Daq Shack To Bring New Orleans-Style Frozen Daiquiris to Tuscaloosa

A Crescent City favorite is in the works here in the Druid City, where a restaurateur is working to add a frozen daiquiri shack to his downtown sushi restaurant.

Pete Zimmer is the longtime manager at Ajian, the build-your-own-roll sushi shop he opened with Alabama's two-time national championship-winning quarterback AJ McCarron in 2017.

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In a Wednesday interview with the Tuscaloosa Thread, Zimmer said he has watched a couple of different concepts come and go through the space that adjoins Ajian at 1914 University Boulevard.

First, there was Frost Bite, the flash-frozen rolled ice cream shop that opened there in 2018 and permanently closed the next year.

It was followed by BobaMania, which is still thriving in its second location in Midtown Village, but closed on University Boulevard when running two stores became unsustainable.

Zimmer said rather than hoping the next tenants can find long-term success, he's working with the city and will take over the space himself.

He said the plan is to break out part of the wall that separated Ajian from the former BobaMania and open up the Daq Shack.

Zimmer said the concept will look like similar concepts that are ubiquitous in New Orleans, Savannah and southeastern beach towns such as Wet Willies.

He plans to add 12 frozen daiquiri mixers for 11 alcoholic drinks and one "virgin" option. The drinks will be made with good liquors, not "rotgut," Zimmer said, along with pure cane sugar mixers.

There's still a lot of work to do, but Zimmer said he hopes to have the new concept open next door / adjoined to Ajian in three or four weeks, ready for a soft open during a hot summer and ideally well-oiled by the time students and football fans return for the fall.

For more exclusive coverage of restaurants and retail development in and around West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.