Whiskey Row soon will add two more more restaurants to its growing culinary lineup.
The developers of the dual-branded Hotel Distil and Moxy said that two new concepts — Repeal, an oak-fired steakhouse, and Zombie Taco, a food truck-inspired restaurant offering tacos, burritos and other Mexican cuisine — will open inside the hotels once they are finished this fall.
Repeal will be located inside Hotel Distil facing Main Street. It will serve classic steakhouse dishes alongside a cocktail and curated wines list and more than 100 speciality bourbons, according to a news release.
Repeal’s decor is designed to accentuate Whiskey Row’s architecture and bourbon heritage, offering a private event space known as The Barrel Room that can be booked for small groups. The Barrel Room will house its own private bar and will overlook Repeal’s dining room, according to the release.
Zombie Taco, meanwhile, will be located on the first floor of the Moxy Louisville Downtown at First and Washington streets and be packaged alongside the previously announced Bar Moxy, a venue that will feature food and a curated music program.
The release said Zombie Taco will offer made-to-order menu items for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night. This is the second location for the concept after it opened in Chicago last year.
The two restaurants will be joined by Bitters End, a bar with a retractable glass roof that will be located adjacent to Repeal and will offer whiskey-inspired small plates, customized craft cocktails and a bourbon list overlooking Whiskey Row.
Louisville-based Poe Cos. is developing the Moxy and Distil hotels in conjunction with Merrillville, Ind.-based White Lodging Services Corp. and Indianapolis-based REI Real Estate Services. The release said White Lodging is developing the menus and concepts for the hotels’ dining and bar venues in-house. The company operates nearly 100 hotels and more than 30 restaurants in 20 states.
“These new restaurants and bars will complement and diversify the Whiskey Row dining scene at all parts of the day and night,” White Lodging Director of Marketing Shane Weaver said in the release. “We’re excited to continue our expansion in downtown Louisville.”
As we have previously reported, Hotel Distil, an independent boutique hotel that is part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, will have 161 king rooms, 33 queen rooms and 11 suites, with 15,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 5,000-square foot ballroom.
The Moxy Hotel — an edgier Marriott brand that has gained a loyal following in Europe — is connected to Distil and will house 110 rooms. The development has been estimated to cost more than $100 million.
The hotels are being built on the site of the former J.T.S. Brown and Sons distillery and barrel house, which dates to the mid-1800s.
The new restaurant concepts come after White Lodging announced Dana Orlando as Hotel Distil’s general manager last month.
We’ll have more on the Hotel Distil and Moxy on Wednesday as we will be taking a hard-hat tour of the properties ahead of their opening later this year. You can see renderings of the project in the gallery above.