Is fifth time the charm for 119 S. Main St.?
Brian Acquavella certainly believes so. The owner of Baltimore's Blue Agave Restaurante y Teguileria is set to open a new restaurant on the site of the now-closed Main Street Oyster House in downtown Bel Air.
Black Eyed Suzie's, which will offer "Maryland-influenced seafood and American cuisine," is expected to open this week, Acquavella said Thursday.
"Our chef is a barbecue nut," he said about Jacob Nelson, who is coming to Bel Air after working at the Towson Tavern.
Acquavella explained the wide menu will offer a diverse selection.
"We are really excited about that. I think our chef is going to be a great fit," he said. "It's such a large space that we wanted a place to cater to a lot of people."
Black Eyed Suzie's would be the fifth restaurant to be in the Main Street building in a decade. The Oyster House opened in October 2013 and featured a large mural of fishermen on the side of the building, which has been painted over.
"I know that a lot of people loved the mural and I also learned a lot of people hated the mural," Acquavella said about it. With the "reputation of Main Street Oyster House being so bad, we wanted to make sure people knew we had no part of that."
The business has a beer, wine and liquor license and Acquavella expects to hire about 75 employees.
"I am really excited to get it open," he said of Black Eyed Suzie's. "I feel like we are getting a lot of positive excitement."