In the Know: What is happening at old Mr. J's Tavern in North Naples?

Q: Is there another tav­ern going in where the old Mr. J’s Tavern was in the plaza at U.S. 41 and Wig­gins Pass Road?

— Barry Willms, Mineral City, Ohio, and Naples

Q: What is happening in the old Mr. J’s in the Wig­gins Pass Crossing? I drove by there recently and there is a new sign showing something about a Beach Bar & Grille. Do you have any information? Thanks.

— Jennifer, Naples

A: It is what it is: A new tavern will bring a bit of the Bahamas to North Naples when it opens later this month.

Although the new tav­ern’s complete name is It Is What It Is Beach Bar and Grille, its owners want you to pronounce its partial acronym — IIWII — as “E-wee,” as in IIWII Beach Bar.

As noted, this won’t be the first tavern to occupy that Wiggins Pass Cross­ing space. Mr. J’s Tavern had a 10-year run there as a sports bar beginning in 2000, and another op­erator ran it for a few more months as Mr. Jerry’s Tav­ern until it closed in early 2011.

IIWII will bring more than a strange new name to 13510 U.S. 41 N. The former tavern has been gutted and expanded and exposed to a new latitude and attitude.

A huge mural of a tropical is­land setting welcomes visitors to the bar, and other walls are painted bright island colors such as turquoise or lemon yellow. A front wall has been knocked out for one of three bars, a screened porch juts off the south end, sand has been added around an abutting small lake, and nearby ham­mocks and misters com­plement the setting.

Co-owner Dean Meyers said he modeled his new bar after Compass Point Beach Resort in the Bahamas, which he calls “a real casual, laid-back, little neighborhood place with great dining.”

“It’s a really, really, really cool place,” Meyers said. “When we saw that, we wanted to open something like that in Naples in our own little way.”

Wiggins Pass Crossing is the strip center where Pizzeria PiccoBello opened in January in the former Gatsby’s Pizza location on the other end of the back strip. Café Figaro, which serves Eastern European cuisine, is nearby in that nine-unit strip.

Zaxby's coming to Southwest Florida?

Q: Any chance a Zaxby’s is going to pop up somewhere in Southwest Florida?

— Jessica, Naples

A: The best bet is in Lee County for a Zaxby’s in this region, but specific information is not available, according to a spokeswoman for the national chain of casual-dining restaurants built around chicken fingers and wings.

“Nothing has been finalized yet, but Zaxby’s does have interest in the Lee County area and is actively looking at developing a location there,” said Alexa Orndoff, spokeswoman for the company.

Although Zaxby’s does not have any restaurants in Lee or Collier counties, it has many locations in Florida, especially in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Gainesville and the Panhandle. The Athens, Ga.-based chain has more than 550 locations in 12 states, primarily in the Southeast, and each restaurant is independently owned and operated.

The most popular items on Zaxby’s menu are its chicken finger plate, which includes Chicken Fingerz, crinkle fries, Texas toast, coleslaw and Zax Sauce, a mayo-ketchup-based dipping sauce; and Wings & Things, which adds Buffalo wings, celery and ranch dressing to the chicken finger plate.

___

Have a local question? Email it with your name and city of residence to intheknow@naplesnews.com.

"In the Know" is published Mondays and Wednesdays in the Naples Daily News. Find a complete archive of "In the Know" columns at naplesnews.com/intheknow.