Songs now on the menu at Bogie’s in Hampton, NH
HAMPTON – On a frigid February night with the wind howling as a result of the gazebo in Depot Square outside the house, items are just starting to warmth up inside of at Bogie’s as Michael Troy rips into the Billy Joel traditional, “Scenes from an Italian Cafe.”
“It’s attention-grabbing, but because the pandemic begun we have just about gotten much more get the job done,” says Troy, an accomplished singer and pianist who has opened for the likes of the Beach front Boys, Eddie Money and Heart, through a break.
“Especially when the pandemic started, it was like everyone was starved for music.”
Proper in downtown Hampton Paul Bogart is encouraging feed that musical hunger three-to-4 evenings a week at his cafe, Bogie’s at Depot Square.
Bogart, who obtained the constructing which made use of to home the Savory Sq. Bistro and accompanying French cooking university in 2018, has renovated the restaurant’s major dining place into an event and new music room full with a modest phase.
“I like to connect with it a music, celebration and meeting space,” states Bogart of the adaptable space and credits area reggae artist Garth Streete for coming up with the strategy. “Garth is a actually sharp dude and was the venture manager on this. He came up with the thought and it was far better than everything we were accomplishing with the room, so I explained let’s go for it.”
The non-structural renovation, which integrated eliminating the fall ceiling, developing the stage, and putting in a new ground began in late November and come New Year’s Eve, Bogart was ready to transform on the mic and dim the lights for the likes of Troy and numerous other nearby artists.
With an eclectic selection of photos and artwork ranging from Frank Sinatra to Bob Marley and the Wailers, not to point out other touches like a wall mild nestled within an outdated snare drum, the space certainly has a nightclub experience with fantastic acoustics, but which is only element of the story. With a pull down projector display screen in excess of the stage, Bogie’s can comfortably host birthdays, rehearsal dinners, and other events as nicely organization meetings through the working day.
The new room, which can however be applied for dining, coupled with Bogie’s massive bar region and spacious outdoor patio out back is just 1 element of Bogart’s grand eyesight of a tunes and celebration-ahead enterprise as there is seemingly a space for absolutely everyone.
“People are getting to know us and we’re seeking to have a local group spot, but also have anything different that is genuinely not made available at other areas,” he notes. “I assume I’m forming superior relations with very good artists and I assume the community neighborhood understands excellent artists.”
Bogart is also eager to show that you don’t have to head to Hampton Beach to capture good dwell new music and would like to make dwell functions a staple on the patio in the summer time months.
“I really feel like if we can get persons to depart the seaside just to appear into downtown Hampton all the other enterprises around listed here will advantage as very well,” he details out.
The early returns have been promising. Even though the crowds have been modest because of to COVID fears and rules, the tapping toes and the smiles on the sprinkling of patrons on hand to listen to Troy on piano and Matt Luneau on drums on this night time spoke volumes.
“It’s a very laid again and a family members environment,” said Bogie’s waitress Ona Regnier by way of her mask as Troy and Luneau zip as a result of a location-on rendition of “Benny and the Jets.”
“We do the job as a crew and almost everything is even now really controlled, but it is not nameless and faceless work,” she reported. “It however has the personal experience which I like.”
There’s a great deal to like on the menu at Bogie’s as nicely. Jared Reddy, a previous executive chef at the Brickhouse Tavern in Methuen and a previous cross place and observe standout at Methuen Substantial and UMass, has unquestionably uncovered his stride in the sprawling kitchen, which utilized to serve as a French cooking school. Reddy features a assorted menu which consists of the restaurant’s signature crab cakes.
“We don’t do it like everyone else and it is all new imported crab meat,” claimed Reddy. “It’s like a deconstructed crab cake.”
When COVID-19 shut down the cafe very last spring, Reddy dropped his entire prepare dinner employees and it was just Bogart and himself manning the kitchen and churning out get-out orders. The chef is hopeful, however, that this summer season as the pandemic with any luck , subsides, he will be in a position to understand his and Bogart’s grand vision for the space which features employing the huge kitchen for catering particular gatherings.
“I am like a just one-person display right now, but with the a lot more we are able to extend there (the new music/party space) and out there with the patio the more we can increase every little thing with the menu and the staff members and that is what I’m seeking forward to,” he claimed. “It’s pretty fascinating.”
