Grain Craft Bar + Kitchen opened on Saturday at 5 p.m.
A preview event for the business was held last weekend during the annual Food & Brew event. Click here for the menu.
Jim O’Donoghue, Catie Mahoney O’Donoghue, Kathy Malone Mikles and Lee Mikles are the owners of the former site of Mojo Main and East End Cafe on East Main Street in Newark.
Grain will focus on locally sourced ingredients wherever possible. Plans call for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch.
Lee Mikles is an entrepreneur with a marketing background who teaches at the University of Delaware.
He is a founder of the Archer Group in Wilmington, an advertising agency heavily involved in the digital world. Mikles is using his knowledge of social media to get the word out on the new venture. Mikles is also a founder and president of StartItUp Delaware, an organization devoting to building a vibrant start-up community in the state
“I felt I had one more start-up in me,” Mikles said of the long days involved in moving Grain toward its opening.
Mikles and O’Donoghue had been talking for some time about the venture. Essential to the project were approvals from the city of Newark and the state Office of Alcohol Beverage Control.
The landlords are also supporting the project. That was not a given, according to Michaels, who noted that the location comes with a less than spotless history.
Mikles praised the efforts of city officials who proved to be “incredibly helpful” in explaining the approval process. He also had kind words for residents who offered their support.
Grain takes its name and inspiration from inventor Oliver Evans, a figure in Delaware history that Mikles stumbled upon when doing research as part of the StartItUp Delaware effort.
Evans, who was born in Newport in the 1750s, went on to develop an automated flour mill that went on to revolutionize the industry along the Brandywine Creek and other areas of the East Coast.
He is also credited with developing the first automobile or carriage, which was powered by steam. Evans’ image and work will be part of the front room of Grain, a gastropub.
The back room will be a an area to hang out, with acoustic music offered from singer-songwriters and others. That will mark a departure from the metal and other types of bands that were part of the entertainment mix at Mojo and East End.
Thanks to the suggestions and work of Yorklyn-based interior designer Katie O’Hara, the early focus of Grain will be on its covered patio, MIkles said. He praised the designer for taking a fresh look at the space. The patio will be smoke free.
The patio could prove to be a competitive advantage in a Newark dining scene. In the past few years, outdoor tables can be hard to find on a nice day.
The East Main Street area has been slow to see the turnaround that has gone in areas to the west. That creates a challenge as well as an opportunity for Grain.
Mikles says the restaurant-bar will never be as dependent on students as its counterparts to the west. The hope is to appeal to a wider audience that has been coming to the growing dining area on Main Street.
At the same time, the overhaul of the Newark Shopping Center and a large student housing complex at the site of the center’s former bowling alley are expected to bring more pedestrian traffic to the area.
Indeed, Grain’s preview at Newark’s annual Food & Brew over the weekend brought a lot of pedestrian traffic to the often quiet area of Main Street.
The craft brew and food scene in the Newark is a highly competitive niche with the recent reopening of Stone Balloon Ale House (formerly 16 Mile and Stone Balloon Wine House), and the success of Two Stones in the Brookside area east of Newark.
Also coming to the area is Churrascaria Saudades, a Brazilian steakhouse that is slated to open later this year in the Newark Shopping Center. Mikles says the large number of restaurants is a plus in bringing people to Newark.
Ricky Nietubicz, community affairs officer for the City of Newark, estimates the Main Street area, which now extends to the the Municipal Building on what once was Elkton Road, has a couple dozen restaurants with liquor licenses.
