Barry Bramlett, owner of the soon-to-open Bear’s Place bar and grill, stands outside the establishment at 504 E. 15th St. in Fayetteville.
Staff photo
Bratwursts, burgers, fried chicken drummies, and beer are the planned staples of a new bar and grill set to open on 15th Street in Fayetteville.
The new restaurant will be called Bear’s Place, after owner Barry Bramlett (who also happens to be my great uncle).
Bramlett purchased the building, located at 504 E. 15th St., from the family who ran Pop’s BBQ in the same location for the last several years. The restaurant closed recently after Bill “Willard” Starks (affectionately known locally as “Pop”) passed away about a year ago.
The Bramlett family have been renovating the building for the past three weeks. A new bar, patio, live music stage, and a new coat of green and black paint on the exterior of the building are some of the improvements already visible at the location.
Bramlett said he decided to fulfill a dream of opening a restaurant after retiring as a technician for AT&T in February. “I tell you what, I got tired of all my friends coming over and drinking all my beer,” he joked. “I decided to open a place up, and start charging them for it.”
The bar will host live music Friday and Saturday night, as well as an open mic night featuring whoever shows up with their guitar every Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m. The bar will also keep an assortment of board games on hand to keep patrons occupied.
The menu was developed in part by Bramlett’s son Chase and his girlfriend Dina Pellow, who will help run the kitchen at Bear’s Place. Pellow said she has been working on recipes for several weeks, and is especially excited about her fried drummies.
“We’ll have a few different flavors of drummies; a barbecue, a hot buffalo, and a dry rub flavor,” she said. “No one is really doing any thing like that, and I think those will set us apart.”
The bar, Bramlett said, will focus on inexpensive beers in cans and a small wine selection, along with 16-oz. “dixie cup” drafts in paper cups for $1.50.
If all goes according to plan, Bear’s Place will be open with a limited menu in time for Bikes, Blues & BBQ on Sept. 26.
Sounds like my kind of place! They should try to market to crowds at baseball games/tournaments at Walker Park, they could cash in being so close if people knew they were there.
Hate to hear about Pop passing and his restaurant closing, though. That was also my kind of place.
Good luck, Barry!
This place had a sign outside that said Kountry Kitchen like a week ago, unless I misread it.
Hey Chuck. You’re right. According to Barry, that was underneath the Pop’s sign. The plan is to have local sign painter Joel Armstrong paint a Bear’s Place sign over that sign soon.
Cool thanks for the explanation, I thought there was some heavy turnover going on at that location.
I definitely noticed that new paint job when I pasted by Saturday. Looking forward to trying it out.
Really wish there was an edit comment function. Sadly, this is not the first time I’ve posted in haste and ended up looking sub-literate.
No worries, I totally pasted right by your typo. :)
Although it is regrettable that it will never be Drake’s Cafe again, it is good to see that a new occupant has taken over the location. I like to see things going on in that part of town.
Thanks Dustin for the write up today!!
NICE….I always like that spot..it’s there is some good KARMA from MA-DRAKE at that location…
Welcome Bear’s on 15th St. Live music is the best entertainment. Good to see another bar restaurant planning to be a venue for live music, local artists. See you at Bear’s!
Go, Southtown, Go! I love to see new businesses popping up where all my friends are moving now!
Is there any place in Fayetteville to get a good chicken fried steak now that Pop’s has closed?