Lexington's east side will have new dining and event options that will be the envy of downtown.
Carson's Food & Drink's second new location will open in the former Andover Golf Club clubhouse, which has been renovated to include a venue space that can be booked separately.
The popular local restaurant is set to open the weekend of June 21st, with the storefront expected to open in September.
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Venue space for large and small private parties
The venue, called “The Hudson,” is already fully booked through next year for fall gatherings, holiday parties and wedding receptions, said Jamie Jackson Fichtner, president and owner of the company that also operates Carson's at 362 E. Main St. The event space can be divided into smaller sections and can accommodate anywhere from 35 to 140 people, including a separate patio, Fichtner said.
“We needed an event space in Hamburg,” she said.
There is also a smaller private room called the Esquire Room that seats 12, which she said is just the right size for holding board meetings.
How is Carson's new location different from downtown?
The main restaurant has one of the longest bars in Lexington, seats 26 and has views of the pond on the former golf course (now parkland). With seating for 255, it is slightly larger than the original Carson's location, which opened in 2016 in a former garage on Main Street.
Additionally, an enclosed, all-season terrace room lined with orchids and palm trees can seat an additional 75 guests, and an adjacent patio offers outdoor seating.
This second location has more parking than the first downtown location.
Menu changes at new Carson's locations
Fichtner said the menu at the new Carson's will be the same, from cocktails to brunch.
But the look is a little more upscale: The butcher-block tables and reclaimed barn-wood floors are still there, but look up and you'll see 25 chandeliers, and on the walls is a custom mural depicting Kentucky's six bourbon distilleries.
“But it's not white tablecloths,” Jamie Fichtner says. “We want you to feel just as comfortable here in your yoga pants as you are dressing up for date night.”
She and her husband, Mark Fichtner, who opened the original Carson's, expect the new location to be even busier: The downtown location is popular and reservations can be hard to get, especially on weekends.
“We serve about 18,000 customers a year at Carson's Downtown,” Mark Fichtner said, “and we're hoping for 23,000 customers in Andover.”
To prepare all of this food, he built a “million-dollar kitchen” that will serve both the restaurant and the event venue. “It's the biggest kitchen I've ever built, with two full kitchens and a 30-foot walk-in refrigerator.”
The Fichtners aren't done building yet. “We'd love to build another Carson's somewhere else in the county,” he says. “And we have about three other concepts we'd like to try.”
Carson's at Andover
where: 3450 Todd's Road
time: Monday to Thursday, 11:30am to 10pm; Friday and Saturday, 10am to 11pm; Sunday, 10am to 10pm.
reservation: Coming soon online at OpenTable.com
online: carsonsfoodanddrink.com, Facebook.com/CarsonsLexington
