How was Aces a dive bar? It was less than 5 years old, so it wasn’t an institution. It wasn’t cheap, he sold cheap beer but cocktail prices were on the higher end. It wasn’t dirty or sordid. The clientele was solidly middle class. The food was purported to be of higher quality, and certainly had a higher price point than any dive bar I’ve been to. Just because Josh was trying to affect some kind of rock and roll ethos doesn’t make the place a dive bar. It’s more like what would be build on a Disney property to resemble a dive bar; it wasn’t dangerous or seedy but pretended to be for the yuppies.
    I live in Kirkwood, can’t stand Aces, and haven’t been there in two years. The whole reason for the boycott was the owner. He can’t stay out of the place and his micromanaging has run off every interesting bartender he hired. The ones that stuck around had such low morale that they sucked any joy out of the place with their bad attitudes. As an owner he tries too [expletive] hard. Josh, just let people enjoy themselves. The Kirkwood neighborhood message board has several threads castigating Josh for his invasive behavior. Stop suggesting different liquors all the time, most adults know what they like. The non-stop recommendations are a turn off. He’s more attentive than any server I’ve ever had, especially after I’ve ordered. Oh, and another thing. The cocktail glasses remind me of a child’s juice glass; get some [expletive] rocks glasses please.
    I’m cynical but I see this change to Jak’s as a lateral move. New paint and new policies towards children won’t fix the major flaws I’ve described above.

  3. I can’t imagine how an owner being hands on and involved would EVER be considered a “down” side of a bar….

  4. For someone who says he hasn’t been to Aces in 2yrs., “Dive Bar” seems to know an awful lot about Aces and the owner. Hmmm?

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