Marker 32 founders planning new BBQ restaurant overlooking St. Johns River in Jacksonville

Gary T. Mills, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
Updated ·1 min read
The former Barz Bar & Package building at 9560 Heckscher Drive near the Fort George Ferry Landing in North Jacksonville is being renovated into Billy Jack's BBQ by Southern Table Hospitality group.
The former Barz Bar & Package building at 9560 Heckscher Drive near the Fort George Ferry Landing in North Jacksonville is being renovated into Billy Jack's BBQ by Southern Table Hospitality group.

This story first appeared in Dining Notes, the free weekly restaurant newsletter from the Times-Union's Gary Mills delivered to your email inbox each Wednesday. Subscribe now.

A new barbecue joint will soon join landmark waterfront restaurants Singleton’s Seafood Shack, Safe Harbor Seafood and Sandollar near the mouth of the St. Johns River.

With a building permit in hand, work is underway on Billy Jack’s BBQ at 9560 Heckscher Drive, just west of Sandollar and across the river from Singleton’s and Safe Harbor, to convert the former Barz Bar & Package store into the newest concept from Southern Table Hospitality, the family-owned restaurant group from Marker 32 founders Ben and Liza Groshell.

"We have a smoker. We're going to be doing barbecue, Southern food and a selection of seafood as well," Ben Groshell told the Times-Union earlier this year. "It's kind of an under-served area out there, a bit of a food desert. There’s not much out there so we’re excited about going out there and doing barbecue,” Groshell said. “There’s really not much barbecue unless you head into Jacksonville.”

The fast-casual restaurant, Groshell said, will have a menu similar to the barbecue offered at his Valley Smoke restaurant “but a lot more casual as far as the daily specials and things like that.”

The 2,284-square-foot space is expected to seat about 150 guests, Groshell said.

“The area kind of presented itself as a place we could do a casual restaurant. We feel lunches will be good, dinners as well. We’re going to pull from Amelia Island. But it’s kind of an overall, really a fun project for us,” he said in April, just three months after Southern Table Hospitality debuted AB Kitchen, a restaurant owned and operated by the couple’s sons, Jacob and Nick Groshell, in Atlantic Beach.

If you're a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get access to all of our latest dining coverage.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: New BBQ restaurant joining Singleton's, Safe Harbor and Sandollar