From Bistro New Albany to Brooklyn & the Butcher: A decade of New Albany Inn restaurants.

Yesterday:

Jaws will drop: A walk-through at Brooklyn & the Butcher.

Today, a look at Brooklyn & the Butcher's (opening February 2016) interior from 2005 to the present.

Late 2005, with Bistro New Albany's ATC hearing placard displayed.

A few months later, when Bistro New Albany opened. When Jimmy's Music left, so did the wall to the left. 

Bistro New Albany opening night, 2006.

2009: Howard Dean at The Windsor, merrily schmoozing Democrats (N and T photo).

Habana Blues opening, 2010.

Brooklyn & the Butcher dining room build-out, 2015. 

Bistro New Albany's rear dining area and kitchen access at opening, 2006.

The same view, different night. 

The same view when Habana Blues opened in 2010.

The same view as Brooklyn & the Butcher builds out.

Windsor's redesigned bar facing Market Street, inherited (and little changed) by Habana Blues in 2010.

Same spot but glancing left at the new/old Brooklyn & the Butcher bar. 

The patio remained largely unchanged from 2006 until now. This view is from 2014. 

The view in December, 2015, with bricked-in doors and windows, and (of course) patio decor to follow in 2016. Note that the fire escape no longer services actual doors and is meant solely as decoration. 

2014.

2014.

December, 2015. The doorway connects inside seating areas with the patio. The cellar steps connect to the space beneath the bar, and includes storage for apartment tenants. 

The New Albany location of Big Four Burgers + Beer is on course for early May.

After and before.

Matt McMahan is looking at early May to inaugurate Big Four Burgers + Beer NA at the venerable site of the South Side Inn, which has been moribund for a very long time. Since reconstruction began, Matt has been documenting the build-out at Big Four's Facebook page, and the transformation is amazing. This building really should house a small designer hotel upstairs, shouldn't it?

Aladdin's Cafe has expanded; more space to enjoy yummy baba ghanoush.

The last time I dined at Aladdin's Cafe, the wall was still intact. Now it's gone. Verily, Aladdin's is one of the unsung gems of downtown New Albany, located just a couple doors down from Mike Smith Firestone on Market Street.

A bit more about ongoing changes at Bank Street Brewhouse.

“Beginning today (Tuesday, March 10), Bank Street Brewhouse will be temporarily closed for maintenance and a light refresh of the space.  Our goal is to reopen in 1-2 weeks. We’ll keep you updated. It’s business as usual at the Pizzeria and Public House with Gravity Head 2015 still going strong.

The past two weeks have been tiring, and if anything, I’m learning that a “leave of absence” can be comprehensive only if you leave the country, although this would make it difficult to run for mayor.

However, I’m gradually shifting into the operational notion of the LOA.

Prior to my announcement on February 26, numerous work-related themes already were in progress at NABC, primarily as pertain to the front-of-house setup at Bank Street Brewhouse.

It isn’t odd that this work would continue without me, as we have the world’s finest employees.

Concurrently, it isn’t surprising that when there are three owners and one of them steps aside for a bit, the two remaining owners do just as they’ve always done, and make daily decisions (the New Albanian Sisters also are making the sales rounds).

It’s just odd being on the outside looking in, and not doing the writing. Fortunately, we have a wonderful propagandist on staff.

First, as you’ve already heard, Taco Punk has left the building.

In the continuing evolution of NABC’s Bank Street Brewhouse, it’s sometimes necessary to end one good thing so that another good thing can take its place. With that in mind, we announce that our ride with Taco Punk has reached its conclusion. Effective immediately, Taco Punk service at BSB is no more. We greatly appreciate Gabe Sowder’s efforts and wish him well in his future endeavors. The tacos were great. We ate lots of them.

Our man Stephen also needed a break. He’s been working almost constantly at the tap room since last May, when the original BSB kitchen closed. Last week he was ill, and we didn't have anyone else to work. As remodeling proceeds, he gets some much needed time off.

The overarching news: Spiffing up, painting and rebooting means a new food service tenant, one with longer hours and more options than Taco Punk was able to provide. It’s an established, proven operation, and if I could tell you more, I would, but that’s as much as I’m empowered to reveal at this time.

The bad part: Among other realities, the maintenance period precludes meetings of Drinking Progressively. Sorry about that, but we’ll be back.

Apologies for the inconvenience of being closed, primarily for those accustomed to filling growlers. Given that our original location is closed on Sunday, I hope there’ll be only one Sunday down before regular hours resume. But the bonus is that with a new food service partner, Sunday brunch might be resuscitated. MIGHT. Don’t hold me to that … I’m not really here, remember?

In short, things are changing, and I’m pleased, because George Bernard Shaw was right: “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

I’d like to change New Albany, and my business is changing itself. The key to both might well be brains and beers in sync.

Questions? Shoot me an e-mail, and thanks for bearing with us.

I almost fell on my knees and cried when I saw THIS.

That's right: They're actual windows, breaking the "golden era," straight-out-of-Ceausescu's-Bucharest brickwork monotony of the former Mutual Trust Bank building.

Bless Matt Chalfant.

Forget mayor.

Make him procurator, immediately.

The online.com/40020cgi/mweb.exe?request=ks">Indiana History Room Archive provides glimpses of what this building has been over the years. First, circa 1931, looking north. The bank is to the right, and was a bit kitschy, even then.

Then, during the 1937 flood. Notice the smaller building in the center, temporarily submerged, and soon to be subsumed.

Roughly 1961. The bank has a new facade, and has stretched to the south in its present-day configuration. The little building is gone. Maybe part of it is still back there, somewhere.

Finally, a cringe-worthy sketch of the late 1960s Soviet bloc bunker chic refit. We all know too well how that turned out.

Blech.

Did I mention the blessed reappearance of windows?

Here are two views of the Bank Street side, where the triumphal arch has been mercifully removed. First, new stairs in the defile between the former bank and Kaiser Tobacco; then, the interior space where Habana Blues will relocate.

As I was on my knees today, sobbing, I noticed a big crowd at Endris Jewelers for the business closing sale.

Trust me. Endris was wall-to-wall all day.

Whether Bob "My One Way Is the Highway and Therefore the Only True Way" Caesar serves another term on the city council, and irrespective of City Hall's ability to implement Jeff Speck's walkability suggestions (the confidence indice is plunging with each day that passes without an unemployed John Rosenbarger), probably this section of Pearl Street will revert to two-way traffic.

If the experience in other cities is reliable, when it does, business will be better for all merchants.

Bob will have missed it, and that's a shame.

ATC gives BSB a thumbs up, and the Publican is happy.

Earlier today, Bank Street Brewhouse was given the Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission's approval for floor plan changes, and now the WCTU Reading Room and Lloyd's Landing are legal habitats, respectively, for pouring and drinking Progressive Pints. Quite a bit remains to be done, but this first cleared hurdle is a relief.

As explained previously, the translucent panels above the WCTU Reading Room simply had to be replaced -- and work began this morning on a new, insulated roof. From inception, the space has not been watertight, and while this mattered little when it still served as open-air patio, converting it into a multi-purpose, all-weather room could not be achieved without a better roof.

Many thanks to Steve Resch and his merry band of workmen. There are none better in this city.

Interior design from a council point of view.

Several current and former council persons submitted designs for the long-awaited refurbishment of the 3rd floor meeting room at the City County Building. First, Bob Caesar's "The 50's Are Forever":

Larry Kochert suggested a tasteful, understated space suitable for a Kink ... or even a King:

Pickin' and grinnin' to the last, Steve Price channeled the Darlings:

Finally, there's Diane Benedetti's plan:

Harold Adams of the Courier tells the "real" story here.