Lexington, KY - Every year is a year of changes in that turbulent world called the restaurant industry. Throw in a lousy economy and that is a recipe for even more changes. In the greater Lexington region, 2009 was a year of closures, relocations, openings and brutal competitive discounting and deals.
One of the more notable events was Debbie Long's decision to close Dudley's at her Dudley Square location and relocate to a larger, higher-profile downtown location. This does leave open the question of whether another concept will open in the old location. To help finance her move, Long sold her Buddy's location in Chevy Chase to Arron K. Rhodes.
Downtown seemed to be abuzz with restaurant, bar and entertainment activity this year as the city continues to evolve its "entertainment economy."
Sandy Fields renovated her
Scarlet Lounge location and reopened as Silks. Steve Taylor took the old Lafayette Club location and opened Baker's 360, serving lunch and then offering dinner and entertainment in the evenings. Cheapside Bar and Grill underwent a nice patio renovation, and across the street, Pulse Nightlife opened as a lounge, show bar and dance club. SKYBAR owner Vince Carlucci finally was able to overcome various obstacles and delays to open his top-floor bar concept at the corner of Main and Cheapside.
Other downtown openings included The Loft in Victorian Square and the SoundBar/Blu Lounge on South Limestone.
The South Limestone area had another nice addition with the opening of the Tin Roof, which is both a restaurant and entertainment venue.
Those and other businesses on the corridor had to endure a difficult final quarter as the city's first streetscape project blocked all but trickles of vehicular traffic past their doors.
On Old Vine Street, the novel, no-alcohol Bar None concept opened in the spot vacated by Annette's City Cafe.
Annette Jett and her husband, Frank Bickle, opened Frankie and Annette's in the Signature Club, but will be vacating that location. The replacement had not been announced at press time.
On the western edge of downtown, the Lexington Distillery District continues to gather momentum with the 1,000-person capacity rock hall Buster's opening in September of '09. Unveiling an investment group's letter of intent to establish a boutique bourbon distillery, cafe and visitor's center in the historic Pepper Distillery building on Manchester Street, developer Barry McNees won a city commitment to bond $2.2 million in infrastructure improvements along the blighted corridor.
Outside of the downtown area there were plenty of changes in both the independent and chain sectors. The city of Midway,
Ky., lost a nice restaurant and venue with the closing of the Black Tulip.
However, Duggan's has opened in its place, and just down the street, the EqWine wine shop opened and is contemplating a patio scene in the spring.
It is rumored that Rob Perez, the owner of Saul Good Pub, will be building on the success of his Fayette Mall Plaza location and opening a second location in 2010.
In the spring, the Bluegrass Hospitality Group hit a home run with the opening of its first Drake's restaurant in the old Oscar's location in the Lansdowne Shoppes.
Burger lovers welcomed the opening of Five Guys Burgers and Fries on Nicholasville Road, very close to the new Raising Cane's location. The search for the better burger also added to the map Bunk's Gourmet Burgers inside of Two Keys Bar on South Limestone.
There were some niche-type casualties with the closing of Dream Dinners and Josie's Grab and Go.
Evident throughout all sectors was the aggressive deal. The sub sandwich sector restaurants all had to adapt and compete with Subway's "Five Dollar Foot Long" promotion. Casualties in the arena included the closing of a couple of local Quizno's. Most casual-theme chain restaurants seemed to develop their own version of a "two-can-dine" promotion to drive customers to their restaurants. An example of this is Chili's and their "3 courses, 2 people
for $20" deals.
Long John Silver's used low-price promotions such as the 99-cent Baja fish taco. I don't think I can ever recall so much "banner mania" and aggressive street-level advertising of deals.
Further out Nicholasville Road, the Brannon's Crossing development lost the Tai Wan Bistro concept through closure, but the restaurant was replaced with a sports bar concept.
Across the road from the development, a new Cracker Barrel opened and is doing just fine. Approaching the Hamburg area on Man O' War, the Rumors concept closed. In the Beaumont area, Max and Erma's closed, and on a national level, the Max and Erma's corporate entity filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In the Georgetown area, the owners of Galvin's took over the old 222 location and converted it into Circa 1840.
The year 2009 was also a year for nice first-year food and beverage events. The first-ever Craft Beer Festival at The Red Mile was a great success in May. In October, The Incredible Food Show at Heritage Hall was a success and a great way to showcase Kentucky Food products. Also that month, the Bourbon Chase 200-mile relay event started in historic Bardstown, Ky., and ended in the Triangle Park area of Lexington.
The year 2010 should continue with lots of interesting developments in the restaurant, food and beverage sector. And it goes without saying that the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will provide writers like me with a feast of material.
Food and beverage talent abounds in this region, and I'm confident we will see more evidence of this in 2010.