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PHOTOS: Vintage Bank-Themed Restaurant Opening in Williamsburg

By Serena Dai | July 8, 2015 4:26pm
  Bill Baker's will serve American comfort food in small plates and craft beer and bourbon.
PHOTOS: Bank-Inspired Restaurant Opening in Williamsburg Thursday
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WILLIAMSBURG — The decor of a new restaurant opening in Williamsburg Thursday was inspired by the owner's grandfather Bill Baker — a banker.

Bill Baker's, at 364 Grand St., is named after co-owner Adam Randisi's grandfather, who worked at a bank in Manhattan years ago, Randisi said.

To honor his memory, the restaurant's interior has incorporated the look of a vintage bank, he said.

Randisi and co-owner Nels Benton custom made a teller's gate with Baker's initials near the bar and server's station. A clock near the back of the dining room is from an old bank.

And one glass bar is made from a real vintage teller's table.

It's a bit of a tribute to Baker, a "really, really great guy" who loved to simply hang out with friends and family after a hard day's work, said Martin Randisi, an investor in the restaurant and Baker's son-in-law.

"His thing was, you come home from work on the weekends, take the tie off, relax, get the family together, meet with his friends," Martin Randisi said. "Once you walk in the doors [here], everything else is left out in the street. You come in. You’ll be greeted with a smile. People will be friendly. Just relax."

Adam Randisi and Benton, both chefs, decided to open the spot after initially looking to open a brewery. They decided to do a restaurant instead and offer four of their homebrew recipes on tap, which will be brewed by Spider Bite Beer.

The menu will be made up of American comfort food, mostly served on small plates for sharing.

Dishes include beef Wellington, mac and cheese, duck pierogi and shrimp and grits. Prices will range between $7 and $15 for small plates and $18 to $20 for larger ones.

And the beer — which will be served along with 16 other craft choices on tap — may be rotated out as the two friends experiment.

Their flagship recipe is a vanilla porter made with 50 whole Madagascar vanilla beans per barrel, meaning each glass of the beer has about one bean. Comparatively, a cake might use half of a vanilla bean, Benton said.

"It's light, even though it's a dark beer," said Mark Romano, director of beverages at Bill Baker's. "The vanilla is over the top, it's in the flavor, it's in the body. Traditionally, porters are a winter beer. We made it so that we could drink it year round."

Eventually, the restaurant will also open a speakeasy below the dining room and have a cocktail menu as well.

The owners seek to make Bill Baker's a casual spot for people to share comfort food and have a good beer or bourbon, they said.

"We encourage you to come in, have one or two [small] plates, have a good beer and have a good bourbon," Benton said. "We just try to pull all the aspects of what you would want together."