NORTHAMPTON — The city may soon get a New Orleans-theme restaurant downtown, along with a new coffee shop and a new sports bar in Florence.

The owners of the prospective businesses have completed applications for alcohol and food licenses with the Northampton License Commission.

At its meeting last week, the commission approved a transfer of a wine and malt restaurant license that previously belonged to the Wine Witch, which closed in September after six months in business, to the Gombo Oyster Bar, a cajun-style seafood restaurant that will open at the same location at 159 Main St.

“It (the new restaurant) will be an oyster bar as well as a pretty old New Orleans-style kitchen,” said John Piskor, the manager of the proposed restaurant. Piskor has experience running other restaurants in the Valley, including the former JP Steakhouse in Southampton. “It’s going to do a lot of cajun and creole cuisine and a lot of fun music and hopefully, bring a nice fun night out.”

Piskor said he was planning for a mid-April opening, but said he would only open after approval and receiving of the wine and malt license, which will also allow him to serve liqueurs and cordial drinks, such as gin.

“I’ve opened previous restaurants prematurely (before) the liquor licenses,” he said. “Sometimes, the customer base isn’t so happy that they don’t have it when they show up.”

Natasha Yakovlev, who chairs the commission, said that the restaurant will be a nice addition for the city.

“We don’t have any cajun food currently,” she said.

The commission also approved a victualler license for the Zen Frog, a new coffee shop planned for 90 Maple St. in Florence, the site of the former Kidstuff Consignment Shop.

Michelle Ruschhaupt, who would own the coffee shop, plans to sell pastries at the location and hoped to be part of a revival of the downtown Florence area.

“I just wanted to do something for the community, to try to get some more traffic downtown,” Ruschhaupt said. “I moved to Florence about two and a half years ago, so I’d love to see it start to blossom like the surrounding areas have.”

Another new restaurant is the Saratoga Sports Bar, which received a transfer of an all-alcohol and victualler license from William Akers, the planned owner of the bar. Akers first received the license in October following the closure of The Office restaurant at 320 Riverside Drive, and is transferring it into an incorporated entity under the restaurant’s name.

Akers told the commission he planned to have the location host outdoor events and live music at the bar.

“I’m not saying I’ll do it every weekend like a lot of these other places,” he said. “Mine would be more occasional kind of events going on.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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