River & Rail ready to plant stake in downtown Columbus restaurant scene

It is fitting that the chef of the newest downtown restaurant had one experience with Columbus before moving his family here last month and that experience revolved around food and a local institution.

Brad Andries, who is chef and co-owner of River & Rail in the 1200 block of Broadway, came to Columbus as a child with his father, Kenneth, who owned a potato chip company.

“Columbus, Georgia, is Tom’s to me,” he said of the local snack food company that was purchased by Lance. “It is nothing else.”

Then he laughs.

“I can remember opening a bag of Bugles that was so fresh off the line there was steam coming out,” Andries, 32, said of the childhood memory of Columbus.

He is now preparing to make more memories as he opens River & Rail next week with owner Leah Foley. The nearly 100-seat restaurant — 60 inside and 36 in a rear outdoor dining room — will open on Valentine’s Day for those with reservations. It will hold a “soft opening” where reservations are strongly encouraged for the remainder of the next week. It officially opens on Feb. 21.

Leah and her husband, Frank Foley IV, have spent the last year preparing to open the restaurant in the restored downtown building.

“We searched high and low for a chef,” Leah Foley said. “We wanted to partner with somebody who shared the same vision as us and really had a diverse experience, which Brad does.”

Frank Foley owned several restaurants in Los Angeles before returning to his hometown more than a year ago.

Andries, raised in Baton Rouge, La., has worked in the food service industry in places ranging from Charleston, S.C., to Milan. He most recently was executive chef at Sac-a-lait in New Orleans’ Warehouse District.

After making the decision it was time to leave New Orleans and settle into a different lifestyle, Andries and his wife, Shannon, connected with the Foleys through a third party. The Foleys were actively seeking a chef for their venture.

“My wife came home one day and said, ‘We got to go,’” he said. “She was over it. We are trying have a child and she said, ‘I don’t want to raise a kid here.’ We talked about Baton Rouge. Then Key West got brought up. Then Charleston got brought up. Back to Maine got brought up. Dallas got brought up. I love all of those places, but we need easy accessibility to Italy, our 10-year-old lives there for the school year.”

Enter Columbus and a chance to partner in a new venture.

“I want to live somewhere in a small town where I can get out to the river and I can get out to the woods and hunt and fish,” he said. “And we are still close to the beach. Somehow Columbus fit all of these things. The fact that Columbus fit that mold is crazy. But I am sure excited to be living here.”

Andries’ formal education in the culinary arts came in Texas and Italy. He graduated from the Art Institute of Houston with a degree in restaurant and catering management. He spent three years working just outside Milan at a three-star Michelin restaurant.

Asked to describe his food, Andries said it starts with family.

“I want to start with what grandmama cooked for me —local; what people were dropping off at the house; pick up eggs from the neighbor,” he said. “Then we will bring in our worldly experiences. I have lived in Charleston. I have lived in Maine and I have lived in Houston and Italy. Using those influences and what inspires me on a day to day basis is what we will do.”

The restaurant will be a blend of flavors that the Foleys bring to the table.

“My husband owned restaurants in LA,” Leah Foley said. “My goal was to bring some of the LA restaurant experience and the LA flair to downtown Columbus where our family is — something different to the downtown area.

“In Los Angeles, we had a restaurant that was Southern food. So we brought Southern food to LA. Now, try to bring a little LA flair mixed in with international travels to Columbus.”

That is much the way Andries is looking at this new venture.

“The majority of Columbus is never going to get out of here and go live in Italy for four years,” he said. “I want them to experience that. It is very much farm to table. ... I will buy as local as I can, but I am not going to give up pristine quality. We will let that translate into our food.”

But the meal also has to be an experience, Andries said.

“We will bring the LA flair and show,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be just food on a plate. It can be art. I draw. I write. I want people to understand what is in my heart and head when they get that plate in front of them.”

The menu will offer what Andries terms “sharable plates.” They will be priced in the $9-$13 per plate range, he said. The menu will also change by what is growing in season.

“Nothing on the menu right now is priced higher than $18,” he said.

The restaurant, from its name to decor, will also reflect Columbus, Leah Foley said.

“Everything about this space and the concept of River & Rail is we want to tell a story,” she said.

There is a self-portrait of artist Henry Nordhausen, Frank Foley’s great grandfather. There is a large print by Columbus realist Bo Bartlett. Throughout the space, railroad spikes are used in the decor. The bar is covered in tin that came off the building’s ceiling.

“We wanted it to feel like Columbus,” Leah Foley said. “We tried to pay homage throughout. And we paid homage to the city with the name.”

The restaurant is also opening in a Broadway block that is undergoing rapid transformation. Two new hotels are being planned across the street and new retail, residential and restaurant opportunities have happened or will happen in the next two years. It is also a short walk from Frank D. Brown Hall, the new Columbus State University nursing and education complex.

“That is one reason we decided this was the right time,” Leah Foley said of the surrounding economic development activity. “Frank’s from Columbus and he’s seen it grow. We saw with The Loft, 11th and Bay coming in and growth of downtown that this was the time to strike. We thought Columbus was ready for it.”

For Andries, Columbus feels like the right place for this stage of his life.

“I liked Houston and I loved Milan,” he said. “You have whatever you want in Milan. Last Saturday, I tried to go to the bank here and the bank was closed. I tried to go to the post office and the post office was closed. I went to the pharmacy and it wasn’t open yet. But it is a good place to raise a family. We wanted to be somewhere where it was family — where you could trust your neighbor to watch your kid for a couple of hours without having to worry about it.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 10:02 AM with the headline "River & Rail ready to plant stake in downtown Columbus restaurant scene."