The owners of Uncle Earl’s bar on Perkins Road have filed for permits to begin construction on a new bar and restaurant that will be located at 324 and 326 Third St. in the old Latil’s Stationery and Office Supplies building. Bryan Lott, who will own and operate the establishment with his Uncle Earl’s partner, Zac Love, says the new venture should be open by the end of the year and will be an upscale bar with a down-home feel and good food.
“We want it to be the kind of place that has a New Orleans feel,” Lott says. “We envision it as the kind of place where you could come for lunch on a Saturday and end up hanging out all day.”
Plans for the establishment were first announced nearly 18 months ago, but Lott says it took longer than expected to get to the point where construction could begin. Lott says they have narrowed a potential name down to just a couple of choices but are not yet ready to make any announcements, except to say the bar will not be called Uncle Earl’s.
The establishment will occupy 5,295 square feet, which comprises the entire first floor of the building. The partners hope to be open by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, work has resumed on the reception hall that has been under construction for more than a year on the second floor of the building. That establishment, originally to be called The Watermark, was supposed to open this spring. It never did, and it is not entirely clear what is holding the project up, though a trademark dispute with hotel developer Mike Wampold over the name of the establishment is one issue. It is unclear what the new name of the reception hall will be.
Owner Andy Blouin has declined to discuss the status of the project except to say he is proceeding with it and it will open. Building owner Jonathan Walker says he is unfamiliar with the details of the Blouin project, but he does expect it to open within the next 30 days.
—Stephanie Riegel
