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New clubs, new restaurants, new funny people and new toys.
By Matt Lemmon
A new twist on lounge life
Friday, February 1 marks the opening of the new Jewel Nightclub at 504 E. College St. (just across Market Avenue from College Station). The high-end nightclub, operated by Jesse Witham and Dylan Collins, is the latest in downtown’s seemingly endless stream of fancy-pants lounges, with a few notable differences.• First off: The dancing girls. An exotic dancer (mostly nude, wearing pasties and panties) will dance nightly in the upstairs VIP lounge, where supple leather couches and bottle service will be on hand for the club’s targeted high-rolling clientele (Witham says the VIP area will be open to everyone on slower evenings until the capacity reaches a certain point). Downstairs— which is more of a traditional lounge with black granite tables, barstools and a water feature rivaled only by the one at Clary’s—the exotic dancer will be replaced by a go-go dancer gyrating near the raised DJ booth.
• One-way mirrors in the downstairs restrooms. From the outside, they looks like mirrored wall paneling. From the inside, you can watch the crowd while you pee. (Bonus points to the first couple to make a particularly exciting brand of public-bathroom whoopee.)
• Jewel is completely non-smoking, Witham says. Smokers will have a guarded, roped-off area outside the back door to do their smoking thing.
Witham and Collins—who operated Downtown Beat magazine last year until ending the publication to open Jewel—are able to have the exotic dancer via a grandfather clause in zoning statutes. Witham says the club used to be an honest-to-god, seedhouse strip club (Red Garter, then Joan’s Bar), and the provision carried over. Is downtown ready for such overt, high-class sex? We’ll see.
At Long Last, Coesters
It’s been a long time coming for Coesters, the Missouri State University-themed bar and restaurant on South Kimbrough Avenue that has been in the works for a couple of years. Owner Mark Coe took his time with the project, which sits just north of Harlow’s, only two blocks from Hammons Student Center.Coe says he’s pushing Coesters as more of a restaurant than a bar, and the menu backs him up. With the range and price points of nicer places like J.Buck’s, Coesters has everything from bar apps to $30 steaks. Wine and beer are available by the bottle or draft, and Coesters has more TVs than any bar north of Indigo Joe’s, the biggest of which are 62-inch behemoths.
Despite the more upscale menu and digs—the booths are spacious and comfortable, and the tile flooring high-end—Coesters will still target the college set. Missouri State athletic coaches already do their radio shows from the bar, and Coesters will cater many university events.
The most unique thing about Coesters is that it is open until 3 a.m., serving sandwiches and burgers for those needing an after-bars hangout near campus. By August, Coe says, Coesters will be transporting students nightly between the restaurant and downtown (presumably to Coe’s other nightlife holding, Jordan Creek).
Skinny Mainstage Shakeup
Dan Clair is out and Sarah Jenkins is in in the Skinny Improv’s mainstage act. Clair left the troupe in January to pursue other endeavors, and Jenkins—who finished second in the 2007 Deadpan Comedy Festival—moved up, joining Jeff Jenkins, Jeff Houghton, Tim Lee, Chad Harris and Nate Black in the primetime slot. If there’s one thing that can make the show funnier, it’s probably a regular dose of estrogen.Wii with Thuy
With her customary excitement, BamBu Vietnamese Cuisine owner Thuy Dam told us this week about a new video-gaming option at her restaurant in the Fremont Center: Nintendo Wii. The shoulder-separating game is all the rage, and BamBu will now have a system available for tournaments—or simply if diners want to challenge the resident Wii expert, her 13-year-old brother—on Monday nights.BamBu is also celebrating the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year—in Vietnam it’s the same holiday, but called Tet) February 7–9, with “lucky money” giveaways for diners, food samples and the aforementioned 13-year-old brother doing the dragon dance.
