A new cocktail lounge is making its way to downtown Iowa City by Dandy Lion co-owner Tommy Connolly, offering a sophisticated atmosphere catered toward professionals working in Iowa City.
Connolly said the lounge is under construction and is set to open in June.
Coined Tyger, Tyger, in reference to the 1794 poem “The Tyger” by William Blake. The cocktail lounge will occupy the building where Cortado Mediterranean Café was formerly situated, located at 26 S. Clinton St., before the coffee shop closed earlier this year.
Cortado, which opened in Iowa City in 2016, announced its closure on Jan. 6 in a social media post.
“We have loved being a place for the town to come together and enjoy great coffee and food,” the social media post said. “10 years went by in a flash, but the memories will stay forever. A bittersweet ending to such a wonderful dream.”
The cafe’s last day of operations was Jan. 30.
Connolly said he chose the name for the new cocktail lounge to honor Iowa City’s long-standing history of literature and art, and to have the lounge evoke a similar feeling as Blake’s poem.
“It’s very straightforward, very charming, kind of endearing. It appeals to both children and adults,” Connolly said. “It’s got great evocative imagery.”
Connolly said his vision for the lounge is for it to have a “Moroccan disco” ambiance, with dark, rich colors to create a warm, sophisticated, and inviting atmosphere.
He said it will be decorated with comfortable furnishings that encourage conversation, such as C-shaped booths, cocktail tables, and club chairs, with draperies and curtains to give it a more vibrant and intimate feel.
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Connolly also hopes to offer a full bar service and menu. He will aim to have around 15 to 25 items on the menu, with an American bistro-style selection, including appetizers, seafood, salads, entrees, and desserts. The lounge would be open from 5 p.m. to midnight, and may potentially serve daytime coffee.
Connolly has a long history of owning restaurants in Iowa City. He is a co-owner of Bluebird Diner, which has expanded beyond Iowa City and into North Liberty and Solon. He and his family had also owned the Tobacco Bowl, at 111 S. Dubuque St., until 2014, when it was replaced by the more family-oriented pizza arcade Forbidden Planet.
However, Forbidden Planet closed in 2018, with Connolly transforming the space into The Dandy Lion, a Southern-style breakfast and lunch restaurant that continues to operate downtown.
Tyger, Tyger would be the second cocktail lounge to open in Iowa City this year, with the French-inspired Claude opening on Jan. 10.
Ross Wagenhofer, a Coralville resident and a regular of higher-end cocktail bars, such as the Green House or Coralville’s whiskey-oriented Chart Room, said while he loves these types of establishments, he is worried about the potential for oversaturation.
“It does seem like there’s been a very rapid proliferation of them in the past two, three years,” Wagenhofer said. “And so I do have this sort of concern that we might see some of them going belly up in the future years, and say the market gets a little oversaturated if the supply outstrips the demand for fancy cocktail places.”
Connolly said he will make Tyger, Tyger distinct through its tone and ambiance. While it would also offer a refined environment targeted toward older residents of Iowa City, similar to recent cocktail restaurants, he hopes to also capture a more comfortable and inviting feeling that can appeal to young professionals.
“My goal and my hope is that we serve people that want a place to drink that’s more relaxed, not oriented toward party animals,” Connolly said. “A little more sophisticated, that serves incredible cocktails, that’s comfortable. That the professionals, the students, whoever wants to enter into an environment like that. That’s our target audience.”