Bogard’s, the International Drive restaurant that opened a couple of years ago in the former Darrel’s space, has closed. Someone who answered the phone at Salt Island, sister restaurant to Bogard’s, said the closing was a business decision. I’m thinking the bright orange tax lien sticker on the front door may have had something to do with it, as well.
I never officially reviewed Bogard’s. My first visit was mediocre or slightly lower, and I just never got around to going back. It served a menu not easily classified that wandered from oyster bar to seafood restaurant to steakhouse. Its motto was, “The restaurant your mother warned you about.” The servers, almost all women, wore torn fishnet stockings. I think the place was going for a biker bar sort of aura. I don’t know why that would mean their stockings had to be torn, but I wasn’t involved in the branding decision. The centerpiece of the dining room was a clear plexiglass shute that ran from the roof down through the two-story room. Every few minutes a load of ice cubes would shoosh noisily down the chute to the bar.
Although Bogard’s is closed, Salt Island remains open.