Last week, restaurateur Dave Bailey made waves when he announced the addition of a second Rooster location, bringing the breakfast and brunch concept to South Grand. That news comes just weeks before busy Bailey opens another restaurant, Small Batch, in Midtown Alley. Bailey revealed plans for Small Batch in May, and with the doors unlocking at 3001 Locust St., in mid-to-late November, The Scoop caught up with him to get a few details on the restaurant.
Small Batch’s menu, developed by Bailey in collaboration with executive chefs Peter Clark and Stephen Trouvere, is entirely vegetarian, while the beverage focus is whiskey. “A lot of people think of whiskey as going with very rich dishes, or meat, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” Bailey said. “There’s a lot of subtlety to many whiskeys, especially American whiskeys. The craftsmanship that people have with it – they express so many different flavors with a relatively small amount of ingredients. You can pair it with every cuisine you want as long as you’re thoughtful about it.”
Small Batch will offer lunch, brunch, dinner and late night menus, with some overlap among the approximately 20 items on each. Don’t expect Small Batch to pigeonhole itself into one genre of cookery or one ethnic cuisine. Rather, the food will “cross borders,” while also frequently adjusting for seasonality.
While Small Batch will offer several dozen whiskeys, the selection (curated by Justin Austermann, bar manager at sister restaurant Bridge) will “gradually develop and change over time,” Bailey explained. “A lot of what we are going for isn’t necessarily available all the time.”
The space is a mere 1,500 square feet, but a 400-square-foot, L-shaped mezzanine will increase seating capacity to 90. A double-wide sidewalk will add some 80 dining spots outdoors. Bailey has set out to accentuate the “regal presence” of a space that was once a Ford Model-T showroom. Look for a hexagonal-tiled floor that’s “polished, clean and shiny,” complemented by focal points like a tall bar back, enormous mirror and a huge light fixture. “We wanted to take a small space and make it grand,” said Bailey.
This article appears in October 2013.