Three business partners with ties to the Springfield dining scene are opening a bar and grill in the former Coz’s Pizza and Pub location.
Connor Davlin, Evan Truong and Dominic Baptist plan to open Dilly’s Tavern in the 4441 Ash Grove Drive location in early 2027.
The three partners have been friends for 20 years, and, while pursuing their separate careers, had been looking for a way to get involved in the Springfield restaurant business. Truong is the son of Tony Truong and Angie Chau, who own the Mimosa Vietnamese and Thai restaurant on Wabash Avenue. Davlin’s great-uncle Patrick Davlin is a part owner of the Corner Pub and Grill, and his late great-uncle, Kevin Davlin, owned local bars the Barrel Head and Chantilly Lace, both of which are now closed. And Baptist’s grandfather was an owner of the former Nick and Nino’s Penthouse Steakhouse.
“All of us have grown up in the restaurant culture,” Davlin said. “That was something that was very familiar to us.”
When the Coz’s property became available, it caught their attention, Davlin said. Coz’s Pizza closed in July in the midst of a legal dispute between the restaurant owners and the owners of the 4441 Ash Grove property. Coz’s had been open at the Ash Grove location for more than 20 years.
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Chau and Tony Truong purchased the building in January for $460,000, according to Sangamon County tax records.
Davlin has memories of going to Coz’s with family after soccer games as a kid, and he remembers what a destination it was for the west side of Springfield.
“I’ve seen pictures of how crowded it was when they had bands playing,” Davlin said. “We’re trying to bring Coz’s back to its former glory — renovating it with a modern twist.”
The partners are planning “a ton of renovations” for the space, Davlin said, including expanding the bar by taking down the back wall of the restaurant and replacing it with a garage-door type entrance that can be opened in nice weather to extend the bar into an outdoor seating area. They also plan to create an expanded event space on the restaurant’s second floor.
Davlin said they plan to bring back events ranging from live music to trivia nights.
“We really are trying to make it somewhere to hang out on the west side,” he said.