by TM Petaccia

Soul Gastrolounge will reopen this fall right outside NoDa in Sugar Creek at The Pass. Photo courtesy

After a nine-month search, owners Andy and Lesa Kastanas have announced Soul Gastrolounge has finalized a new location. The former Plaza Midwood bar and restaurant will one of the first businesses to open this fall at The Pass, a multi-use project on Raleigh Avenue, across from the Sugar Creek CATS light rail stop.

The popular spot closed abruptly in August 2022 due to a sudden rent increase. Lesa Kastanas wrote about the process of finding a new home in her recent piece for Unpretentious Palate.

“Eight months have passed since we ended that 15-year relationship,” she says in her essay. “The long wait is almost over and we’ll build it. All. Again.”‘

The new 6,400 square-foot space is more than three times the size of the original location. It will also feature a large outdoor patio and a reimagined Tattoo Liquor Lounge (formerly housed inside Kiki/Sister in Plaza Midwood) with a separate entrance.

“We continue to be so grateful for and touched by how much this community has loved us through this,” says managing partner Andy Kastanas. “The outpouring has sustained us and fueled our resolve to return. We are excited to be on the ground floor of this developing new area of town.”

The kitchen will be considerably larger than the original space which will allow the business to continue to prep and operate its the food truck business which it started when the restaurant closed. Kastanas also speculated the larger kitchen may also allow for a catering business.

“We know how much Soul has been missed in the community since their closing, so we’re thrilled to announce them as the first signed tenant at The Pass,” says Hank Farmer, managing partner at Third & Urban, the project’s developer. “Soul is the right restaurant to anchor the first phase of retail here.”

Soul’s iconic peacock will move to the new location. Photo courtesy

Scott Weaver who created the interior design of the original Soul Gastrolounge has been tapped to also design the new location. “To be able to revisit this project is incredibly exciting,” he says. “I always thought of Soul, in terms of its feeling, as an apartment. Now, it’s like we are moving into a house, where you take your most beloved objects and rework them into the new space.

“The opportunity to recreate Tattoo is something I am really looking forward to,” Weaver says. “Having a slightly larger space will allow that vision to be even more fully realized and invite more people to experience the seductive dark glamour of this bespoke cocktail destination.”

When Soul closed, many of its signature design pieces were moved into storage, including the taxidermy peacock, the Duy Huynh artwork, the booths, the custom bar, the JJ booth, and the rumored-to-be-haunted mirror from Tattoo.

“All those things will be worked into this new spot,” Andy Kastanas says. “We’ll have a bit of room to spread out, but it’ll all be there.”