Soul Fish Cafe, located in the former Wolf Camera, will be a new neighbor for Sekisui Pacific Rim on Poplar Avenue.
The transformation of the former Wolf Camera on Poplar Avenue into the third Soul Fish Café is well under way, with little left of the longtime business except the building’s exterior shell.
Demolition started about six weeks ago, and co-owner Raymond Williams is hoping to complete the build-out by mid to late August. “That’s if everything stays on schedule, which doesn’t always happen in the restaurant business,” he said.
Williams, who also operates the original Soul Fish in Cooper-Young and the restaurant’s second location in Germantown, said customers will park in the back and enter on the cafe’s east side. A patio for outdoor dining will stretch across the front of the building.
“This wasn’t a restaurant, so it’s cost us a small fortune, but we’ve been looking for a location in this part of town for the past five years,” Williams said.
Located across the street from where the much-loved Knickerbocker Restaurant once stood, Soul Fish will join a prosperous list of restaurants already located nearby, including Sekisui Pacific Rim, Jim’s Place, Huey’s, Dixie Café, Ciao Bella, Swanky's Taco Shop, Sukura Japanese Restaurant and the Grove Grill.
At the new Soul Fish Cafe, expect an ambience similar to the Cooper-Young restaurant, but with additional menu items now served at the Germantown location. “We’ll have a couple of different fish like trout, our burger, a couple of sandwiches, and our hand-cut fries, which are the best fries in the world,” Williams said.
The cramped kitchen in Cooper-Young can’t accommodate these dishes. “I always tell people the kitchen in their house is probably bigger than the kitchen at our Midtown store,” Williams said. “We are looking forward to having a little more space.”
