FB Society invests more than $1 million to transform Ida Claire into Whiskey Cake

Whiskey Cake is betting that more than $1 million in exterior and interior renovations to its former Ida Claire restaurant at Town Center will make the venue a success.

Ben Woodring, vice president of Operations at Dallas-based FB Society, said the company failed to invest in reworking the building when it opened Ida Claire in 2019.

"It still looked like a Mimi's for all intents and purposes. We hadn't really transformed the building," Woodring said.

"With Whiskey Cake, once you walk in you will be transported. You'll know you're in a different place."

Mimi's Cafe was the original tenant at 10209 River Coast Drive. It opened 2005 and closed in 2019. Ida Claire opened later that year.

There are 12 Whiskey Cake locations in Florida, Oklahoma and Texas. Jacksonville joins Tampa when the restaurant opens Nov. 7 as the two Florida restaurants.

Besides Whiskey Cake and Ida Claire, FB Society's 20 brands include Mexican Sugar, Sixty Vines, The Ranch, Haywire and Son of a Butcher Slider Bar.

Whiskey Cake debuted in 2010.

Woodring said each Whiskey Cake features a different look depending on the building's size and configuration. The Jacksonville restaurant is 7,400 square feet and can accommodate about 350 customers, he said. It has two private dining areas.

With many restaurants in the Town Center area, being relatively new to Florida is the company's advantage, Woodring said.

"The Town Center has a lot of big kind of national chains. If you can be a dynamic and progressive independent restaurant or smaller chain, it's really an alternative to kind of what some of the other restaurants in that area offer you."

Whiskey Cake features a Whiskey Wall in its bar with 200 spirits. There also are craft cocktails.

The restaurant will buy bread, pasta, seafood and coffee from local providers, as it does at all of its locations where possible.

"Because of those partnerships I will say the seafood will be better in Jacksonville than it will be in Tampa and better than in Texas," he said.

Lunch and dinner menu includes snacks, comprising 11 from flash-fried Brussels sprouts for $9.50 to a butcher board for $21; eight mains from the $20 harvest shepherd's pie to a $31 for steak frites; five sandwiches from the $16.50 hot hen to the $18.50 smoked tri dip; four salads, from the $15 golden beet salad to the $18 lemongrass shrimp & noodle; as well as sides, kids' meals and juices. The prices and items served are from the Tampa Whiskey Cake menu.

Whiskey Cake is open daily for lunch and dinner and offers brunch on weekends.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Woodring also answered the question about its name. What is a Whiskey Cake?

It is a signature dessert.

"It's sticky toffee cake and it's drizzled with caramel sauce topped with spiced pecans and a housemaid vanilla whipped cream that we make every 30 minutes so it's fresh," he said.

"It's good enough to name a restaurant after it."