Latest news with #SanMarco
Yahoo
09-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Jacksonville's essential restaurants: 5 to try in downtown, Southbank
Picking five "essential" restaurants in downtown Jacksonville is trickier than it sounds. First off, there are dozens of good dining establishments in the downtown area. And then there's the whole question of where downtown ends. As far as the first question, we started with a list of about a dozen places good enough to be essential (which we're defining as a place you really should try at least once), then whittled it down to an essential five by digging through Times-Union archives, Yelp reviews and online menus. For the second, we followed the lead of the city, which considers the Southbank area to be part of downtown, even if two of the restaurants we included in this list claim to be in San Marco. Dining Notes: 💻 Sign up for our free weekly restaurant newsletter from the Times-Union's Gary Mills Now it's your turn: Help pick the next 'essential restaurant' in downtown Jacksonville. Vote for your favorite bb's 1019 Hendricks Ave., (904) 306-0100, A Southbank institution since opening in 2000, bb's offers separate lunch, dinner, dessert and brunch menus packed with items ranging from a Fried Green Tomato Sandwich to Roasted Chicken with a cherry and Coca-Cola glaze. The brunch menu, served Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., is one of the city's best. It's a popular pre-show dining spot, with the city's performing arts center, the Florida Theatre and VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena located just across the river. Restaurant review: Good service, inventive food at San Marco's excellent bb's More restaurant news: What's new or coming soon to Jacksonville's downtown, San Marco in 2025 Bellwether 117 W. Forsyth St., (904) 802-7745, Local is important at Bellwether; meal ingredients are almost exclusively sourced locally or made in-house (or at sister restaurant Orsay). Even the beer comes from Jacksonville-area breweries, and local distillers provide most of the spirits. Bellwether is often packed with downtown workers at lunch, but dinner service ends early (7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 8 p.m. Saturdays). Info: Restaurant review: Bellwether offers fresh, new downtown dining option City Grille & Raw Bar 1314 Prudential Drive, (904) 298-8989, Located on the Southbank of the St. Johns River (which the restaurant's website calls San Marco but the city considers to be 'downtown'), City Grille has grown a following since its 2023 opening. From the 300-year-old live oak out front to the themed dining rooms to a menu that includes items such as escargot, Iberico pork and New Zealand rack of lamb, City Grille's a dining experience you're not likely to soon forget. More on City Grille: Caviar and prime steak: New Jacksonville fine-dining restaurant promises 'sophistication' Cowford Chophouse 101 E. Bay St., (904) 862-6464, Long-time Jacksonville residents will recall the building housing Cowford Chophouse as the downtown 'jaguar' building. The Chophouse opened in 2017 after a multi-million dollar renovation on a century-old bank building that had been decorated with a prowling jaguar in its windows. Today, it's known for its rooftop bar offering views of the Main Street bridge and some of the finest steaks and add-ons in the city. It's not cheap, but it's a meal you'll remember. Restaurant review: Cowford Chophouse a throwback to downtown's fine dining era Indochine 21 E. Adams St., (904) 598-5303, Top-notch Thai food was difficult to come by in downtown Jacksonville before Indochine opened in 2010. It shares a century-old building with the new Dorothy's Downtown. Indochine has become a go-to for fans of pho, Pad Thai and curry dishes. You can build your own dish, choosing between noodles & rice, wok dishes or curries. You then choose your own protein and heat level on a scale of 1-6 (and anything above 4 is seriously hot). Restaurant review: Downtown gets very good Thai with Indochine What are the Essential Restaurants of Jacksonville? Jacksonville has plenty of great restaurants. But in a city as big as ours — it is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, after all — it's easy to overlook some of the true gems. That's where our new guide, Essential Restaurants of Jacksonville, comes in. We're sharing some of the must-try restaurants based on our experiences, past reporting, including Times-Union reviews, and online review sites, in a neighborhood-by-neighborhood guide. For now, we're starting each list with five destination restaurants. Next year, we'll add one more, selected by readers like you. More Essential Restaurants of Jacksonville Look for future Essential Restaurants of Jacksonville lists here as they become available. Want more Jacksonville restaurant news? 📨 Sign up for Dining Notes, the free weekly restaurant newsletter from the Times-Union's Gary Mills delivered to your email inbox each Wednesday. Sign up now. 💻 For the latest restaurant news, including restaurant openings and closings, anytime, visit This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville dining: Bellwether, other must-try downtown restaurants Solve the daily Crossword
CNN
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
What happened on Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's big wedding day
It's been both the most public and secretive wedding of the year. On Friday, the main event of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's three-day-long Venetian extravaganza culminated in a private ceremony held on the secluded, historic San Giorgio Maggiore island in the San Marco sestiere. In the afternoon, the some 200 members of the celebrity guest list, including the Kardashian-Jenner family, Bill Gates, Karlie Kloss, Oprah Winfrey and Usher were all photographed stepping onto water taxis to ferry them to the festivities, but their visibility ended there, with guests seemingly adhering to an apparent social media blackout once inside each of the weekend's events. The ceremony ended discreetly, except for a signal from the fashion world — a Vogue digital cover offering a first look at Sanchez's gown. After much speculation (and not-so-subtle sightings of designer Domenico Dolce in Venice), it revealed her dress was a custom design by Dolce & Gabbana and was a year and a half in the making. The high-necked lace corseted gown had 180 silk chiffon-covered priest buttons dotting the front. Over the course of the night, per Vogue, she had two more outfit changes: a sweetheart-neck dress — another reference, this time to the 1946 film 'Gilda' — for the wedding dinner, and an intricate cocktail dress featuring 175,000 crystals by Oscar de la Renta. San Giorgio Maggiore is known for its gleaming marble Renaissance-era basilicas, designed by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio. But there may have been another, more pragmatic reason the couple opted for the island: privacy. After ongoing protests in the city — including the threat of canal blockades, guerilla-style banners and uncanny Bezos mannequins — allegedly forced Sanchez and Bezos to change one of the weekend's locations at the last minute, the security and inaccessibility of the island was reportedly a key factor in their decision. Venice's Ministry of Tourism has estimated the celebrations will generate almost 68% of the city's annual tourism turnover in just one weekend — but protestors have rallied against what they perceive to be a takeover of the idyllic Italian archipelago city by some of the world's wealthiest people. During the ceremony, the Amazon-founder billionaire and the former journalist likely exchanged rings symbolically. It remains unclear when the couple legally wed (or if they already have, prior to this week, in the US). A spokesperson for the mayor's office in Venice had told CNN on Thursday that the city did not receive an official request from the couple, meaning the events this week are ceremonial and will not be legally binding. Shortly after the Vogue photos were released, Sanchez changed her Instagram account handle to Lauren Sanchez Bezos. Prev Next Before the celebration, Sanchez herself made her way to San Giorgio Maggiore dressed in a '60s-inspired tailored white skirt suit from Dior with a printed silk scarf wrapped Hepburn-style around her head, Jimmy Choo heels and an Hermès Kelly handbag. She blew kisses to photographers as she stepped into a water taxi. Guests have mingled all weekend wearing an array of luxury designers, including vintage Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta and Versace. On the way to San Giorgio Maggiore, Kylie Jenner wore a powder blue long lace-up corset gown, Kim Kardashian chose a slick dark toffee-colored dress and Oprah opted for a draped pink mermaid silhouette. Though details of the wedding performers, like much else, were largely kept under wraps, Italian media reported that Matteo Bocelli — son of Andrea Bocelli, the revered Italian tenor who performed at both Kim and Kourtney Kardashian's weddings in 2014 and 2022, respectively — began the evening by singing 'Can't Help Falling in Love' by Elvis Presley. And if Bocelli made guests misty-eyed, then Lady Gaga — reportedly set to close out the final day of festivities on Saturday — will no doubt bring the party. The pop mega-star is expected to perform at Venice's former medieval shipyard, the Arsenale — which has been modernized with cultural spaces and hosts the annual Venice Biennale. This story will be updated.
CNN
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
What happened on Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's big wedding day
It's been both the most public and secretive wedding of the year. On Friday, the main event of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's three-day-long Venetian extravaganza culminated in a private ceremony held on the secluded, historic San Giorgio Maggiore island in the San Marco sestiere. In the afternoon, the some 200 members of the celebrity guest list, including the Kardashian-Jenner family, Bill Gates, Karlie Kloss, Oprah Winfrey and Usher were all photographed stepping onto water taxis to ferry them to the festivities, but their visibility ended there, with guests seemingly adhering to an apparent social media blackout once inside each of the weekend's events. The ceremony ended discreetly, except for a signal from the fashion world — a Vogue digital cover offering a first look at Sanchez's gown. After much speculation (and not-so-subtle sightings of designer Domenico Dolce in Venice), it revealed her dress was a custom design by Dolce & Gabbana and was a year and a half in the making. The high-necked lace corseted gown had 180 silk chiffon-covered priest buttons dotting the front. Over the course of the night, per Vogue, she had two more outfit changes: a sweetheart-neck dress — another reference, this time to the 1946 film 'Gilda' — for the wedding dinner, and an intricate cocktail dress featuring 175,000 crystals by Oscar de la Renta. San Giorgio Maggiore is known for its gleaming marble Renaissance-era basilicas, designed by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio. But there may have been another, more pragmatic reason the couple opted for the island: privacy. After ongoing protests in the city — including the threat of canal blockades, guerilla-style banners and uncanny Bezos mannequins — allegedly forced Sanchez and Bezos to change one of the weekend's locations at the last minute, the security and inaccessibility of the island was reportedly a key factor in their decision. Venice's Ministry of Tourism has estimated the celebrations will generate almost 68% of the city's annual tourism turnover in just one weekend — but protestors have rallied against what they perceive to be a takeover of the idyllic Italian archipelago city by some of the world's wealthiest people. During the ceremony, the Amazon-founder billionaire and the former journalist likely exchanged rings symbolically. It remains unclear when the couple legally wed (or if they already have, prior to this week, in the US). A spokesperson for the mayor's office in Venice had told CNN on Thursday that the city did not receive an official request from the couple, meaning the events this week are ceremonial and will not be legally binding. Shortly after the Vogue photos were released, Sanchez changed her Instagram account handle to Lauren Sanchez Bezos. Prev Next Before the celebration, Sanchez herself made her way to San Giorgio Maggiore dressed in a '60s-inspired tailored white skirt suit from Dior with a printed silk scarf wrapped Hepburn-style around her head, Jimmy Choo heels and an Hermès Kelly handbag. She blew kisses to photographers as she stepped into a water taxi. Guests have mingled all weekend wearing an array of luxury designers, including vintage Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta and Versace. On the way to San Giorgio Maggiore, Kylie Jenner wore a powder blue long lace-up corset gown, Kim Kardashian chose a slick dark toffee-colored dress and Oprah opted for a draped pink mermaid silhouette. Though details of the wedding performers, like much else, were largely kept under wraps, Italian media reported that Matteo Bocelli — son of Andrea Bocelli, the revered Italian tenor who performed at both Kim and Kourtney Kardashian's weddings in 2014 and 2022, respectively — began the evening by singing 'Can't Help Falling in Love' by Elvis Presley. And if Bocelli made guests misty-eyed, then Lady Gaga — reportedly set to close out the final day of festivities on Saturday — will no doubt bring the party. The pop mega-star is expected to perform at Venice's former medieval shipyard, the Arsenale — which has been modernized with cultural spaces and hosts the annual Venice Biennale. This story will be updated.
