Pondicheri unveiled its new bar in early December.
Anita Jaisinghani is all the time trying for methods to enhance the client expertise at Pondicheri. After greater than a decade of her Indian restaurant being open in Upper Kirby, she determined it was time to reinvent the wheel with a whole renovation of the restaurant’s bar.
The new house charms with its checkered flooring, honeycomb architectural design, concrete-like arches, and marble countertop. Only a month after unveiling the bar, Jaisinghani says it has already been embraced by regulars.
“I feel like we needed a focal point,” Jaisinghani says. “It’s funny, a lot of people that have been coming for years don’t remember the old bar, and that makes me realize that it was ready for that bar to go.”
The work for the brand new bar started over a yr in the past. Jaisinghani labored alongside Gin Design Group, a prolific agency that designs a few of Houston’s high eating places. Many concepts have been introduced to her, however nothing felt proper. Then, a visit to Jaipur, India, modified the whole lot and helped solidify her imaginative and prescient. During Jaisinghani’s travels, she visited Bar Palladio, which she describes as having a “beautiful modern Indian vibe.” She immediately knew she needed to recreate an identical house at Pondicheri.
“I wanted that essence of what they had,” she says.
The arches on the wall the place the liquor is held are core to the bar’s design: Featuring a concrete matte end, they align with the imaginative and prescient to convey modernity to Pondicheri. The restaurant and Gin Design Group introduced on native plaster artist Carissa Joy Marx, who’s recognized for her texture work throughout the Houston space.
Anita Jaisinghani says the arches show the sweetness in simplicity.
Jaisinghani says the arches show that simplicity is gorgeous; it reminds her of one other place, one other time. She additionally notes the bar’s wooden paneling is a vital side of the house. Pondicheri’s earlier bar was lined in wooden, however Jaisinghani couldn’t bear to throw it away, so she as a substitute requested to repurpose it within the renovation.
“We wrapped the bar in that wood to give it a memory of the old bar,” Jaisinghani says.
Despite having such intensive work completed to the house, it was all accomplished inside six weeks. To make sure that the development didn’t intervene with the restaurant’s day-to-day operations, the a part of the bar being up to date was closed off. Cocktails have been nonetheless on supply throughout development. At first, the bartenders have been making them within the entrance of the restaurant, however when that created a visitors jam, the whole lot was moved to the kitchen.
With the renovation full, Jaisinghani’s aim is to show Pondicheri into an inviting spot that individuals go to after work to get pleasure from drinks and small bites. Running from 4pm to 7pm each day, the restaurant’s glad hour affords $5 craft beer, $9 cocktails, and 25 % off wine. Light bites embody lentil dumplings, rooster chutney in a cup, and baked oysters.
“My favorite time of the day to snack on food is around 4pm, before dinner,” Jaisinghani says. “So, Pondicheri is the perfect place to come for a snack, and happy hour is what I’m hoping people come here for, whether you’re sitting at the front, the patio, or the bar.”
Pondicheri didn’t also have a glad hour till early December—Jaisinghani says she’s ashamed to confess it took the restaurant this lengthy to begin one. But since its unveiling, the brand new bar has been busier than ever.
Pondicheri’s new bar makes use of art work to raise the house.
Jaisinghani’s daughter, Ajna Jai, helms the drinks. Pondicheri’s cocktail choices haven’t actually modified, however she says everybody behind the bar is all the time open to exploring new concepts. For occasion, the inspiration for the Blueberry Sparkle first got here from the kitchen. Sometimes, Pondicheri serves crepes and pancakes with jam, so Jai says they determined to make a blueberry and rosemary jam to place on the backside of the drink, complemented by gin and bubbles.
Jai says cocktail recipe improvement is actually a crew effort. If a staffer comes up with an concept for a drink, they’ll often make it, then do a check style to get suggestions on what could possibly be higher—or to see if it’s ok so as to add to the menu. Plenty of different drinks have handed the check and made it onto the present menu at Pondicheri, typically reflecting the restaurant’s culinary sensibilities. A chai quaint and a chai sizzling toddy infuse the basic cocktails with Indian tea, for instance. The Honey Blues cocktail mixes butterfly pea vodka (giving it that blue shade), lavender honey, ginger, and lemon juice. And the Pollinator is a sort of bitter cocktail made with chamomile and mezcal.
Jai feels that Pondicheri’s use of recent juice units the restaurant aside. If you attempt to discover any of the bar’s staff an hour earlier than it opens, you’ll be out of luck—they’ll be busy juicing away to make sure the cocktails are as much as par with the remainder of the restaurant’s choices.
“I hope that guests feel the cocktails are made with a lot of care, attention, and love,” Jai says. “It’s a labor of love back there.”
Pondicheri has grow to be considerably of a vacation spot restaurant, due to native recognition in addition to nationwide award nods from the likes of the James Beard Foundation. With the newly added glad hour, Jai would love for folks so as to add it to their weekly rotation. Eventually, Jaisinghani hopes the restaurant and bar house will acquire sufficient traction to host a late-night crowd. But proper now, the main target is on build up the clientele.
“I think by creating the space, we made room for other people to come,” Jaisinghani says. “When it came to the bar, I feel like it’s kind of where we fell short, so we fixed that, and now it’s beautiful.”
The bar continues to be a piece in progress. Jaisinghani claims she isn’t a static individual and feels that nothing is ever completely ultimate, so it’s protected to say it’s solely a matter of time till we see one thing else thrilling come from Pondicheri.