Joe and Eddie’s to reopen at new Fort Walton Beach site
Joe and Eddie's to reopen at new Fort Walton Beach site
By DUSTY RICKETTS, Florida Freedom Newspapers
FORT WALTON BEACH - After an absence of nearly three years, the popular eatery Joe & Eddie's looks to return in the coming weeks.
Joe & Eddie's closed in September 2005 - following more than 50 years of business in downtown Fort Walton Beach - to make room for a new fourstory building at the old restaurant's site, with a new Joe & Eddie's planned to anchor the new development.
But with plans for that new building progressing slower than the owners had expected, they have decided to reopen Joe & Eddie's on Eglin Parkway across the street from Goofy Golf at the site of the old PoFolks restaurant.
"We're pushing (to have the restaurant open) for the end of the month or the first of July," said Ann Perillo, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Gerald. "We're really pushing for the end of the month, but sometimes you have to wait on people.
"We miss it. We miss the people we got involved with," she said. "We realized it was our social life. It was just part of who we were."
Workers were repainting the building on Monday morning, and the owners are working on setting up the dining areas and the kitchen of the new restaurant. Once it opens, the new Joe & Eddie's will operate from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.
"It's almost the same (menu) with a little bit extra added, some appetizers and soups," Ann Perillo said.
Joe & Eddie's first opened in 1954 on Florida Place, and it's been a family affair ever since.
Current owner Gerard Perillo is the nephew of the original owners and started working at the restaurant in 1962. Two years later, Ann was hired and the two eventually fell in love and were married. They bought the restaurant in 1973.
The two closed the restaurant in 2005 to construct a new mixed-used building that would be anchored by a new Joe & Eddie's restaurant along with five or six other retail businesses on the ground floor. The top three floors would be used as condominiums.
The Perillos still plan to go forward with those plans, but progress has been delayed by the economic slowdown. Ann Perillo said when the new building is completed, they plan to keep the Eglin Parkway location open and have two Joe & Eddie's restaurants.