Boomtown Kitchen's "family friendly 'Times Square Ball Drop' for kids on NYE."

I posted this one at the Food & Dining Magazine web site because it strikes me as a genuinely creative way to reach families.

Since then, I've learned of an equally great idea (thanks, Karen) for adults. Flanagan's Ale House in Louisville does an Irish New Year's Eve at 7:00 p.m. on the 31st -- because this is when it's midnight in Ireland.

"We have been doing this at Flanagan’s for years," Karen divulged on Facebook. "They have bagpipes, drop a lampshade, serve shots of Jameson. It’s brilliant. The oldsters leave, they clean up and do round two later."

She concluded with a thought that isn't a joke at all to me, seeing as we're usually asleep by 10:00 p.m.: "Wish someone did this on our side of the river for us old folks."

Who knows? Maybe next year.

Boomtown Kitchen’s family friendly “Times Square Ball Drop” for kids on NYE (by me at F&D)

Boomtown Kitchen in downtown New Albany gets props for creativity. The eatery, which opened this summer and occupies the fabled former South Side Inn building, was looking for a way to involve families in its New Years Eve festivities.

Boomtown decided to stage a New Years Eve(ning) for Kids. We asked about it via Facebook messaging … and it sounds like fun ...

Welcome to Boomtown Kitchen, which opens this evening at 5 p.m.

Boomtown Kitchen is located at 110 Main Street in the space most recently housing Cox's, and before that Big Four Burgers.

We are honored and excited to announce the grand opening of Boomtown Kitchen! We will be introducing ourselves to our community Thursday, June 20th we will open at 5 PM until 11 PM so join us for dinner. Our Americana based menu offers a variety of entrées including salmon, pork chops, chicken, Certified Angus Beef sirloin and ribeye cuts, as well as an array of sandwiches and burgers including our wild game option for the rest of June ... antelope. See you soon friends!

Previously:

It's the business of being in business: Matt McMahan explains the Cox's-to-Boomtown Kitchen story ... then drops the mic.

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: Boomtown's a kitchen now, but it used to be a made-for-Gahan fest.

The old becomes new: Boomtown Kitchen will replace Cox's -- and a glimpse of Floyd County Brewing's new beer garden.

It's the business of being in business: Matt McMahan explains the Cox's-to-Boomtown Kitchen story ... then drops the mic.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks in local food and drink circles. 

Cox's Hot Chicken's location in New Albany closed, then it was revealed that the space would become Boomtown Kitchen, a name recalling a short-lived festival.

Seems that every one's an expert when it comes to food and drink on the Internet -- even me.

ON THE AVENUES: Challenges are forever, but downtown New Albany's food and drink purveyors keep on keeping on.

Consequently it's refreshing to have Matt McMahan tell the story, which he did earlier today on Facebook. Whatever one's opinion about Matt (and there are many, as with me) his grasp of dollars and sense in a small business context cannot be denied. Big Four was successful, but the purchasing group couldn't hold it together, so Matt brokered a different outcome.

Zero drama, just the facts. The Boomtown Kitchen idea sounds pleasingly old-school to me: just be a restaurant and please diners. Let's hope it flies high.

Matt has given permission to reprint here.

---

Just finally read this article* last night ... it’s funny how the local paper calls and emails me 20 times for an interview acting all nice then when they get what they want they write about negatives instead of positives. The whole time they try to get me to say something bad about someone. That’s all they feed off of. Pretty sad honestly. Here’s what should be said about the whole situation:

We ran Big Four Burgers for 5 years in Jeff and 3 years in NA ... yes, we had some bad service but overall we were successful. The entire time BFB posted quarterly profits. I own the building in Jeff and leased the building in New Albany. I decided to sell both concepts to relieve some stress. A group of guys purchase both stores. I financed the deal to the buyers. When they bought the stores their intentions were to rebrand as Big Four Brewhouse. Several months in they decided to go a different direction. I didn’t like that decision because I believed in our product but that wasn’t my decision. Nor did we have any contract for them to NOT be able to do it. They had different partners between both stores. New Albany store partnership fell apart and the easiest way was for me to step in and take back the store. Their Jeff store is still going strong and doing fine.

I just hate how they say “Three concepts to try out Southside space” as in the other two failed. It’s the American Dream to build a business from NOTHING and sell for a HUGE profit. Which I did. The new owners had a dream and took a HUGE chance and spent a lot of money on their dream. I believe if they had a better working relationship with partners they would still be in business today. With that being said, everything happens for a reason. The Collins are going to absolutely crush it with Boomtown Kitchen ! So #SupportLocal and don’t be a hater!

* New concept to replace Cox's Hot Chicken in New Albany, by Jason Thomas (TomMay Content Coagulator)

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: Boomtown's a kitchen now, but it used to be a made-for-Gahan fest.

After a few years away, the word "boomtown" has returned to local usage owing to the impending establishment of the Boomtown Kitchen, to be located where Cox's Hot Chicken briefly was, and before that Big Four Burgers, and a very long time ago the South Side Inn.

As usual, Kevin Gibson at Insider Louisville goes deeper than the News and Tribune.

Boomtown Kitchen set to open mid-June in downtown New Albany

... (Boomtown Kitchen owner Andrew) Collins says going to South Side for family meals remains a fond memory for him, adding, “I’m honored to carry that on.”

As for the menu, he says while he appreciates the modern cuisine in downtown New Albany, Boomtown Kitchen will be different; he says while many modern restaurants offer their spins on classic dishes, at Boomtown, “We want to bring you that classic dish.”

The word "Boomtown" is widely understood, dating to the period 1895-1900.

boomtown
boom·town (bo͞om′toun′)
n. A town experiencing an economic or a population boom.

New Albany has not experienced a noteworthy increase in population (#GahanFail), but appearances seem to suggest a mild economic uptick, traceable to entrepreneurs like Collins.

Team Gahan enjoys taking credit for successes (whether deserved or not), but avoids responsibility for instances of belly-up, as with the ill-fated Boomtown Ball. It ran in New Albany for three years (2014 - 2016); DNA's artlessly purloined Taco Walk now occupies this May slot on the mayor's personal campaign finance enhancement calendar.

Boomtown Ball's expiration occurred in 2017.

City Hall is as silent as a Bud Light & Clamato Chelada, but we're inferring that Boomtown Ball will NOT be held in 2017.

If you're still wondering why the city of New Albany is engaged in the business of concert promotion, chalk it up to a bad case of Disney Envy.

Or maybe it isn't Disney Envy at all. Gahan and the governing clique might have been ingesting a few too many mushrooms when having a Ball with Boomtown.

Boomtown

The state of consciousness experienced while inebriated by hallucinogenic mushrooms: "You have an ounce of mushrooms? Let's eat these and go to Boomtown!"

The question is obvious, Jeffrey: Can hallucinogenic mushrooms be baked into Rice Krispies Treats?

The old becomes new: Boomtown Kitchen will replace Cox's -- and a glimpse of Floyd County Brewing's new beer garden.

ON THE AVENUES: Challenges are forever, but downtown New Albany's food and drink purveyors keep on keeping on.

Floyd County Brewing Company's owner Brian Hampton offers a video tour of his establishment's new beer garden (above). The alcohol license for NA Standard (in the former Gospel Bird space) should be in place after next Tuesday's hearing. And, as described below, the outcome at Cox's took a whole week to be announced.

The New Albany branch of Cox's Hot Chicken is no more.

Boomtown Kitchen is the very same "juicy" rumor I heard from the start, but hell, let's let the newspaper have this one. It's a "new concept" from people with restaurant experience; not to nitpick, but the former name of the Barrelhouse in Jeffersonville was Levee, not Levy.

By the way: Levy Pants was Ignatius' sadsack employer in the comic novel A Confederacy of Dunces.

I'll be monitoring the impending comments from social media food and drink experts as they explain how all this activity somehow denotes the end of NA's food and drink community.

New concept to replace Cox's Hot Chicken in New Albany, by Jason Thomas (Christianity on Sunday)

Boomtown Kitchen to focus on affordability, customer service

NEW ALBANY — For the second time in less than a year a new restaurant concept will occupy a revered spot in downtown New Albany's dining scene ...

 ... Now Boomtown Kitchen enters the scene, as owners Andrew and Michelle Collins, who revived the former The Levy bar in Jeffersonville with The Barrelhouse on Market, try their luck in New Albany.

Boomtown, which aims to open June 15, seeks to offer affordable dining options in an elegant setting, with customer service a top priority.

"I love New Albany. I love all the diverse cuisine, and I love the creativity," said Andrew Collins, who has extensive restaurant management experience with Outback Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse. "However, I feel like everyone does a spin on classic dishes. I want to bring you that classic dish.

"I feel like everything is so expensive and so extravagant. I want the good ole salt and pepper, perfectly seasoned, perfectly seared steak. That's kind of our thing" ...