Iberian Rooster To Say Goodbye To St. Pete At The End Of Month

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — St. Petersburg will say a permanent goodbye to the Iberian Rooster after its owner said Thursday on Facebook that its last day of business is Feb. 27.

Iberian Rooster opened in November 2016 on Central Avenue in the downtown Kress Building. The restaurant and its adjoining Subcentral Speakeasy had been a place of entertainment and fun for the diverse St. Pete culture. It's hosted drag shows, open mic comedy nights, karaoke, burlesque shows and live music performances for more than four years.

The downstairs speakeasy area that hosted many events and performances felt like a step back in history to Chicago during the Prohibition Era. If the rumor is true, Al Capone used the basement area that houses the speakeasy for his rum-running business.

There's no hiding the rum and other liquors at Iberian. Owner Russell Andrade needs the community to come out and drink it all up. "Incidentally...I've got a ton of alcohol left," he said on Facebook. "Come help me get through it. We will be having insane drink specials this week."

The venue will close its doors after its final drag brunch on Feb. 27 hosted by Adriana Sparkle.

"My family and I wish you the best and hope you'll stop in over the next week to say hello," Andrade said. "We will be serving drag brunch this Saturday and next, so please come and support them. We will also be open for our open mic night on Tuesday evening, our comedy night on Wednesday, all you can drink on Thursday, entertainment extravaganza this Friday night and karaoke next Friday night. We will open doors at 7 p.m. on those nights."

Andrade told the Tampa Bay Times that business at the restaurant had slowed considerably. The loss of events due to the pandemic took a financial toll on the venue.

“In 2019 we held over 400 events,” Andrade told the outlet. “We had events every night — sometimes two a night. When you go from doing 400 in one year to doing essentially none it doesn’t work so well.”