Jenice Armstrong: Owners of the legendary Zanzibar Blue are about to open a new spot

ZANZIBAR BLUE was once Philly's go-to spot for jazz. Nationally known acts performed there - stars such as Dianne Reeves, Michael Buble and Harry Connick Jr., as well as up and coming young artists.

Its unexpected closing two years ago caught jazz lovers by surprise and left a gaping hole in the local scene - not to mention my own social life. I haven't been out to listen to jazz since the restaurant was shuttered.

Not even once.

Zanzibar Blue, owned by brothers Robert and Benjamin Bynum, was as much a part of the city's social fabric as Old Original Bookbinders, Penn's Landing, and Pat's Steaks. It was where you took out-of-towners you wanted to impress. Zanzibar Blue was Philadelphia's answer to Harlem, N.Y.'s, legendary Sylvia's Restaurant and Washington, D.C.'s, Blues Alley.

"Whenever you didn't have anything to do, you could just drop by and see what was going on," recalled Karen E. Quinones Miller, a Philly-based novelist/publisher who not only socialized at Zanzibar Blue but held her first book party there.

There was almost always something going on, if not a jazz performance then a party or maybe a political fund-raiser. When the restaurant moved from 11th and Pine streets to larger, more upscale quarters at Broad and Walnut, you could count on seeing someone you knew. And on being seen.

Although practically everyone went there, Zanzibar Blue was particularly a mecca for the city's black professional crowd. It's not a stretch to say that the day the restaurant died marked the end of an era, one that had spanned nearly 20 years.

The ensuing years may have been quieter, but they remained productive for the Bynums, who still own Warmdaddy's, a Southern-style watering hole that has relocated from Old City to the RiverView Plaza on Columbus Boulevard.

Freed from the nightly demands of running Zanzibar Blue, Robert has had time to be hands-on with his first daughter, Isabella, who just turned 2. He also has more time to spend with his son, Ishmael, now 9, and his wife of six years, Kimberly Bynum.

Benjamin Jr., who is in charge of food operations, has been able to devote more of his attention to Warmdaddy's instead of dividing his time among various enterprises.

"I had been working in the nightlife since I was 18. When we closed, I was 48," pointed out Robert, who got his start working at his parents' Cadillac Club at 3738 Germantown Ave., which later became Impulse.

Other Bynum brothers' nightspots included Brave New World, Zanzibar Blue in Wilmington and The Sound of Philadelphia. They also consulted at establishments around town and elsewhere, most recently at JL Sullivans, a sports lounge and restaurant that opened in their old location at Broad and Walnut streets, McFaddens, and Sadiki's restaurant in West Oak Lane.

Now, after lying low for the last two years, the Bynums are on the verge of opening yet another enterprise, this one to be called Relish. They are doing it in partnership with the Ogontz Avenue Redevelopment Corp. (OARC), which still maintains 51 percent ownership of Sadiki's restaurant. The Bynums own the other 49 percent.

Thanks in part to the leadership of state Rep. Dwight Evans, (D-Phila.), West Oak Lane has experienced an influx of businesses including Art Noir, African Expressions, Cornbread & Coffee and Dawn's Early Breakfast.

But the 7152 Ogontz Ave. restaurant location that was conceived early on as a crown jewel of the neighborhood's revitalization has had a checkered history. Over the years, it has gone from being a Hard Shell Cafe to the Home Cooking Cafe to the Ogontz Grill to its current incarnation as Sadiki's.

"Hard Shell ran into tough economic times. They didn't just close this one, they closed them all . . . With Home Cooking, one of the owners had a massive stroke and they just couldn't do it," explained Jack Kitchen, president and chief executive officer of OARC. "Then, we went with the Ogontz Grill. The Ogontz Grill wasn't working.

"It's always about making things better," Kitchen added.

The plan is to close Sadiki's on Sunday and reopen on March 1 as Relish, which will feature live jazz music Thursday through Sunday. Sadiki's "Catch a Rising Star," an "American Idol"-style talent contest, will continue to its conclusion. The winner performs at the neighborhood's 2009 West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival.

Philly-based interior designer Kia Steave-Dickerson of TLC's "Trading Spaces" fame has been tapped to make the restaurant over and give it a kind of Charleston, S.C.-style feel that calls to mind the Gullah people, African-Americans who traditionally live in that area.

The restaurant's menu is in the process of being reworked with the new emphasis being on modern Southern cuisine. At Warmdaddy's you might find fried catfish and fried chicken, but the offerings at Relish will be lighter with a modern twist - macaroni and cheese, maybe with lobster. The challenge, though, is to keep entree prices under $20, which won't be easy given escalating food costs. The Bynums plan to procure some items locally from the Mount Airy-based Weavers Way food cooperative, which recently expanded into the neighborhood.

"I can honestly say we weren't really looking for a space," Robert said last week. "Because we were somewhat content with doing what we were doing."

"We've been working with them [OARC] for long enough. Our confidence level was good. We saw what the patent was."

During their days of running Zanzibar Blue, the Bynums conducted focus groups looking into what their customers wanted. Over and over, they heard that many were turned off by parking and traffic hassles in Center City. Patrons complained that after the move to Broad Street, regulars didn't find the newer space as welcoming as the old. The restaurant lost some of its "Cheers" atmosphere. Some regulars accused it of becoming too expensive, more elitist.

"One of the things we found here at Sadiki's on a Saturday night, you're hanging out at the bar . . . and there will be five or six tables that we know from Zanzibar Blue," Robert said.

But isn't it a bad time to be opening a restaurant? Americans jittery about the economy are eating out less and slashing their entertainment budgets.

"But we are going to be where you don't have to drive downtown and spend a lot on parking and gas," Robert said, adding that Relish has 50 parking spaces and is across the street from another parking lot. "You can come and spend not a whole lot of money and still have a nice night out."

Even with steadily mounting job losses and concerns over the passage and implementation of President Obama's proposed economic stimulus package, people still need diversions.

"They don't want to stay home. That becomes more depressing," Robert said.

The challenge, though, will be to get residents to not only frequent the restaurant but to keep coming back. They don't want the restaurant to be viewed solely as a place to celebrate a birthday or some other special event. The Bynums hope restaurantgoers will come to view Relish the way they did the original Zanzibar Blue.

"We want everyone to feel welcome. We don't want to alienate anyone," said Benjamin, who overseas the kitchen and menu. "We don't want to be considered highbrow. We want to be a place that's part of the community."

"This needs to be a place that people feel proud about," he continued, pausing as he braised some short ribs. "We would like to evoke the feel of that place [the old Zanzibar], that specialness that was there." *