Roadrunner Kitchen has opened; Double Barrel (bourbon bar) next on the agenda at 147 E. Main.

Kevin Gibson is spending a lot of time in New Albany.

New bourbon bar, Double Barrel, to open in former Match New Albany location, by Kevin Gibson (Insider Louisville)

Match Cigar Bar’s short stay in downtown New Albany won’t leave a vacancy for long: Double Barrel, a bourbon bar and lounge, hopes to open in the spot at 147 E. Main St. sometime in early March.

The aesthetic won’t change too much — much of the décor and furniture still remain, at least for the time being — but there won’t be smoking, and part of a wall was knocked out to facilitate an extra bar.

The place offers a serene, laid-back atmosphere bordered with exposed brick and accented with modern furniture and lighting. The copper-backed main bar is already loaded with dozens of spirits, with more to come.

The queue for pole position across Main Street from our forthcoming Anchor Inc civic HQ already has witnessed an opening: Roadrunner Kitchen, which got started yesterday in the space where Urban Bread used to be.

Roadrunner Kitchen set to open Monday in downtown New Albany, by Kevin Gibson (IL)

Stacie Bale is a proponent of fresh, locally sourced food — but she wants to make it clear that her new venture, Roadrunner Kitchen, is not a vegan restaurant.

A previous restaurant Bale owned and operated, Earth Friends Café, was regarded by many as a vegan establishment, even when there were few if any vegan restaurants open.

“We always had meat,” she said.

Roadrunner Kitchen, which she plans to open Monday, Feb. 26, in downtown New Albany along with business partner Sarah Hastings, will have veggie options, for sure, but it will also feature plenty of meat, cheese and other non-vegan items.

Stacie Bale, late of NABC, reveals new project: Roadrunner Kitchen, coming soon to 145 E. Main Street in downtown New Albany.

Stacie Henehan Bale, late of NABC Cafe & Brewhouse and Earth Friends Cafe, has departed NABC and will launch a new venture called Roadrunner Kitchen. It will fill the space at 145 E. Main most recently occupied by Urban Bread Company.

She explains all at Roadrunner Kitchen's Facebook page.

Hello all! I am opening a new concept with my partner, Sarah Hastings. It will be similar to Earth Friends Cafe in that we will focus on sourcing sustainable, local products including local meats and produce. Earth Friends was founded on utilizing local resources - most especially from local farmers - and although many believed it to be primarily plant-based, it was always focused on sourcing from local farmers, including meat and eggs.

Our new concept will focus on the same philosophy as my former business, with the addition of VERY QUICK SERVICE. Consumers will have the option of waiting under 15 minutes for hot items, or choosing the option of grabbing a freshly prepared wrap or salad from our grab and go cases, paying by kiosk, and being out the door in less than five minutes - if necessary.

Also available will be housemade soups, espresso, smoothies and freshly prepared juices.

This concept will be for all types of consumers, but the focus will be on FAST and DIVERSE!

We will be located at 145 E. Main Street in downtown New Albany. We will be a quick breakfast and lunch service.

Hope to see you soon! Our target opening date is sometime in late February or March.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Stacie Henehan Bale

A pertinent question was raised in the comments section beneath Bale's post at Facebook.

In short: With Bale departed, what's to become of the food service at NABC's Cafe & Brewhouse?

Puzzlement compounded: How smoking kept cigar smokers away from the cigar bar, and other tales of the just plain weird.

"After almost seven months, Match, the cigar bar in New Albany, is closing and will be replaced by a smoke-free establishment."

It's a scalp-gouger, so let's get this straight.

Your LLC owns a building and leases space to a plush cigar lounge of proven merit, the major selling point of which is that it's a comfortable place to ... um ... smoke (and buy, and venerate) cigars, and then when it is decided that the cigar lounge can't cover the massive nut you've incurred from purchasing a building in the hope that a transplanted City Hall across the street will return your investment with compounded gravy, suddenly smoking becomes the root problem.

THE GREEN MOUSE: Match Cigar Bar NA is no more, but what's up with the restaurant rumored to be coming to the space?

Seems to us the root problem might be the insider information dispensed by the mayoral minions, but in any event, there's something off kilter about this story, Let's begin with the newspaper's coverage. We learn that a woman named Michelle Ray is the building's manager, seeing as the owners still don't have names like other human beings.

For what it's worth, we believe these men are called Metts and Triplett. Real estate speculators? It doesn't really matter; may they soon profit massively from whatever tidbits David Duggins spoon fed them -- and if not, they should invoice him for TIF futures.

Anyway, the last business to operate in the building prior to Match's arrival was a bar called Main Street Pub.

The short-lived Main Street Pub replaced the equally ephemeral Red Dragon Pub, all of which came and went very quickly before the building was sold to the current owners.

The newspaper's Grady takes it from here. Welcome to Double Barrel. We can't wait to see what's on tap -- and this sentiment is offered with perfect sincerity. In the interim, the high rollers might consider stepping out of the shadows.

And this pro tip: If you'll be serving Team Gahan's cadres once the refurbishment is completed, make sure to stock plenty of ice cold Bud Light Lime-flavored KOOL-Aid. They're simply powerless at the thought of it.

Lounge bar 'minus the smoking' replacing Match Cigar Bar's New Albany location, by Danielle Grady (New Adventures in Clark County)

NEW ALBANY — The owner of 145, 147 and 151 E. Main St. plans to strike it out on their own with a new bar, replacing Match Cigar Bar, which closed its New Albany location on Dec. 19 after almost seven months in business.

“It was unfortunate, obviously, that Match didn’t work out the way that we had hoped,” said Michelle Ray, the building’s manager, who has partnered with the building’s owner, 145-151 East Main Street LLC, to open the new bar. “...We have decided not just to let this place go to the wayside.”

Jeff Mouttet, the owner of Match, which still maintains its original Jeffersonville location, could not reveal all the details about why he closed his New Albany location, but he did say that the bar was making half what he originally thought it would. (Although, Mouttet’s plan was to keep the bar open until the City of New Albany moved its headquarters across the street).

The new bar coming to Main Street, called Double Barrel, will be similar to Match, but without the cigar smoking, which Ray said limited the establishment’s appeal.

“I know not everyone enjoys a cigar or the smoke,” she said. “Some people can’t bring their pregnant wives in here. So, you know, those things, now that that’s not going to be here, we hope to invite these people in that are actually against smoking.”

Double Barrel’s owners are going for an upper class lounge feel, but one that’s welcoming.

Urban Bread Company's New Albany location will open on Valentine's Day (February 14), with Match Cigar Bar to follow.

The C-J's Madeleine Winer has more on Urban Bread Company and stablemate Match Cigar Bar New Albany, which will be sharing space at 145, 147 and 151 E. Main Street.

Match is slated to open in late February. It is an understatement of epic dimension for me to say that I'm eager to see these folks get up and going.

The Hub Cafe (rebranding as Urban Bread Company)

Here's some quick info on whats going on at the Urban Bread Company!

Our Jeffersonville location will be closing at 3:00pm Tuesday-Saturday. We will be opening our New Albany location on February 14th, Valentines Day.

Our new location, at 145 E. Main St. New Albany will be open from 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

More to come! Thank you for all your support! #urbanbreadco

Cigar smokers rejoice: The second location of Riverside Cigar Shop/Match Cigar Bar is coming to downtown New Albany.

Jeff Mouttet's teaser photo. 

Left to right: 145, 147 and 151 E. Main Street.

The Green Mouse says:

Cigars and spirits are coming to downtown New Albany in the form of an establishment tentatively to be known as Match Cigar Bar New Albany.

It is to be a second location for Jeffersonville's Riverside Cigar Shop and Match Cigar Bar, and will fill the ground floor (and basement) space at 145, 147 and 151 E. Main Street, currently the home of Main Street Pub, which began operations a few months ago following the disappearance of the short-lived Red Dragon.

In addition to the store fronts, Match Cigar Bar New Albany also will be leasing at upstairs spaces at 151 East Main. The tentative opening date is late January, 2017, pending the usual carousel of permits.

Roger says:

Riverside Cigar Shop was founded five years ago on Spring Street in Jeffersonville, and expanded into adjacent floor space with Match Cigar Bar shortly thereafter.

Owner Jeff Mouttet has been looking at downtown New Albany properties for while. To be succinct, Jeff is to cigars what I used to be to beer. His cigars are perfectly kept, and his recommendations spot on. The thought of having a place of this caliber within walking distance of the house is exciting, to say the least.

Match Cigar Bar will be an anchor downtown ... now, if we could only do something about the moribund Reisz Furniture building across the street.

City Hall, anyone?