Colonial Gardens, Kenwood & New Cut

Polling the Audience for an opinion of what might be a very good food type, restaurant concept example; family style, diner, fast casual, beer garden, let your creative jucies flow, for the use of the Colonial Gardens location next to the Iroquois Ampitheater? Anyone in particular live in that area? What would you like to see there? Thanks for taking the time to repond

Well... if you can't knock down the eyesore (even when it was new!) and start over......

How about a Claudia Sanders outpost? I probably would go rarely, but I can promise you there are folks around there who would love it.

thanks for that vote, I've been in touch with them, and yes, I think so

I agree with Steve... Something family oriented for that area. Maybe a place to go before or after an amphitheater event. They could buddy up their advertising with the theatre and do theatre night specials. At least, in the summer months.

Comfort food with a distinctive healthy signature (a menu blotted heavily with fresh cooked greens, fresh garlic, tomatoes, browned onion, citrus juices and chiles, non-fried fish). You couldn't count on the Ampitheatre to carry the business, but the food that the Ampitheatre crowd is looking for is probably sought after by a lot of the neighborhood residents that would love some healthful options closer to home. Late night service would probably do very well with everyone, especially if a beer and wine license could be secured.

I have some best friends that live just down the road that spend a lot of money on dining, and the only place in their own neighborhood that they stick around for is Annie Cafe.

I live right around the corner from Colonial Gardens. Everyone keeps saying it's an eyesore and should be torn down. I think it's a beautiful building with some interesting history behind it. I became interested in the history of Kenwood and Colonial Gardens since I moved to this neighborhood 2 years ago and I have hoped for someone to reopen it as a restaurant. With the park being right across the street, I feel like it should not only be affordable but family oriented that is open late at night for those attending concerts or movies. I haven't seen what the inside looks like but I'm assuming it's 2 + stories. One story should be a restaurant and the other a beer garden/bar. We need something other than fast food and Mexican here in this area. I keep hearing rumors about someone being interested in buying the place. Not sure if those rumors are correct. I just hope they don't tear it down and put up another gas station or fast food place. My only concern would be the parking situation.

My first memories of childhood, at the age of 4 or 5, are of our house on Emery Avenue, near the corner of Kenwood Drive. From our porch I could see the first piece of real architecture I remember - Colonial Gardens. I still have a photograph from the interior of Colonial Gardens - one of those professional shots they used to do in supper clubs - of my mother and father, my aunt and uncle, my cousin and sister, who looks to be about 6. A family affair, but in front of my dad and uncle are bottles of Oertle's 92 and ashtrays. It is a lively scene.

Across New Cut Road, in the park, was a pavilion that was open all summer and sold popsicles and candy and kites and balsa airplanes. It was a utilitarian building, but one done with a bit of style and taste, and it somehow looked good in the same panorama as Colonial Gardens. If you stood there and looked back across New Cut, you would see the bus turnaround, and Parkside, our favorite eating place, a little frame building that looked cozy and inviting, and where they had that wonderful kind of roast beef sandwich covered in rich beef gravy. Dad was a butcher and knew they used good quality beef, and the gravy was homemade.

Parkside is gone and Colonial Gardens is closed and threatened. It's threatened by the kind of short-sightedness, lack of vision, crass business attitude and politics lurking in Steve H's comment. It is a sad battle between those of us who know that our built environment and past create soul and value of place, and those Todd Blues and David Yateses of the world who have too much power and too little inner life. If only there were more developers with some kind of poetics in them - folks like Bill Weyland and Gill Holland - we might save and enhance and enrich places like the South End and the West End.

What is happening beautifully in the South End is a growing immigrant population that is making it a lively place to be, especially with food. And the amazing things going on at the Amphitheater ... and Sister Beans Coffee...

I would love to see Colonial Gardens become some kind of Asian or Cuban hot spot... or maybe a great Indian restaurant, keeping the name and savoring a little irony there...

Ohh Cuban sounds good. There is a little cuban market down the road on New Cut. Every so often we go there to get a fresh loaf of their bread. Yummy!

I was doing a little thinking about this today and came up with a few other suggestions. Something that kind of infuses the history of Colonial Gardens with food. German - The original owners (The Sennings) were immigrants from Germany. The only other German restaurant I know of is Gausthaus. While I love their food, it's a bit of a drive for those in the South end. Or what about offering a few dishes from around the world. Colonial Gardens use to be a petting zoo that had exotic animals. Or maybe offer food that was popular back in the 40's and 50's when it featured big bands. It would sort of go along with the New Cut Trolley Hop we have here. Just throwing around a few ideas that I'm sure people would knock down because everyone tends to lean towards moderizing these days and not preserving some of the history we have left of our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.

I was doing a little thinking about this today and came up with a few other suggestions. Something that kind of infuses the history of Colonial Gardens with food. German - The original owners (The Sennings) were immigrants from Germany. The only other German restaurant I know of is Gausthaus. While I love their food, it's a bit of a drive for those in the South end.

There's also Eiderdown in Germantown and Erika's on Hurstbourne, but I don't think the German-food market is saturated by any means.

It's threatened by the kind of short-sightedness, lack of vision, crass business attitude and politics lurking in Steve H's comment. It is a sad battle between those of us who know that our built environment and past create soul and value of place, and those Todd Blues and David Yateses of the world who have too much power and too little inner life.

My family has lived in the South End for at least 5 generations. Coral Ridge , Auburndale and then spread out a little to Fairdale, Park View, Valley Station, and PRP. I wager that I live closer to Colonial Gardens then everyone here, except maybe Amy B, who is a recent arrival. So, I don't know why my opinion shouldn't count as much as the next guy's.

Thanks to everyone who responed, we appreciate your input!!!