Popular Five Points restaurant adding new BullStreet location next to Fireflies stadium
A restaurant and bar that has become a favorite in Five Points is set to open a new location in the BullStreet District.
Publico Kitchen and Tap is planning to set up a new restaurant in the historic Ensor Building on the BullStreet site. That’s directly outside the gates of Segra Park baseball stadium where the Columbia Fireflies play.
The Ensor Building is the former location of Bone-In Barbeque, which closed in Feb. 2020.
Publico Kitchen and Tap owner Mike Duganier said the new Publico, which will open this spring, is “version 2.0” of the concept that debuted in Five Points in 2015. The 3,600-square-foot restaurant in the Ensor Building will have an industrial feel with exposed brick.
“Publico at BullStreet is going to be familiar enough that you know where you are when you walk in, but different enough from the Five Points restaurant to know that we’ve evolved in 2022,” Duganier said in a news release. “Our menu for the most part will be the same as the Five Points location.”
Publico features Latin and Asian inspired menu items, including tacos, ramen, burgers, salads and more. It also has a robust craft beer and cocktail menu.
The BullStreet Publico will feature a turfed patio area that will be pet-friendly, and it will offer a “VIP” — very important puppy — menu from which proceeds will go to SQ Rescue, a no-kill animal rescue organization.
Robert Hughes, president of BullStreet District master developer Hughes Development, lauded the coming arrival of Publico.
“I’ve been a fan and customer of Publico for several years and am excited about having the restaurant in the BullStreet District,” Hughes said in a statement. “The restaurant is innovative, appeals to a cross-section of Columbia and does a lot of important things for the community, which is what the BullStreet District is all about.”
With the plans for BullStreet, the group behind Publico will now have a footprint in three major districts in the Capital City. The Five Points location at 2013 Greene St. initially opened in 2015, then expanded in 2019. Meanwhile, the company is planning to open Boku Kitchen and Saloon at 916 Gervais St. in the Vista, which is the former location of Sure Fire Tacos. Boku will be a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant, and construction work at the site has been ongoing.
The city of Columbia and Hughes Development have long been engaged in an aggressive plan to redevelop the 181-acre former state mental hospital campus along Bull Street. The pace of the project was initially methodical but has gained momentum. There is an REI Co-op outdoor store on the property, as well as a Starbucks.
There are tenants in the Merrill Gardens senior living facility at the site and in the townhomes on the southeast portion of the property. And despite a destructive fire in 2020, work is forging ahead on a $55 million project to turn the historic Babcock Building into more than 200 apartments.
Work is underway on the new WestLawn office building, and the Columbia Fireflies, tenants of the city’s $37 million Segra Park, are set to play a full season in 2022, their first since 2019. (The coronavirus pandemic wiped out the 2020 season and shortened the 2021 campaign.) And the city cut the ribbon on a public park at BullStreet in 2021, which was named for late architect and community leader Page Ellington.
There also are two parking garages currently under construction at BullStreet, and a food hall is planned for the district.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
