Dooley’s, a restaurant that had a 40-year run downtown, is back. Sean Dooley, who ran the original location with his father, Alex Dooley, for a few years before the restaurant closed in 2008, will be opening the new Dooley’s at 601 North Grand Blvd., in Midtown this fall.
The restaurant will serve lunch and dinner daily with a menu that includes familiar favorites from the original Dooley’s menu like Dooley’s burgers (“That’s what we were known for; that’s what everyone came to our restaurant for,” said Sean.), along with new healthy options.”We’ll have all sorts of grilled items,” Sean said, citing a rib-eye steak sandwich, beer franks, Dooley’s cheddar burger, a French dip roast beef sandwich and fish and chips. As for healthful choices, look for salads, wraps and house-made soups from Kris Smulczenski, Sean’s brother-in-law, who has run restaurants in Denver for the last decade and will serve as chef and manager of the new Dooley’s.
The space on Grand Boulevard will provide seating for nearly 200 customers and will include two bars – a main one located on a lower level and another upstairs. Watch for 10 to 15 draft beer choices, including well known U.K. beers like Guinness, Bass and Killian’s, as well as St. Louis staples like Anheuser-Busch products, Schlafly and other microbrews.
The lower-level bar will have a “cozy English-Irish-Scottish feel” with a fireplace, oversized and overstuffed couches, a library, and a game room with darts and shuffleboards. Regulars of the old Dooley’s will also recognize many décor items from the original restaurant, including signs and fixtures.
Sean, who is shooting to open doors in late September, is excited to “add another anchor” to the resurging Grand Center. “It’s such a popping place,” he said. “We really want to be a part of that.” The restaurant’s website, dooleysrestaurant.com, isn’t up and running just yet. In the meantime, call 314.531.7600 for more information.
This article appears in Sep 1-30, 2011.