New Albanian Bank Brewhouse opening day

Stopped in with a couple of friends on the first day of business. I was the first one there and grabbed a 10 oz. glass of the 'Hoosier Daddy,' which was described to me as a combination of a cream ale and a red ale. It was crazy delicious. I love being able to drink beers in smaller portions because it's a)more fun and b)allows you to try more.
My friends joined soon after - one with an Ale 8 and the other with a Jones Soda (too early for a beer, I guess?) Roger Baylor's devotion to serving whatever the hell he wants to is great and sort of reminds me of David Chang of Momofuku in New York - he won't cook for vegetarians, he won't make substitutions, and he only serves RC Cola, because he thinks it's cool. I agree.
For lunch we split the Pommes Frites, which comes with your choice of 3 different sauces (of 7) - we asked for the mayo, the curry, and the lavender oil. They ended up sending them out with all of the options. Loved them. Fries were obviously hand cut, nice sea salt, a good start.
After my first beer, I went for another small version of the 'Kaiser,' their Pilsner offering, which we were told by our wonderfully knowledgeable server, Krista (wink, wink) was comparable to the recipes of old. It was great.
I had the potato and leek soup and the beet salad. Bacon played a role in both, and that's alright by me no matter how you add it up.
As we were eating Marty Rosen stopped in, and on our way out, James and Heather from the Nachbar were heading in to check it out.
Big space, garage doors that will obviously be pulled back during warmer months, and plans for patio expansion. Jackson's Organic Coffee, Orangita, and the Meters on the sound system made it clear I need to revisit very soon.

I just got back in from lunch there as well.... Brooks, you must have been sitting at the table of 3 guys near one of the garage doors.

I ordered the Croque Madame, which is a Black Forest ham, Prosciutto, and Emmantaler Cheese sandwich served on wheat bread with a poached egg on top lightly sauced with Mornay. Very tasty. The bread was crisp, the sauce was delicious and the egg was a last second addition on recommendation from the server. This came with small portions of pomme frites and a green leaf salad that complimented the salad well. Unfortunately, I was unable to enjoy a beer with my lunch (had to get back to work), but had a Sprecher Root beer instead. The service was attentive without being overbearing.

As the poster above noted, Marty Rosen stopped in with a group of people. My favorite moment of the day was seeing Roger's face as he walked in and there was Marty sitting right inside the door.

Great atmosphere, great food. I can't wait to go back and try the mussels on my next visit.

I had an early supper there. I had a meeting at church (my church is a stone's throw away from there) and only had water to drink.

I did, however, have the potato leak soup which was wonderful. It was garnished with bacon and what my server said was basil oil. It was crazy good. I had the Croquet Monsieur and I really enjoyed it. I was given the option of sour dough bread and grabbed it. It was a rich sandwich (and soup) to be sure and I enjoyed every bite. I can't wait to see what other delights await us. For one, I am really looking forward to trying some mussels.

Can't wait to drop in... Sunday hours?

I believe they said 12-8pm on Sunday.

Address? Especially for those of us Indiana-challenged.

415 Bank Street
New Albany, IN 47150

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Anne and I were able to stop by late afternoon Friday. The place really looks cool. There are large all window type "garage doors" that can roll up and let the front whole wall merge with the sidewalk. Even on a day when they are in the down position,as it was ,the fact that its all window gives the place a very open feel. High ceilings,nice lighting,good sound level,nice bathrooms and of course great beer. When we got there ,we were told the kitchen wouldnt reopen till six, so we didnt get our frites. Not a big deal at all, but we were having some kind of friday 13th luck that day. We also had to pass up getting a Danny Macs cheese Steak earlier in the day,due to time constraints. Anyway,look forward to getting back over to bank st. to try some mussels and frites I was surprised by how quickly we could get from downtown Lou over to Bank st.

[Robin Garr]

I was surprised by how quickly we could get from downtown Lou over to Bank st.

Assuming you avoid rush hours at Spaghetti Junction, New Albany is surprisingly close to Louisville's urban neighborhoods. I've noticed on a couple of recent visits (Windsor, NABC, La Rosita Taqueria) that it generally takes us only about 10-12 minutes from our door in Crescent Hill to most New Albany destinations. It's actually quicker and easier to get there from Crescent Hill than it is to get to Springhurst.

Ironically, with an out-of-town guest in tow, and seeking to expose him to as many good things as possible over the weekend, we actually left Bank Street in early evening and went to La Rosita's to dine. Rosita's was packed, too. Times like that make me feel good about being in "accessible" New Albany.

I apologize about the kitchen confusion yesterday. I did a fairly poor job of articulating the lunch time vs. dinner time, and we hadn't quite gotten an "interim" snack menu in place ... then we ran through a big volume of food at lunch with no time to prep. Chef Josh put together an evening menu of soup and a cheese plate that went over quite well. In the context of our previous experience, the Bank Street project throws a few curveballs. We've always done a day-long pizza and sandwich menu; now, at Bank Street, we have a kitchen and a creative menu that make different demands in terms of time, and with the way that I must conceptualize the marketing plan. It'll take a couple of weeks, but we'll get there. Tuesday through Saturday will be lunch and dinner menus, with snacks (cheese plate, etc) in between. Sunday will be a different (and currently evolving) plan for the food, perhaps a lighter bill of fare for YMCA patrons and weekend bicyclists. NABC beer, Southern Indiana wines, a small list of selected spirits and craft sodas will be available at all hours.

Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday. It was a fine start for us. We'll be working to iron out the kinks as the next stage (brewery installation and exterior work) begins.