Carmel’s detour to become scotty’s brewhouse

Scott Wise has plenty on his plate. Not only did the Scotty’s Brewhouse owner just roll out a new menu — one he and his staff have worked on since last summer   — but the  busy restaurateur will be opening four new restaurants this year. And two of them are scheduled to open on the same day.

A Brewhouse location in Brownsburg has been in the works for some time and has been scheduled to open April 15. But Wise expects to ink another deal Friday to bring Scotty’s to Carmel. An agreement has been reached, he said, to take over the space that was formerly occupied by Detour at 110 W. Main St. That one, too, has an April 15 target date.

“It’s really awesome,” said Wise. “Opening two restaurants the same day will be pretty crazy.”

It shouldn’t take long to turn the Detour location into a Brewhouse, however, since the restaurants have a similar concept and set-up. But Wise said that each Brewhouse location has its own character, and he’s been meeting with his designer to determine the look of each new space. The Brownsburg Brewhouse might have a racing-inspired decor, he said, but the Carmel location will have its own style. In any case, Wise expects the city to be happy with the change from Detour to Scotty’s.

“The thing that Carmel will enjoy,” he said, “is that we’ve become more of a family-friendly restaurant.”

But Wise is also branching out into cocktails and has entered into a three-year agreement to operate a bar in Bloomington as well, he said.  That establishment, to be called C3 and located in the Renwick Village Center area near College Mall, will feature pre-Prohibition cocktails and a small-plates menu, a departure from the bar fare of his Brewhouse locations. “The food will have more of a cheffy spin to it,” he said.

That project is expected to open in May. And a Scotty’s Brewhouse will open in Fort Wayne in August or September. After that? “Everybody wants to see what we can do out of state,” Wise said. “We want to keep growing. My goal has always been to get to 18 to 24 restaurants.”