Vinyl Music Hall to expand with new outdoor stage, restaurant and bar this August

Vinyl Music Hall is getting ready to show Pensacola a different side through its brand-new outdoor venue making its debut this August in honor of Vinyl’s 13th birthday.

The fenced in courtyard will be covered in greenery, a chic white décor, a tile-lined bar and an in-house food truck called Proper Burger. As a nod to Vinyl’s name the outdoor area will be named B Side.

The courtyard space will also have a small stage providing opportunity for small-scale acoustic type sets and TVs to stream major sporting events.

Vinyl co-founders and cousins, Harry Levin and Evan Levin, fulfilled their dream of bringing a local music venue to Pensacola's downtown in 2010. With the help of Teri Levin and the vision of her late husband, Allen Levin, who bought the building in 2005 but died in 2007, Vinyl is entering in its next chapter of expanding entertainment onto Garden Street.

Artisan Restaurant Group opens Gaby's: New Pensacola restaurant bringing Cali-Mex fare, all-day breakfast, year-round summer vibe

Tacos Mexicanos sees major growth: Tacos Mexicanos food truck owners are opening two new restaurants. Here's what we know.

“It’s really special. When I’m going to a show, I can feel the energy and I can feel my husband looking down and thinking, ‘Job well done,’" B Side co-founder Teri Levin said. “We want to bring big city experiences and energy to downtown. We want people to enjoy being outside and downtown.”

The Levins will be running the B Side operation, while Artisan Restaurant Group will be focused on providing the quality food. That takes the shape of the emerald green outdoor food kitchen Proper Burger.

“I have a big U.K. heritage, so when something is amazing, you call it ‘proper,’” Artisan Restaurant Group co-founder Raf Simpson said. “It’s kind of colloquial terminology there for amazing things.”

Proper Burger’s short and sweet menu will be the cream of the crop when it comes to curating the perfect downtown Pensacola smash burger, Simpson said.

“It (the menu) speaks for itself, but then we’re going to surprise and delight everybody,” Simpson said.

There will be a handful of core burgers, along with a variety of special rotating burgers. So far, they have tested about 100 specialty burgers, and the top 10 will likely make it to the menu.

“From a food standpoint, I think the more simple burger, the better. However, we’re going to have some really fun specials. Really fun tie-ins with food, burgers and collaborations we’ve enjoyed in other parts of the world,” Simpson said.

“What an opportunity to be able to bring some great food but marry it with an amazing bar program because we’re not just serving cold beer. It’s going to be a really great bar program,” Simpson added.

Plans are for B Side to be open daily, however, hours of operation will be updated closer to opening day.

The restaurant group successful launched Gaby’s Taqueria last year, named after Tacos Mexicanos co-owner Gabriela Ramirez.

Ramirez and husband, Gabriel Hernandez, have been hard at work growing the Tacos Mexicanos brand, which recently opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant bearing their popular food truck’s name near the Pensacola State College campus late last year in partnership with Artisan Restaurant Group.

Even though the type of food will be different at Proper Burger, Hernandez said the commitment to quality will remain the same.

"Just focus on good ingredients and when you start with good ingredients, the outcome is going to be good. We don’t like to mess with things too much,” Hernandez said. “We will have the simple staple burgers here and then some of the specials too, but we’re not going to deviate from the quality at all. So that’s really pretty much a very simple start with good ingredients and you’ll get a good product.”

Proper Burger will roll out during August in alignment with Vinyl’s 13th birthday.

“I figured we’re going to do a little party and introduce Proper Burger as an extension to the music hall. We figured it would be a great place because people are waiting in line, they can come in and get a delicious burger and fries, have a cocktail and go in,” Teri Levin said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Vinyl Music Hall to expand outdoors with stage, burgers and cocktails