West Palm Cowboy Club, seen in the background of the photograph above, opened this past March on Clematis Street, bringing Nashville energy, barbecue, and country music to downtown West Palm Beach, Florida. South Florida native Thomas Wesley, also known as DJ Diplo, serves as the venue's musical director, which is evidently a big deal, and Miami chef Adrian Ricouz of "Slab Daddy BBQ fame" is the culinary director. The venture was put together by Brian Swanson, who says the club is a "refined, grown-up version" of Bristol Republic, his Columbus, Ohio barbecue restaurant. And why am I taking an interest in this South Florida honky-tonk? Mainly because back in December while I was down here in Stuart, I saw a news report on television that said West Palm Cowboy Bar had ties to a $61 million Ohio political scandal. Now something like that gets my attention. Evidently a man named Juan Cespedes pleaded guilty to participating in a federal bribery case involving more than $60 million and focusing on former Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Larry Householder. When asked, Cespedes said that he was just a consultant on the West Palm Cowboy Club project, no doubt something to do while waiting to be sentenced in the bribery case. And now that the club has opened, Cespedes has disappeared from the scene. Not nearly as exciting as initial news reports seemed to imply. I was expecting The Godfather but got reality instead. And by the way, Cespedes expects to be sentenced to less than 6 months in prison in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors. My advice to Cespedes: in the future, stay far far away from politicians of any stripe.
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