USA, OH: Mai Chau Kitchen and Three Tigers Brewing Company moving to former Granville fire station

It seems Mai Chau Kitchen and Three Tigers Brewing Company were destined to move into the former downtown fire station, The Newark Advocate reported on March 29.

In the early days of the restaurant and brewing company's tenure on North Prospect Street, co-owners Lonnie Hill, Rick Moller and Scott Wilkins would look at the building across the street while at the bar during happy hour and dream about purchasing it once the Granville Fire Department's new home was complete on Main Street.

"It was always something we had in the back of our mind," Wilkins said.

Now their dream is almost a reality. After an extensive remodel, finishing touches are being done at the restaurant and brewery's new home. The new location will be fully operational April 1, Wilkins said.

Hill said the community's support of the two businesses has been so strong that they have continued to grow — even through the COVID-19 pandemic — and their two locations we're no longer big enough. Limited space for fermenter tanks meant they couldn't brew additional beer, and they couldn't expand the menu because of a cramped kitchen.

"If we were going to take the next level, we needed a new spot. It couldn’t be any better for us," he said of the new space.

The more than 6,000-square-foot space allows a bigger kitchen, more brewing space, more than double the seating capacity and additional staff members, Wilkins and Hill said.

But the restaurant's vibe will be the same as the original location, Wilkins said, adding it will still be family friendly and offer live music on the weekends.

"I think it’s just a bigger, better experience is what I’m thinking of," Wilkins said.

The seating capacity has doubled from 65 people at the original location to 120 inside and another 38-40 outside when the large garage doors that face North Prospect are open, Wilkins said. With more customers, comes more staff, which will grow from 26 as of mid-March to about 40 members.

The core Mai Chau menu items will remain, Wilkins said, but the larger kitchen means an expanded menu that will include seafood, burgers, chicken sandwiches and much more. Daily specials will include tacos on Tuesdays, wings on Wednesdays and prime rib on Fridays.

"From a space perspective we weren’t able to do a whole lot outside of our menu," Wilkins said. "We’ve always done weekly specials and they’ve been hugely popular so it kind of gives us an opportunity to offer some of those things on our regular menu."

Wilkins said Mai Chau is fortunate to have talented cooks, and expanding the menu showcases their abilities.

"To have folks be able to come in and have like a nice entrée, have a seared salmon or like a short rib dish, that was something that was important to us," he said.

The additional space allows Three Tigers to quadruple its brewing capacity, Wilkins said. And not only can Three Tigers make additional beer, for the first time the brewery has capacity to can beers. Six-packs will be available, so customers can take their favorites home.

Plus, 12 of the 18 beers on draft will be Three Tigers beers, Wilkins said.

The Mai Chau/Three Tigers proposal was selected to purchase the building by a 5-0 Granville Village Council vote Dec. 2, 2020. Proposals had also been submitted by Day Y Noche on Broadway and Firewater Brewing and Bikes, which would have been a satellite location of the New Albany high-end bike shop VeloScience Bike Works that also would have had a microbrew operation.

Hill said the restaurant and brewery will honor the building's past by displaying memorabilia from the fire department.

Wilkins and Hill said they've received positive reactions when people have visited the renovations, including from firefighters who have stopped by.

Wilkins said, "Some old timers passed through and it brought a tear to their eye."

As the date for the new location's opening gets closer, Wilkins and Hill said they do not know what will happen with the space they've occupied across the street. They've leased the space since Mai Chau opened in 2015.

30 March, 2022