Double D’s Honky Tonk and Smokehouse to bring Nashville to Willoughby
Published by: The News-Herald
Original article found here
The Dykstra family is expanding their footprint from RiverRock in Willoughby Hills to the former Hola Tacos space in Downtown Willoughby.
According to Pulpo Beer Company, formerly housed in Hola Tacos, rising costs were a factor in the decision to close the location last year. Dustin Dykstra — son of Debbie Dykstra and brother of Sarah Dykstra — is leading the reimagining of the 8,000-square-foot, two-story building into Double D’s Honky Tonk and Smokehouse, a barbecue-themed honky-tonk concept to be located at 3941 Erie St. Debbie and Sarah previously took on the Frank Lloyd Wright RiverRock project as general contractors, and owners.
Dustin said Double D’s Honky Tonk is a two-part story that started 15 years ago when he was considering opening a barbecue location in South Florida. He was working for Shake Shack at the time.
“I had been working and thinking about that up until about 2015 when we were moved for work to New York City,” Dustin said. “Shake Shack’s the thing, this is where I want to be for a while, so they moved from South Florida to New York City to Ohio. When I moved back to Ohio, my mom and sister built RiverRock. Fast forward to two years ago, I made the decision to leave Shake Shack and left hospitality all together in July of last year, taking a break from running restaurants and bars for the last 20 plus years.”
Last August, Debbie said it was time for Dustin to open his own place alongside Sarah and that it should be a country spot.
“My sister was over and I said ‘Did mom talk to you about this idea?'” Dustin recalled. “She was like, ‘Yeah. I don’t like it.’ I was like hear me out. We were originally looking at the Willoughby Brewing Company location because it needs to be that sort of feeling and vibe, so I contacted them and it really just fell through.”
It was then that Dustin drove by the former Hola Tacos space. He had known that it was empty, and saw the sign.
“We knew the realtor,” he said. “We reached out and he gave us a tour. I walked around and thought about it, and started to put together what we would actually do here.”
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