The Blind Rhino to open in former Bradford's site

Hour photo / Erik Trautmann Owners, Matt Bacco, Casey Dohme and Jamie Pantanella wil be opening a new sports bar, Blind Rhino, on North Main St in SoNo next Friday Hour photo / Erik Trautmann Owners, Matt Bacco, Casey Dohme and Jamie Pantanella wil be opening a new sports bar, Blind Rhino, on North Main St in SoNo next Friday Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close The Blind Rhino to open in former Bradford's site 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

NORWALK -- Three co-workers at The Ginger Man on Washington Street had a dream that many restaurant employees have -- to open their own eatery.

That dream is about to become a reality for Casey Dohme, Matt Bacco, and Jamie Pantanella as they are putting the finishing touches on their new sports bar and restaurant at the former North Main Street site of Bradford's.

"We each had our own vision of what we wanted to accomplish. The three of us had talked about working together, and it turned out we were on the same page," Bacco said.

The next step was to find a space and the former Bradford's made sense to them on a number of levels.

"The infrastucture was in place, and most of it was in pretty good shape, but it needed some serious cleaning and remodeling. We wanted to start with a clean slate," Bacco said. "There are 28 televisions lining the walls, so clearly this will be a place to come and watch sports, but we wanted to make this more than a sports bar."

The new bar/restaurant will be named The Blind Rhino and is slated for a soft opening on Thursday, October 15.

"We took 'blind' from the names of prohibition bars and we just liked 'rhino,'" Dohme said. "We didn't want a name that screamed 'sports bar,' because it's going to be much more than that."

The trio signed their lease on August 24 and have been under the gun to be ready to open in order to take advantage of football season.

"We've been working from 7 a.m. to midnight to get this place ready. We have to tip our hats to our large network of family and friends who have been helping us," Bacco said. "What we are trying to do is our own version of what we'd want in a sports bar and to translat that great experience to the customer."

Pantenella, who has worked as a chef at Ginger Man, will take over the kitchen and has created a small, streamlined menu.

"There will be wings and things that people expect in a sports bar, but we'll also have a shrimp po-boy, little necks, a ribeye cheese steak, and a sweet potato hummus," Pantanella said. "We all agreed that a small menu made sense."

Bacco plans to have 24 beers on tap, but don't call them "craft beers," he said.

"We've got it all," Bacco said. "People can get a pitcher of Bud Lite or a quality craft IPA at a sports bar price. We are going to be serving our favorites. I guess you could call it our highlight reel."

The trio has expanded their wine and alcohol list.

"There's not reason to come to a sports bar and get 'box wine,'" Bacco said. "This is a well thought-out wine menu at a good value. If you want a glass of wine, and good wine, we feel like you shouldn't have to get knocked over the head with price."

Those who had been familiar with Bradford's will notice that the pool table is gone and has been replaced by a 12-foot shuffleboard table.

"That was one of the first things we did was to get rid of that pool table," Dohme said.

The three partners anticipate a "lot of good things happening" in South Norwalk in the future.

"We love this location around the corner from Washington Street. It's nice to be part of the extension of the Washington Street nightlife," Bacco said. "The way I see it is, if the fire's on Washington Street, we don't need to be in that fire to feel the heat."