Hearsay Bar & Grille opens in a familiar spot

New London – The Hearsay Bar Grille, which slipped quietly into the city in January at the site of the former Louie’s Bar Grille and The Sundowner on Broad Street, will hold a grand opening celebration the week of March 24-31, offering an atmosphere that is an interesting mesh of speakeasy and law office.

John Graham, the new owner, is making a transition after serving as chef at the former Frank’s Gourmet Grille in East Lyme, which won rave reviews before its sudden closure last year. He trained at the culinary school of Newbury College in Boston and served as a chef at the Copley Marriott there and at Main Street Grille in East Lyme.

Graham promised to maintain some of the bar’s most popular elements while adding a few touches of his own – particularly enhancing the food, but also adding a new wine menu. Servers in Prohibition-era costumes are being promised for the grand opening.

“This place is an absolute landmark,” he said. “We are the neighborhood bar and grille, and we will always be the neighborhood bar and grille.”

Graham is offering special deals every day of the week, including all-you-can-eat ribs on Tuesday, all-you-can-eat pasta on Wednesday and all-you-can-eat fish and chips on Friday. Monday is restaurant workers’ appreciation night from 4 to close, while Thursday is lady’s night and Friday is for “hometown heroes,” offering specials for active or retired military, firefighters, police and hospital workers.

A late-night menu will offer buy one, get one free items from 10 to 11 p.m. Sundays and 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays. Sundays will also boast $2 draft beer and 50 cent chicken wings all day.

Graham, who lives in East Lyme, promises that Louie’s lobster bisque will remain, and he plans to improve the steak offerings as well as include center cut pork chops and grilled salmon. A new juke box, pinball machine and pool table will also be part of the mix.

The Hearsay, which contains more than 3,000 square feet of space and seats 88, also will feature some new drink specials, including Onyx Moonshine, from a distiller in Manchester. And the drink prices, Graham said, also may be changing – for the better.

“I think our prices are a little too high,” he said. “Our prices on alcohol will probably be coming down a bit.”

l.howard@theday.com