April 20, 2018 at 7:26 p.m.
Pete's revamped as family restaurant
Business
The owners of a revamped Albany restaurant are excited about the family dining atmosphere the facility offers.
Caleb Churchill, of Muncie, and Albany residents Clyde Shaffer and his son Josh Shaffer are the new owners of the red barn-style building at 721 W. Walnut St. in Albany.
Pete’s Bar and Grill, the former Pete’s Duck Inn, opened on Good Friday.
“We want our focus to be, we’re a family restaurant,” said Churchill, who is also head chef at Pete’s.
Churchill spent the last two evenings at Pete’s Duck Inn, owned by Phil Peterson, before its closing and those times inspired him to want to run his new restaurant with a family focus.
“It was amazing to see what this place meant to this town. No. 1, it made me kind of do a gulp to say, ‘OK this is what you’ve got to live up to and this is the shoes you’ve got to fill,’” Churchill remembers.
He plans to pay homage to Peterson by keeping some of the same menu items, such as his popular frog legs, tenderloins, pulled pork nachos and Polish mistakes. He also wants to keep the tradition of having a prime-rib special. Pete’s daughter, Jill Seals, will continue catering services through the new restaurant.
“We obviously want to stay an Albany restaurant,” Churchill said. “We want Albany to know that it’s their restaurant, but I think Pete’s was a gathering place for surrounding five counties.”
Having worked for the past 10 years in corporate catering, most recently at Horizon Convention Center in Muncie, Churchill is glad to return to the restaurant business.
“It’s fun for me to get back into what my roots were as a chef — getting back to … playing in the kitchen and enjoying the camaraderie that comes with a restaurant.”
Churchill said he is looking forward to the opportunity to greet guests and be part of the dining experience with them.
He describes the cuisine at Pete’s Bar and Grill as “Indiana home fare, just with a little bit of twist on it.”
When Churchill was creating the new menu, he wanted to incorporate food that people remember eating during their childhood.
He ate a lot of creamed corn growing up, so he developed a dish that uses it along with pulled pork and grilled tomatoes over top of risotto. Other new menu items include chicken and waffles and bourbon glazed pork chops with caramel apples.
Kory Pratt, Muncie, is the bar and service manager at Pete’s and is on board with Churchill’s philosophy.
“We’re running it like a family business,” Pratt said.
He has been in the business for nearly 13 years, and friends from Muncie restaurants and bars came to help him set up the bar area at Pete’s.
The restaurant has a separated bar area, but the dining space is kid-friendly with booths for comfortable seating and a large chalkboard on the wall for children to draw.
The scripture written at the top of the chalkboard is Matthew 19:14 — “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
“It’s very important to me that I built a restaurant that parents feel comfortable and at the same time parents can come in without their kids and it’s still a good time,” said Churchill.
The decor is rustic, with a concrete floor and lots of wood and metal.
The owners wanted to keep it simple so everyone would feel welcome.
Caleb Churchill, of Muncie, and Albany residents Clyde Shaffer and his son Josh Shaffer are the new owners of the red barn-style building at 721 W. Walnut St. in Albany.
Pete’s Bar and Grill, the former Pete’s Duck Inn, opened on Good Friday.
“We want our focus to be, we’re a family restaurant,” said Churchill, who is also head chef at Pete’s.
Churchill spent the last two evenings at Pete’s Duck Inn, owned by Phil Peterson, before its closing and those times inspired him to want to run his new restaurant with a family focus.
“It was amazing to see what this place meant to this town. No. 1, it made me kind of do a gulp to say, ‘OK this is what you’ve got to live up to and this is the shoes you’ve got to fill,’” Churchill remembers.
He plans to pay homage to Peterson by keeping some of the same menu items, such as his popular frog legs, tenderloins, pulled pork nachos and Polish mistakes. He also wants to keep the tradition of having a prime-rib special. Pete’s daughter, Jill Seals, will continue catering services through the new restaurant.
“We obviously want to stay an Albany restaurant,” Churchill said. “We want Albany to know that it’s their restaurant, but I think Pete’s was a gathering place for surrounding five counties.”
Having worked for the past 10 years in corporate catering, most recently at Horizon Convention Center in Muncie, Churchill is glad to return to the restaurant business.
“It’s fun for me to get back into what my roots were as a chef — getting back to … playing in the kitchen and enjoying the camaraderie that comes with a restaurant.”
Churchill said he is looking forward to the opportunity to greet guests and be part of the dining experience with them.
He describes the cuisine at Pete’s Bar and Grill as “Indiana home fare, just with a little bit of twist on it.”
When Churchill was creating the new menu, he wanted to incorporate food that people remember eating during their childhood.
He ate a lot of creamed corn growing up, so he developed a dish that uses it along with pulled pork and grilled tomatoes over top of risotto. Other new menu items include chicken and waffles and bourbon glazed pork chops with caramel apples.
Kory Pratt, Muncie, is the bar and service manager at Pete’s and is on board with Churchill’s philosophy.
“We’re running it like a family business,” Pratt said.
He has been in the business for nearly 13 years, and friends from Muncie restaurants and bars came to help him set up the bar area at Pete’s.
The restaurant has a separated bar area, but the dining space is kid-friendly with booths for comfortable seating and a large chalkboard on the wall for children to draw.
The scripture written at the top of the chalkboard is Matthew 19:14 — “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
“It’s very important to me that I built a restaurant that parents feel comfortable and at the same time parents can come in without their kids and it’s still a good time,” said Churchill.
The decor is rustic, with a concrete floor and lots of wood and metal.
The owners wanted to keep it simple so everyone would feel welcome.
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