The space in the Winn-Dixie Plaza at the corner of Curry Ford Road and Crystal Lake Drive that was most recently the home of Southern Moon Smokehouse will next hold two businesses, a Mexican restaurant and a craft brewery.
La Fiesta Mexican Grill will move from its spot across the street to take over part of the space, which was also the address for Holy Smoke barbecue. It was originally an Eckerd drugstore.
They will share the space with a new business, Ocean Sun Brewing. Ocean Sun is a partnership of three restaurant veterans, Bob Deweese and brothers Mark and Steve Wilkerson. Mark Wilkerson said he expects Ocean Sun’s taps to start flowing in late February. He expects the restaurant to open before the brewery. He said that he is in talks with the restaurant’s owner to provide food to the brewery’s patrons. La Fiesta’s owner was not immediately available for comment.
Wilkerson said that a master brewer has been hired, but he could not divulge the name because he was still working for another local brewer and is not ready to leave that position.
When Southern Moon opened in March of 2014, it was the intention of the owners to also have a craft brewery operation. House-made root beer was about as close as they came. There was a break in the partnership at Southern Moon late last year and the restaurant closed some months later.
This will not be the first move for La Fiesta. It started out in a small shack on Curry Ford just east of Bumby Avenue before moving to 2901 Curry Ford Road, presumably for more seating possibilities. The new space at 3030 Curry Ford Road should give the Mexican restaurant even more seats.
