Rumours have been flying all summer about the latest business venture of Lookout Bar owners Kelly Brant and Sue Ploughman. Now they’re ready to lay some of them to rest.
“I’m not ready to announce the name yet, but we’ll be opening up a restaurant where the old Ironwood Café was at 374 Bank Street,” says Brant. “And it’s definitely going to cater to a gay and lesbian clientele.”
Brant, Ploughman and third partner Jesse Cotê are hard at work on renovations, and hope to open “sometime in October.”
Speculation about the new venture peaked when Brant and Ploughman were considering purchasing Centretown Pub. “When that didn’t work out, we thought to ourselves ‘Hey, maybe there’s enough bars already,'” says Brant.
A lot of thought went into the location, and what kind of business would best fit the existing gay and lesbian-owned buildings. “We’re very excited about being in the designated village. We’re picky, and we wanted to be in the middle of it all. We’ll be near Bridgehead and Wilde’s, and we’ll fit that niche well.”
Both Brant and Ploughman have restaurant experience, notably at the William Street Café, and they’ll be bringing a lot of that experience into play to create the as-yet-unnamed restaurant. “It’s going to be a really comfortable and inviting place. It seats about 70 people, and that’s a good size.”
The focus will be on really good, affordable food in a comfortable environment. “It will be the kind of place you can take a date and hold hands,” says Brant.
They will serve lunch and dinner, with a special focus on brunch. “We know a lot of people who live in the area, and this will be a good place for them to have brunch or dinner. It will be a good place to meet up on Saturday or Sunday over brunch, like the old News Café on Elgin.”
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