Tonight marks the debut of the Windsor Restaurant and Garden's new bar and lounge, the result of an interior retrofitting of the space known locally as "where the music shop used to be."
A bar has been installed, and with a full 3-way liquor license, the full gamut of beer, wine and cocktails will be available. Draft beer highlights are to include two NABC beers, rotating taps for Samuel Adams seasonals and Indiana microbrews, Bell’s, Goose Island, Newcastle, Dogfish Head 90 Minute, and a couple of others that have slipped my mind. The bottle list will begin short and grow.
The Windsor Restaurant and Garden shares ownership with the Grand Convention Center, and the two establishments are located adjacent to each other on Market Street in downtown New Albany. Dave Himmel's reconstituted Connor's Place pub is across the alley from the Grand, and Dave's Market Street Fish House lies across Market to the north.
The Windsor's chef, Justin McMillen, came out to chat a couple of Fridays ago when Mrs. Confidential and I dropped in for dinner, and he said business has been steady. That's good news in a choppy economy. Our meal that night was very good, with grilled scallops to match the great seafood served by the defunct Bistro New Albany when it occupied the space. Isaac Fox, server and bar manager extraordinaire, who did time with the Bistro and later gravitated down the street to Speakeasy before alighting at the Windsor, is the bar manager.
I'll be there at 5:30 today when the celebration begins.
If anyone happens to think of it, please tell Isaac I may try to stop in later if possible.
ReplyDeleteI have an after hours work function this evening and, though he's reminded me of the opening several times, the dates didn't jive in my noggin until yesterday.
Being a beer guy, I don't often venture into the cocktail realm but the drink menu Isaac has put together is impressive.
I can vouch for the sazerac and know that family members enjoyed the others they tried when we visited for dinner recently. The steak was darn good, too.
just out of curiosity is this more of a private invite only thing or do they want the public to really be aware and "come on down?"
ReplyDeleteI find it frustrating that many of these events are not well publicized. we want to support this stuff and I know others do too, but usually 3 hours isn't enough notice for people.
Hell, maybe we're just not on the right mailing list...
It's open, Ceece. Come on down.
ReplyDeleteI'll second your comments Ceece. If not for this blog, I would not be aware of most of the things going in New Albany, especially downtown.
ReplyDeleteThanks NAC for keeping us informed.
I'll relay to Isaac, Jeff.
ReplyDeleteI'd have posted this sooner, and in fact intended to do so yesterday, but (a) was busy working to finalize our three-way app., and (b) thought it prudent to wait until today because I wanted to be sure everything was going to be finished with the Windsor's draft system before publicizing.
My adjutant and I spent some time with Pete Lyons this morning, and he discussed plans for his coffee shop, which if all goes as planned will occupy the current Digital Resource space, with DRC moving to the space on the corner.
Pete's intending to have more of a Caffe Classico atmosphere. CC is located on Steve Price's dreaded Frankfort Ave corridor, so don't expect to see him there.
I'll also be networking this evening to confirm a juicy rumor about the Speakeasy space.