At NAC: "The Windsor reformats, and the Publican prattles."

At my civic affairs "non-beer" blog, NA Confidential, there is news of downtown New Albany restaurant arrivals and changes, as well as a state of the NABC union digression: The Windsor reformats, and the Publican prattles.

... Failure junkies take delight in closings, but their focus is errant. The right question isn't, "do we need any more restaurants and bars downtown?" It's this: "Will the restaurants and bars opening downtown have what it takes to survive?" ...

... Those readers who genuinely are close to NABC's principals already know that this year has been the most difficult in the company's history, bar none. It's been brutal.

NA Event Watch: Block Party on Market, Wednesday, September 30.

This one is evolving, but here’s the outline at present.

Dave Himmel of Connor’s Place on East Market Street, New Albany, is getting the requisite approvals to hold an outdoor block party on Wednesday, September 30, starting at around 5:00 p.m.

Market Street will be blocked off between Pearl and Bank, and the block party will take place there. There’ll be a band performing and an NABC beer garden, with food from Connor’s, NABC Bank Street Brewhouse, Windsor Restaurant & Garden, and perhaps others yet to surface.

I’ll update this posting as more information comes to me.

Windsor's "Farmers Market" original post updated to include beer and wine dinner pairings.

The beer and wine pairings for the Windsor's dinner this Monday night have been added to the original post, which you can read here:

Windsor's "Farmers Market" beer and wine dinner coming on Monday, July 27.

I'll be there, and I hope to see some of you.

Windsor's "Farmers Market" beer and wine dinner coming on Monday, July 27.

Here’s the lowdown on the Windsor Restaurant and Garden's forthcoming event, called "The Windsor Beer and Wine Dinner: Farmers Market."

The idea is to use as much food as possible from the Farmers Market just across Bank Street from the restaurant. I’ve reprinted the dinner menu below. Wine and beer pairings have yet to be made, but each course comes with a pairing of wine and beer, according to the information I've received.

This dinner will be served on Monday, July 27, and begins at 6:30 p.m. The price per person is $60, not including tax or gratuity. The Windsor’s phone number is (812) 944-9688, and the dinner is available by reservation only. The Windsor Restaurant and Garden is located at 148 East Market St. in downtown New Albany.

Wine will be provided by Louis Meyer of Crossroad Vintners, beer by Tisha Dean of World Class Beverages, and a closing beer will come from the New Albanian Brewing Company.

Chefs are Justin McMillen and Cory A. Cuff. Cory says: "The Windsor staff would like to thank Susan Kaempfer of Develop New Albany, as well as the local farmers who’re making this possible. A full list of farmers is to come, and a full list of pairings, too.

MENU

Aperitif
Wine: Jean-Louis Denoise Blanc de Blancs Brut Chardonnay NV Limoux, France

Soup
Duo of chilled melon soup shooters with champagne "caviar" and lime granite

Beer: Duvel (Strong Golden Ale; Belgium)
Wine: 2008 Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontes, Mendoza, Argentina

Salad
Pork Roulade Terrine with mixed Asian baby greens and a B&B pickle vinaigrette with assorted pickled vegetables

Beer: Brooklyn Lager (American-made, Vienna-style Lager; NY)
Wine: 2005 Hirsch Gruner Veltliner "Veltliner #1", Kamptal, Austria

Fish
Seared Sea Bass escabache with smoked zucchini, squash, and carrot "spaghetti" garnished with a micro green salad and a parsley and meyer lemon vinaigrette

Beer: Ommegang Hennepin (American-made, Belgian-style Saison; Cooperstown, NY)
Wine: 2006 Bouvier Bourgogne Rouge "Monte Cui", Burgundy, France

Red Meat
Seared Ostrich medallions with a honey lavender marinated grilled asparagus, and deconstructed twice baked fingerling potatoes with a Pennywise Petit Sirah Marchand Du Vin

Beer: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (American Imperial India Pale Ale; DE)
Wine: 2005 Pennywise Petit Sirah, Napa, California

Dessert
Peach two ways, a peach and blackberry cobbler and a Lindemann's Peche float with a goat cheese and lemon verbena ice cream

Beer: Lindemans Peche (Lambic, infused with peach; Belgium)
Wine: Elvino Tintero Moscato d'Asti, Piedmonte, Italy

Parting Glass
Beer: NABC Thunderfoot (dry-cherried Imperial Stout, aged 18 months; New Albany, IN)

The Windsor thanks: Moonkiss Gardens, Gehman Farms, Graf Farms, Hensley Farms, Sycamore Creek Herbs, Priceless Bread Company, Russell Veggies, Kentucky Bison Company, New Albanian Brewing Company, Tisha Dean from World Class Beverages, Louis Meyer from Crossroads Vintners and Susan Kaempfer (Develop New Albany).

C-J previews approaching micobrew-paired beer dinner at the Windsor.

From Steve Coomes in today's Courier-Journal, (somewhat) final notice of Monday evening's beer dinner at the Windsor. Thanks to Isaac for the mention.

----

Windsor Restaurant hosting microbrew-paired dinner

Windsor Restaurant & Garden (148 E. Market St.) in New Albany, Ind., will host a microbrew-paired dinner led by one of the area's best-known hop heads, Roger Baylor, co-owner of the New Albanian Brewing Co. and Rich O's Public House. The event is 6:30 on Monday night, Feb. 23.

Windsor manager Isaac Fox said chef Justin McMillen's meal will combine foods and brews from Kentucky and Indiana for a truly homegrown event. Cost is $55, and reservations are required.

"Roger's great at giving all the background of the beers and talking about the pairings," said Fox. "You can tell he loves doing these and that he knows what he's talking about."

On the menu for the evening: a pistachio and goat cheese salad paired with Brugge White; coq au bier (Cornish hen braised in Barley Island's Flat Top Wheat) paired with Barley Island Dirty Helen; braised short ribs with porcini and thyme reduction paired with Oaken Barrel Snake Pit Porter; a variety of local cheeses paired with Brugge Triple and New Albanian Hoptimus; and espresso creme brulee paired with Bluegrass Brewing Co. Jefferson Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout filtered through Hob Knob Espresso Beans.

For more information, call (812) 944-9688.

Feb. 23: "Local Brews and Local Foods - Beer Dinner at the Windsor" in New Albany.

For those unfamiliar with downtown New Albany, the Windsor occupies the space formerly housing the late, lamented Bistro New Albany. The crew at the Windsor are doing great work, with a couple of savvy young chefs and Isaac manning the bar. There are ten quality drafts and top-shelf liquors. Here's the beer dinner preview, courtesy of Tisha "World Class Beverages" Dean.

---

Local Brews and Local Foods - Beer Dinner at the Windsor

A combined effort with The Windsor, World Class Beverages & New Albanian Brewing, featuring locally grown foods and brewed beers.

Monday, February 23, 2009
6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
The Windsor
148 E Market Street
New Albany, IN

Featuring 5 courses and 8 beer pairings, with an aperitif and "parting glass" beers. Reservations are required, so please call 812-948-9688 for more information.

The Windsor opens its bar and lounge tonight, and there'll be a party.

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. Curmudgeon 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.

It's an insurance claim Monday, New Albany.

Let's hope you have some. Electricity, too ...

The power has been out at NABC/Rich O's/Sportstime since early Sunday afternoon, so I'm guessing our chances of opening today are slim. If the juice comes back on soon, we may be back in action serving beer tonight, but food deliveries don't come until tomorrow, and the beer (although unharmed) is currently warm.

I like it that way, though not everyone does.

The beer in the temperature-controlled brewery fermenters is another matter, and we'll have to play that one by ear.

Property damage in New Albany from yesterday's Hurricane Ike aftershocks looks to be extensive, though not expensive in most cases, with many trees and limbs down, and shingles blown off rooftops. A few houses weren't so lucky, and as the Diggin' In the Dirt blog reported on Sunday, several prominent New Albany landmarks took big hits from the gusts. Fortunately, injuries and deaths appear to be few in our region, and for that we're all thankful.

Any thoughts? Post 'em. The thread will remain open the remainder of the day as clean-up proceeds and I make ready for Benelux beercycling (departure Tuesday).

New Albany's Windsor Restaurant and Garden adding full service bar with draft craft brews.

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.

In fact, the Windsor occupies the spot on the corner of Market and Bank where the Bistro New Albany held court until October, 2007, and following a slow and steady start-up during the summer of 2008, the Windsor looks to be hitting its stride.

Chef Justin McMillen has been on board for a few months now, and while I haven’t had time to sample the dinner menu (sorry), I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. The patio’s as nice as it ever was, and the interior is about to undergo a major conceptual makeover, which is even more exciting to me because the retrofit is to include a full service bar and the restoration of the former Bistro’s ten-tap draft system.

That's excellent news.

John Campbell and I spent time earlier this week with 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.

Isaac told us that the plan is to have the space known locally as the “place where the music shop was” (it now has relocated a block west) renovated and a bar installed. There’ll be comfy furniture, a couple of flat screen televisions, and with a full 3-way liquor license, the full gamut of beer, wine and cocktails.

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 since. The bottle list will begin short and grow.

The whole thing is supposed to hit the ground by Harvest Homecoming on the 9th of October. Look for beer dinners and tastings later this fall and winter. It’s great to have another venue for craft beer downtown!