Warren Oakes cools down in Boca Fiesta’s walk-in (photo courtesy Warren Oakes)
Interview by Jason Schreurs
About six years ago, Warren Oakes decided to leave his drumming post for Against Me! and start the Gainesville, Florida eatery Boca Fiesta with two of his friends. Now a punk-rock dining institution, also featuring a bar and outdoor venue, Boca has become one of the go-to spots for underground music fans in the small Florida college city. Those who have gone to the town’s annual Fest, a punk rock extravaganza of epic proportions, know Boca Fiesta and its gator tacos well. We recently talked to Oakes about starting the restaurant, settling into his dream job, getting back into music again with his new band, Sunshine State, and, of course, those tasty gator tacos.
How did you first get involved with Boca Fiesta?
It was a little over five years ago, because we just had our five-year anniversary, and it was myself and two friends of mine, Jeff and Jake [Jacob Ihde], and the three of us had been talking about the idea of opening a place, and the opportunity just presented itself. Some friends of ours were opening a pool hall and there was a restaurant available adjacent to it, and the timing for the whole thing just came together perfectly, so we just jumped at the opportunity. Jeff went his own way a couple of years ago, so it’s just Jake and I at the moment, holding down the fort. But originally the concept and menu and everything was all of our doing, our brainchild [laughs].
What was the concept? What kind of food did you want to serve and what did you guys talk about, as far as the kind of restaurant you wanted it to be?
A factor in doing the kind of food we decided to do was really just what was happening in Gainesville, and what wasn’t happening in Gainesville. Jake had a lot of experience doing pizza and can make awesome pizza, but that was already spoken for in Gainesville. There were a bunch of pizza places and it really wasn’t the time to open another spot in a crowded pizza market. But there was really nobody doing tacos, and it was one of those things where we felt like we could put our own take on it, and we could make it work. So that just involved hanging out and making a lot of food together, and getting the recipes dialed in. And then it ended up being a combination of southern food and the Florida ingredients we have around us, combined with a Mexican format. And that’s still where we’re at, just kind of riffing on that theme.
A lot of people know you from your work in Against Me!, as well as other punk bands in Gainesville. When you first opened, was it like, “Oh, let’s go visit Warren from Against Me!”
Gainesville’s a real small town and it’s not really like that; I’m just another dude in the world, and there’s not really that vibe here. Every once in awhile there will be somebody passing through town on their way to somewhere, who will stop by to take a picture and buy a shirt, which I appreciate. But, for the most part, it was just all of our friends who came out in the beginning and from day one we got slammed, which was awesome, but it really tested the limits of what we were doing. We were making all of our tortillas by hand at the beginning, and about halfway through our first dinner service we just got totally cleaned out and we couldn’t keep up, and we were like, “Alright, we’re gonna need a plan B here.”
I’ve been at Fest the past couple of years, and obviously when Fest happens you guys get slammed then, too. Can you tell me how it works during that week and how you guys handle the extra traffic?
Yeah, we’ve definitely adapted over the course of the past few years on how we approach it, so we’ll make a specific menu just for Fest, like a streamlined menu where we take certain things off and make it so we can keep the ticket times quick, because we know it’s going to be high volume. We know that everyone is going to want to try the gator taco; that’s something that we realize because there are so many people coming in from other places, and the novelty of being able to eat alligator, it’s definitely going to get ordered a lot. The first year that we did Fest, we were doing so much gator, battering it a deep-frying it, that our fryer actually caught on fire. It was one of the craziest days; we’d been busy for hours on end and I walk back into the kitchen and there’s flames coming out of the fryer, and I was like, “Alright, I think we might be about done for the day.”
Harsh. Tell me more about the gator tacos. Where did that idea come from, and is gator something that’s traditionally eaten in Florida?
Yeah, gator’s been a protein source for folks around this area forever, for as long as there’s been people here, and for anybody brave enough to try to tackle a gator. At this point there are some gator farms, but the majority of the gator we get is wild-caught. We have a few local gator hunters that, when they go out and catch them, they’ll have the meat broken down and sent our way. It’s real tasty; I highly recommend it, for sure.
Last year someone told me that Boca used to be the Hardback, which blew me away, because that’s where that live Hot Water Music album was recorded, and I had no idea it was the same place. Tell me about the venue you run out of the back of Boca, and the history of it.
Yeah, actually, the dining room itself used to be the Hardback, and that’s where that Hot Water live record was recorded. And the outside space was the Hardback as well, at a certain point. They moved around where the stage was. It was a venue for years, and as far as Gainesville goes, just a legendary dive bar. So many bands played there and still to this day we have a lot people coming into Boca that say, “Oh yeah, I remember seeing L7 play back here,” or “I remember seeing Hot Water play in this spot,” so there’s a lot of people that come through and have memories of being there. And it’s cool to be able to have some continuity and not just be some random spot that’s occupying it. One of the former owners of the Hardback, Matt Sweeting, actually still bartends at Boca, which is awesome.
Are you still doing lots of shows in the back area throughout the year?
Yeah, we book lots of shows back there. We do all sorts of events; we do a movie night every week, we do a trivia night a couple times a week, we have DJs back there… Kyle Kinane is doing a standup comedy set a couple weeks from now. Yeah, it’s pretty awesome to have the venue connected to the space. It’s really kind of a dream come true to have a restaurant, bar and venue that you can have unlimited potential to do whatever kind of food specials, drink specials, book whatever kind of event and coordinate it all together. We really have a lot of options and are still growing what we can do with the space.
Can you tell me a little bit about the community in Gainesville, because I don’t think people that haven’t been there really understand how tight it is?
Yeah, it’s really just a small town, and the people that have chosen to stay here are really tight and supportive. A lot of people who work at Boca are musicians, or artists, and part of that scene, and we understand that. Not that we encourage them to take a lot of time off and go on tour, but if an opportunity presents itself, we’re understanding that music is a priority for a lot of people here. That’s sometimes what brought them to this town and really what their main drive is. It’s a really good, supportive scene here. There are some ups and downs, and there are people that have been around for a while that are starting new bands, which is awesome to see.
Warren Oakes (second from right) and Sunshine State
Was part of your reason to leave Against Me! because you wanted to focus on Boca? I can’t imagine you having time to do both.
You know, I did imagine myself doing both, which, in hindsight, would have been impossible, but that was my original intention. Once the restaurant started to become more tangible and I realized how much was going to go into it, it was a fork in the road. And, no regrets. Absolutely.
Now that you have Sunshine State going, how are you finding the time to jam and play shows? Has it been difficult?
It’s one of those things where even initially signing up for a band roulette event that lead to the band starting in the first place, I didn’t even think I had time to commit to the band roulette, and then my partner Jake, the co-owner of Boca, he actually put my name in the hat and committed me to it, because he said he knew I could make the time. So I realized that the restaurant has come a long way, and there are people in place who are really competent that are totally able to hold down the fort. So we’ve been able to get away a bit and play some shows and take some time. It’s been awesome. I actually didn’t really realize how much I missed it until I started playing again. I’d been so focused on Boca and getting it started and working out the kinks that I had tunnel focus on that, but it was definitely nice to incorporate music back into my routine.
Boca Fiesta is located at 232 SE 1 St. in Gainesville, Florida.
Sunshine State’s Pour is out now on No Idea Records.
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