The instrument-themed collage on the ceiling of Double Roads' main room.
An area called Double Roads was a teenage hangout for surfing, bonfires and other social events along the ocean north of Marcinski Road in Juno Beach from the 1960s to the 1980s.
From 2014 to 2021, longtime South Florida resident and musical performer Vince Flora paid homage to that area through the Double Roads Tavern he opened with wife Kelly in Jupiter.
A mix of COVID-19 complications and noise ordinance restrictions against presenting live music more safely outdoors led the couple not to renew a seven-year lease at 251 U.S. Highway 1.
After an exhaustive search for a new location, the Floras have returned to the neighborhood.
Double Roads reopens as a more versatile club and restaurant Jan. 19 next to its old site — in the former Outback Steakhouse in the west end of the Jupiter Square plaza at the intersection of U.S. Highway 1 and Indiantown Road.
Artwork within the new Double Roads in Jupiter.
“I have a 10-year lease here,” Vince Flora says, “and the space to implement all the ideas I didn’t have room for there, where I had about 2,700 square feet. Here, it’s almost 7,000, and with better parking.”
The new location’s main room resembles the previous Double Roads, with the stage on its north wall and kitchen on its east end. Much of the extra square footage is taken up by that expansive kitchen, which doubles as a bar and features a wood-fired pizza oven.
Pizzas also will be available as to-go orders from a serving area in the club’s southeast corner as part of a new menu that includes Southern barbecue, burgers and seafood served with Florida flair.
“I always wanted to serve quality barbecue,” he says. “There’ll be brisket, pulled pork sandwiches, mac and cheese, collard greens, pickled foods, homemade bread from our pizza oven, and smoked shrimp, salmon and fish dip. We just catered a wedding in Jupiter Farms for 200 people.”
A private, soundproof, Prohibition-style speakeasy room on the south end has a separate bar, a staging area for jazz and blues acts, and an entrance accessible only by thumbprint. Bob Dylan’s welded-iron gate sculptures adorn the walls, and his signature line of libations, Heaven’s Door Whiskey, is among the bourbons served at Double Roads.
“Heaven’s Door Speakeasy is a membership club priced at $1,500 per year,” Flora says. “For that, you get an elevated level of service, with craft cocktail bartenders and a special food menu. The room will be event-driven for things like football games, happy hours and corporate meetings.”
Email heavensdoorspeakeasyjupfl@gmail.com for more information.
Flora is a vocalist and harmonica player, and his band, Big Vince and the Phat Cats, will make occasional appearances on the club’s main stage, which has an adjacent VIP lounge available for rent for $200 for parties of six to eight.
Music remains the venue’s central theme, with instruments on the walls and ceiling and a booth selling LPs, T-shirts, musical accessories and even instruments, some autographed. Some of those LPs are used for 33⅓ Tuesdays, which run from 7 to 11 p.m.
Jazz Sundays feature a brunch from noon to 3 and a jam from 5 to 9 hosted by multi-instrumentalist Tom Regis. Chicago blues guitarist/vocalist Frank Bang hosts Jam Session nights on Mondays from 7 to 11. Western Whisky Wednesdays and Blues, Bourbon & Brisket Thursdays run from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m.
Seating for local and touring artists can be reserved online for $10 Monday to Wednesday and $10 to $25 Thursday to Sunday, depending on bookings, with a $25 minimum spend at all seats.
The stage is emblazoned with and sponsored by Santo Tequila, the joint venture between former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar and the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” host, Guy Fieri.
“Sammy and Guy are going to help us buy entertainment and promote the club,” Flora says. “Some nights they might also be hanging out here.”
Double Roads is at 103 U.S. Highway 1, Suite A1. Its doors officially open at 5 p.m. Jan. 19. The Jake Walden Band performs from 6 to 8:30 that night, and the Chris O’Leary Band is on from 9:30 to 1.
For further information, call 561-203-7061, or visit doubleroadstavern.com.
