First Avenue Bar & Bistro Opens in Downtown Ocala

First Avenue Bar & Bistro opened to the public on October 20 at 48 SW 1st Avenue in downtown Ocala, and the crew behind it held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 4 just steps from the entrance. The room is the one that used to be La Cuisine, the French restaurant that closed after 17 years, and it is now run by downtown property owner Don Gulling.

A Corner That Stayed a Restaurant

The story of this space starts in the 1920s. Gulling told 352today that the building was constructed in that decade at the Fort King intersection, back when it sat along what was then a main thoroughfare into Ocala. It opened as a horse-feed store, one of the practical downtown businesses that filled the district after the city rebuilt itself in brick following the 1883 fire. Look up inside the bar and dining room now and the cedar ceiling slats still date to the 1920s.

Patrice Perron and Elodie Guinard bought the building around 2008, renovated it and opened La Cuisine in 2009. Perron was born and raised in Lyon, France, and trained under a chef holding the Meilleur Ouvrier de France title, while Guinard ran the front of house, according to Only In Ocala. The restaurant earned nine Golden Spoon awards from Florida Trend magazine and a place in its Hall of Fame. When the couple announced a sale on June 10, 2026, they said the buyer was a local downtown Ocala business owner who intended to keep the space running as a restaurant. They closed two days later, ahead of a planned final night, citing unforeseen circumstances.

Gulling said the owners came to him in May and he said yes the next day. The acquisition closed in July, and construction and renovations started immediately.

Comfort Food, Not a Costume

The concept is a deliberate break from the French menu that preceded it. Gulling said keeping the La Cuisine name felt like a trap, since changing it slightly would disappoint the old regulars and changing it a lot would do the same thing. So he chose American comfort food with an American twist.

His pitch is that nothing about it is meant to be intimidating. "Don't think you have to wear a suit and tie. Come as you are," he said. The bar top is the same one that was there under La Cuisine, though it has been extended, and the lighting, music and layout are all new. Guests walk past a large wine cooler and Japanese raku-inspired pottery in the entryway before reaching the bar, where the room runs white tablecloths and artwork that fits the area's equine crowd, with paintings of livestock and horses on the walls.

The opening-night menu ran from pan-roasted mussels with toast and herb broth to a pan-seared filet with gnocchi, wild mushrooms and a truffle demi-glaze, finished with a seasonal apple cobbler and vanilla bean ice cream.

Hours, Phone and Reservations

First Avenue Bar & Bistro keeps a Tuesday through Saturday schedule, opening at 4:30 p.m. with happy hour running until 6 p.m., according to the details Only In Ocala checked against the restaurant's own website. Reservations during the preview period, October 20 through October 31, were taken by phone at (352) 452-9811 or by text or email to a team member, and OpenTable bookings opened November 3.

For the bigger picture, Around Town lists First Avenue Bar & Bistro among the new downtown openings, confirming it is now open at 48 SW 1st Ave in the space La Cuisine filled for 17 years. The same weekly roundup tracks other movement in the district, including the city's design work on the 6.2-mile Downtown Ocala Trail between the Osceola Avenue multimodal trail and Silver Springs State Park.

Why Downtown Keeps Mattering

Gulling already owns other downtown Ocala properties, and keeping this corner in restaurant use rather than letting a well-known dining spot go dark was part of the reason he bought it. He described the first night as the moment he got the feeling right, hearing glasses clink and seeing the room fill with energy again.

Downtown Ocala has been busy on the openings side of late. The Forge Food Hall brought five restaurants into the district in October, and the Ocala Main Street organization has been publicly marking the arrival of a new tenant in a historic location.

For an owner opening a restaurant on a street where the parking is tight and the walk-ins pass by on foot, a website that shows up when someone searches for dinner downtown is not a detail. Acelefayne builds small-business sites from $250, and the services page has the details.