• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

The Roadhouse has replaced Madison’s Bar and Grill in Westwood and will open Saturday. The

Wiggum’s Roadhouse, a restaurant and bar, will open Saturday at the old site of Madison’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill, which closed last year.

Although the new restaurant will occupy the same address on Broxton Avenue as Madison’s did, it will have little else in common with the old establishment, said Leigh Slawner, the new owner.

The Roadhouse will be predominantly a restaurant, serving lunch seven days a week and keeping the kitchen open until closing time at 1:30 a.m.

Madison’s, which closed after several liquor license suspensions resulting from alleged under-age drinking violations, was known primarily as a bar rather than as a restaurant.

Madison’s served food, in accordance with the Westwood Specific Plan, which prohibits drinking-only establishments, though it was closed for lunch and typically served a small dinner crowd.

Promotions such as Tuesday’s “pint night,” which featured one dollar beers, attracted hundreds and provided Madison’s with its main source of revenue.

Slawner, a Milwaukee native, and his father founded the concept for the Roadhouse, which will serve Midwestern staples such as ribs and burgers and features a “down home” decor.

The dining room walls are laden with authentic family antiques, including a sign that stood in front of a family-owned postal and service station in Colorado. Sets of mounted antlers, an American flag and a faux bait and tackle shop give the place a rustic ambiance.

Owners hope the Midwestern feel will set the Roadhouse apart from trendy locations that abound in Los Angeles.

“There’s nowhere else like it. It’s the exact opposite of hip,” joked Brad Harris, a partner in the business.

Besides the altered decorations, the new owners have made several major changes to the restaurant’s layout. The 360 degree bar that dominated the ground floor at Madison’s has been eliminated in favor of more booth seating for diners.

The decrease in bar space underscores the new owners’ willingness to accommodate the greater Westwood community, rather than solely the student population.

The new owners decided to de-emphasize the bar aspect partially to cater to a broader clientele, including families and Westwood business people, but community leaders also played a role in limiting bar space at the Roadhouse.

Sandy Brown, president of the Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association, met with Roadhouse owners during the restaurant’s planning stages to voice her group’s concerns.

“It can either be a college bar or a family restaurant – it can’t very well be both. We want it to be a family restaurant,” she said.

Though the Roadhouse is ostensibly a restaurant, its late hours and full liquor license will likely attract a young crowd.

“Students are a central part of the Westwood Village, and we will definitely cater toward the student clientele,” Ryan Silver, a UCLA alum and investor in the restaurant, said.

The Roadhouse will not offer drinking-related promotions, though.

Student invitees to a private party at the Roadhouse last Saturday voiced varying opinions about the restaurant.

“I think it’s a good thing that more people will be able to appreciate it,” said Eric Sun, a third-year physiology student, referring to the family-friendly atmosphere.

Third-year history student Ryan Ferreira was less optimistic about the Roadhouse’s design.

“We come to drink, and it seems like this place is more of a restaurant. It’s nice to have another bar in Westwood, though,” he said.

Several recent UCLA graduates are partial owners of the new restaurant.

At Slawner’s behest, Silver organized a group of about 14 investors to contribute to the project, many of whom are UCLA alumni.

Bryan Lui, a computer science and engineering student who graduated last winter quarter, invested in the new restaurant for fun and as a learning experience.

“I want to open my own restaurant or club someday and I figured this would teach me about the business,” Lui said.

By involving a group of minor investors – some of them contributed as little as $ 6,000 – the principal owners hope to attract a broad-based clientele to the Roadhouse.

“We have investors from different businesses and from different areas. All these people are going to bring different people in,” Silver said.

Through the renovation, the old bar, which was built in the early ’80s as a part of Stratton’s, the restaurant that preceded Madison’s, managed to avoid the junk yard.

Rather than demolish the mahogany and marble bar, Brad Harris, a partner in the Roadhouse, decided to sell it on eBay. The bar sold for about $ 3,000.

Since the initial sale, pieces of the bar have been re-sold and shipped to various locations around the country. A 13-foot portion of the bar currently resides in Orange County businessman Scott Levitt’s den.

Levitt, who first attended Stratton’s 15 years ago with his UCLA friends, bought his piece of “Westwood history” for $1,000.

“It’s pretty awesome. ” he said.

Though Levitt’s friends appreciate the bar, his wife, a USC graduate, was less enthusiastic.

“She was really pissed when I brought it home,” Levitt said.