Ex-Jack Fry's chef Shawn Ward opens new restaurant

After leaving Jack Fry's last month, Shawn Ward says he is "democratizing fine dining" at his new restaurant, The Brewery, which opened at the beginning of April at 426 Baxter Ave.

Ward says the restaurant gives him a chance to serve good food in a casual atmosphere.

After 18 years as chef at the acclaimed Jack Fry's, Ward said "the food was getting to the point where it wasn't approachable by a lot of people. We wanted to do something where we feed people four to five times a week if they want. Right now nothing's over $20. We can do good food and not have to be charging New York prices."

Though the price point will differ from Jack Fry's, Ward says his food is still French-influenced.

"That's what I'm always going to be comfortable with."

His emphasis on good, fresh food remains as well, he says. "I've been here 22 days and I have nine farmers and a guy raising pork and chicken, and farm fresh eggs. It's the same style of food, just at a smaller scale."

It's not all new. "We brought some things in that people were familiar with at Jack Fry's," Ward says. "But we can do fun stuff. We're trying to get a feel for how far we can take that and how fun we can make it."

The move happened quickly. "I got to the point in my life where I realized I wanted to call something my own and this opportunity came up," says Ward, who went into the venture with Brian Flowers and Nirmesh Agrawal. Dean Corbett is also involved in the venture.

"We were sitting around one night at Corbett's having a beer and we all just started talking and decided let's go see what this place is all about. Two and a half weeks later we bought it." The space "was a bar that had food available." Now, Ward says, "it's a restaurant with a bar available."

When the bar program gets up and running, they'll focus on bourbon. But Ward says they have other plans including featuring "a gentleman locally who's making tequila." Also, "next door a moonshine museum is coming in and they're going to be distilling. We're going to try to do something with them."

They plan a redesign of the space this summer and a new name — likely Junction 426. "In 1910, right down the street was the train junction that dropped off the cattle," he explains.

Ward says they're moving slowly, noting that he has relied on word of mouth since opening, with no press until now. "We were afraid that if we told many people that we would get hit right off the bat," he says, "and we didn't want to disappoint anyone."

The low-key approach hasn't kept people away. "Business has been doubling every day," he says. "It's been very fun. It's been a lot of work, but it's been a lot of fun. And bringing the people in that weren't able to go (to Jack Fry's) as often has been really rewarding."

For more information, call (502) 365-2505.