Sean Tuohy has cooked up a lot of great things in his lifelong restaurant career but nothing like the plan he’s cooked up with his sisters to open a new restaurant in Vero Beach.
Tuohy’s Downtown, which is scheduled to open across from the post office in February, will serve “approachable modern American cuisine” that has Cuban and Louisiana influences. All made in-house. And, importantly for wine-lover Tuohy, his diners will have an extensive list of wines from which to choose to accompany their meals.
“Wine is my thing,” Tuohy (pronounced Too-ee) said. When pressed to give his favorite, he said he likes reds — blends and cabernets — but if he had to choose only one, he’d choose pinot noir. Who could ask for a better answer?
Tuohy is still working on the menu. It has to be a difficult task for a chef who comes from a restaurant family and knows food and has cooked all sorts of delicious meals in a decades-long career. Authentic Cuban sandwiches. New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp. Casual restaurants. Fine-dining establishments. Tuohy has done it all.
This time it’s different. This time it’s a family affair. Joining him in Tuohy’s Downtown will be his sisters, Kimi Dziubek and Audra Tannenholz and her husband, William Arthur Eggers.
Sean Tuohy moved to Vero Beach from Tampa four years ago to open Post & Vine with a friend but now, he said, it’s time to strike out on his own.
“It’s time for me to do my own thing. Opening a restaurant with my family has been a lifelong dream,” he said. Tuohy has four siblings that have all, at one time in their lives, worked in the restaurant business. “We are a restaurant family.”
While opening Tuohy’s Downtown is an exciting first episode for the family, there is an equally exciting second episode. Shortly after Tuohy’s opens in the space that was occupied by the Ono Luau at 2045 13th Ave., the 21st Amendment Distillery will open a bar, production facility and tasting room next door. And the two have already partnered.
The quaffers at 21st Amendment Distillery will be able to order food from Tuohy’s. Now, that’s a commercial partnership befitting a family operation.
