July 3, 2024

The sound of jazz is about to be amplified in downtown Sioux Falls.

Trio Jazz Club plans to open this weekend, offering both a new place to dine as well as take in live entertainment.

It’s owned by Riccardo and Marybeth Tarabelsi and is located in between their other ventures in Washington Square at 350 S. Main Ave.: Brix Wine Bar and Maribella Ristorante. They also own R Wine Bar & Kitchen on the east side of downtown.

The grand opening will be at 4 p.m. Saturday, including music by the Joel Shotwell Quartet.

Trio will offer seating for 46 inside and will include a couple dozen seats on the patio.

“The primary goal with the design was to make sure when people walk in they know they’re walking into a dedicated, intimate music venue,” Riccardo Tarabelsi said.

“Even though it’s not just going to be about the music — we’re going to have a full menu and a full bar — but from a design perspective, it’s black and gold with highlights of red, and it evokes a mood. We want people to not just hear the music but feel it.”

In redesigning the space, which used to be Parlour Ice Cream House, a sound engineer worked in collaboration with Lenae Design on the type and amount of sound-absorbing material that was needed.

“The two of them worked together, and it’s incredible,” Tarabelsi said. “It’s super-quiet. It’s amazing.”

The stage serves as a focal point, with a baby grand piano and drum kit.

The bar offers an additional focal point, “and one of our goals conceptually is that Brix is very wine-centric, Maribella is very wine-centric and Italian cocktail features, but Trio is going to be craft cocktail-centric. That’s the goal there.”

Trio also will have its own menu, focused on “smaller plates, smaller pizzas, smaller pastas,” Tarabelsi said.

The menu launches with four appetizers, including risotto balls, bruschetta mousse, burrata and prosciutto crostini, and fried calamari. There also are five pizzas, three pastas, eggplant parmesan, risotto with sea scallops and a New York strip. Desserts include cannoli and a torta cioccolata, a chocolate ganache filling on a mixed-nut crust.

Brix will continue to offer the menu from Maribella.

“I think we’ll still attract people to come in, whether it’s happy hour or an appetizer and cocktail or even a sit-down dinner, but then pair that obviously with live music,” Tarabelsi  said.

The plan is to host music Tuesday through Saturday beginning at 6 or 6:30 p.m. most nights and then do two sets Friday and Saturday with the second starting at 9 p.m. When the music is playing, there will be a $5 cover charge to support hiring the musicians.

“We have July and August all booked,” Tarabelsi said.

Most of the initial acts are local musicians, but he said he expects to add acts touring regionally who haven’t stopped in Sioux Falls because there hasn’t been a fitting venue.

“Even though we’re a jazz club, it’s not just jazz,” he added. “It will be for a little bit, but our plan is to have different nights with genres, whether it’s blues or rock or R&B or country, and we’ve had interest from standup comedians, so we’ll see how the room plays for standup comedy.”

Doors can be propped open so diners on the patio will “be able to not only see the band but hear the music that will float out,” Tarabelsi said.

On Saturday, the Joel Shotwell Quartet will play at 6:30 and 9 p.m.

Trio is not taking reservations, so space is walk-in only, though there will be some ticketed events in the future. The cover charge takes effect when the music begins, but the club will open at 4 p.m. for dining. Hours will be 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

“Our vision is there’s an earlier, before-music crowd and then during the entertainment portion with appetizers and drinks, and then a post-show crowd,” Tarabelsi said. “The goal for the later show is to have an option for people getting out of a show at the Pavilion or leaving the Levitt because we find a lot of those people are looking for live music.”

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