PANDORA'S BLUE BOX
Closure of anchor cocktail bar leaves San Antonio's Pearl blue
Blue Box is closing at the end of August.
Hours after Peruvian-Asian staple Botika announced its impending closure, cocktail bar Blue Box Bar did the same. In a social media statement, a representative said the decision to shutter at the end of August was made with “heavy hearts,” but did not reveal any further reasoning.
Veteran entrepreneur Steve Mahoney opened Blue Box in May 2012, drafting Olaf Harmel from Bar du Mon Ami to head the beverage program. Although Mahoney was inspired by the drinking culture of the “third-shifter” brewery workers who once occupied the grounds, the bar was at peace with the cocktail revival that swept early aughts San Antonio.
Times are changing for the Pearl. When Il Sogno and Sandbar Fish House and Market debuted there in 2009, it was a landmark moment for San Antonio’s culinary scene, boldly proclaiming that the city could no longer be defined solely for its Tex-Mex and barbecue. Now, with the closure of two of the development’s anchors, signs to point to another reset.
Many of the restaurants now considered the old guard of the property – including Cured and Southerleigh – opened in subsequent years. Others, like Andrew Weissman’s pair of aforementioned eateries and Tim Rattray’s visionary The Granary have come and gone.
Post-pandemic, the district has accelerated the pace. Seven major projects, including this year’s ambitious Pullman Market, have opened since 2020 and an array of incubator projects have cycled through the Bottling Department food hall.
What the recent departures will mean for Pearl remains to be seen. But there’s little doubt that what is arguably the city’s most coveted real estate will quickly find replacement concepts for its empty real estate.
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