“After very careful consideration, we have notified our landlord that we will be vacating our location at 745 Bennett Rd. by the end of December,” Oakley wrote in a Facebook post today. Oakley cited “circumstances well beyond our control” preventing Smiling Bison’s long-term sustainability as the primary reason for leaving.
“Basic daily kitchen activities that would normally be efficient and easy have been an enormous challenge this whole time,” Oakley told us. “While our menu could easily be called ‘ambitious,’ there is so much more we want to do that this building prevents us from doing.”
Though no hard closing date has been announced, Oakley says it will likely be sometime in the third week of December. In order to focus attention on their successful operation in Sanford, hours at the Orlando location will now be Thursday-Saturday 5:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. with Sunday brunch going from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plans call for lunch and brunch to be served at the Sanford location soon.
Oakley tells Orlando Weekly that the final day will be in the vicinity of Dec. 20, and that they’re currently planning a going-away bash or two.
That said, Oakley has every hope of re-establishing Smiling Bison in Orlando:
“While I’m very sad to go, my hope is that the opportunity to focus all of our time and efforts on our Sanford location will result in us finding our way back to Orlando bigger and better than ever.”
In the meantime, the last six weeks will see some favorite dishes and musicians return to the restaurant.
So long, beef on weck. You’ll be sorely missed.
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This article appears in Nov 2-8, 2016.
