EXTOL EATS EXPERIENCE
Match Made
Drift Coastal Italian & French Lick Winery are the perfect pairing
STORY BY MANDY DETWILER | COURTESY PHOTOS
T alk about a perfect pairing : After Drift Coastal Italian opened at the French Lick Winery this past summer , both have garnered rave reviews . The family-owned winery is a favorite in the region , and the eatery brings a taste of coastal Italy to Southern Indiana , which has created a memorable match between the two .
Owned by business partners Jarrid Davis , Rishi Jadooram , and Nakia McPherson , the restaurant opened in July 2021 after the previous restaurant , Vintage Café , closed amidst the pandemic . Davis and his partners also own The Bagel Bistro and Stout ’ s Pub in West Baden .
Davis says he wanted to preserve jobs at the winery after learning the Vintage Café would be closing . In a small town , he says , the employees at the Vintage Café were both customers at the bagel shop and friends .
“ The second motivation was to save the venue for the community because it was a popular place ,” Davis says .
They wanted to offer an affordable , upscale dining experience that sits squarely in between casual and fine dining , a sector missing in West Baden . “ We try to be very clear that we ’ re upscale casual , not fine dining ,” Davis says . “ We wanted to have an upscale product for the community that they don ’ t necessarily have ready access to without being very costly .”
The Vintage Café had really been the only Italian eatery in town , but Davis and his partners decided to focus on coastal Italy as a point of differentiation with a menu of seafood , pasta and pizzas . As much is made in-house as possible . The pizza dough is a legacy starter from the Vintage Café and originated in Naples , Italy . Dough is made
EXTOL : BUSINESS ISSUE 2021 15