Iron Horse Sports Grille & Spirits recently opened in downtown Hammond on South Cate Street.
The Lion's Roar/Kelli Meynard
Downtown Hammond recently became home to a new restaurant called Iron Horse Sports Grille & Spirits. The dining area is covered in wood-like material from the chairs, tables, to the floors and walls. TVs cover the walls and hang from the ceiling. The restaurant boasts windows that can open to make guests feel like they are dining outside.
General Manager Joey Schillace IV began Iron Horse with the idea that his children will eventually take over. Schillace has been in the night club and bar business for years. He was the owner of the Buzz nightclub and several other bars in Hammond, but stopped around 2013.
A little before this time, Southeastern stopped having classes on Fridays which caused night life to move downtown. Downtown then became the new social scene. With that in mind, Schillace realized locating Iron Horse in downtown Hammond would be a prime location for his business.
“I lived in Hammond for 56 years,” said Schillace. “I felt like this was the premiere, number one location in all of downtown Hammond.”
Schillace recently owned Wall Street, a restaurant located where Tommy’s on Thomas now stands. He also owned Jordan’s on Cate, where Tope Lá now resides.
The Iron Horse Menu is similar to Wall Street except, according to Schillace, it boasts items that other downtown restaurants do not have.
“I designed our menu to be like Wall Street which is similar to Brady’s and Mariner’s,” said Schillace. “I wanted 90 percent of our items to not be on their menus and that is basically what we have done. If you take one of our menus and carefully study it, the majority of the things you’ll find on our menu you won’t find on other menus here in town. We did that to be different from everyone else, to bring something new to Hammond and if you like it you have to come back here to get it. You can’t get it anywhere else.”
Iron Horse’s menu consists of many different types of meals. They have a create your own burger option.
“We have only been open for 43 days which is around 6 weeks and a day,” said Schillace. “We opened on Tuesday, Feb. 2 and when you see people eating in your establishment on average, twice a week consistently for 6 weeks now, that tells you it is good or else they wouldn’t be coming back every week.”
Iron Horse encourages students to come dine in for a meal.
“We have a great product for a great price,” said Schillace. “Southeastern is what drives this community and this town. Students are welcome to come here. We have 30 employees and about 20 are Southeastern students.”
Schillace hopes that the Iron Horse will soon be more involved with Southeastern and its students. They are located at 123 South Cate Street.
Iron Horse Sports Grille & Spirits recently opened in downtown Hammond on South Cate Street.
The Lion's Roar/Kelli Meynard
Iron Horse Sports Grille & Spirits recently opened in downtown Hammond on South Cate Street.
The Lion's Roar/Kelli Meynard