April 25, 2024

Before long, you’ll be able to sit on the patio at Session Ale Works, enjoy a deep-dish pizza, craft beer and lakeside view.

Construction crews are wrapping up work at the new west-side restaurant and bar, and owner Quentin Robertson and general manager Stephanie McKenna said they’re eager to put the final touches on the space and put their team to work.

They’re planning to open May 10 in a retail center at the Firehouse42 development on 12th Street, just east of Ellis Road. The area is home to a fire station, Dunn Brothers Coffee, Little Tykes University and an Edward Jones office. A manmade lake takes up almost three-quarters of the 40-acre property south of Family Park. Hours will be 11 a.m. to midnight daily.

“I want people to come for the food and stay for the beer,” said Robertson, whose wife, Jodi, is starting the venture with him and will work mostly behind the scenes.

The menu is influenced by his love for the food scene in Omaha. “I just love everything about it,” he said. “I want to bring something a little bit different to Sioux Falls. Obviously, we’ll have your burgers and chicken sandwiches and some things like that, but I want to turn them up just a little bit and offer a few other things too.”

That includes pizza made in a Marra Forni brick oven – the first piece of equipment to be set in the kitchen, McKenna noted.

“We’re going to perfect our version of a deep dish and obviously have a regular pie as well,” Robertson said.

The menu will be small – 20 items or so – and there will be daily features like a lobster roll.

Local produce and other items will be featured in many dishes.

“Your salad of the day might be whatever comes in that day,” he said.

Session Ale Works will be peanut-free and offer gluten-free pizza crust and bread.

For beer, there will be 27 taps with a “hyperlocal” focus. “We’re going to showcase South Dakota breweries, and I’ve got a few friends who own breweries outside of the state.”

Domestic beers like Budweiser, Miller and Coors sell, so they’ll be available too.

In addition to the frequently rotating taps, there will be beer in bottles and cans, non-beer offerings and wine.

The restaurant, which will seat about 100 at high-top and regular tables and along the bar, will be kid-friendly. The patio, which will seat about the same number, will be dog-friendly.

Robertson and McKenna are planning a music series on the patio called Lakeside Live. Musicians likely will play Friday and Saturday nights from June through August, they said. The patio is on the west side of the building, with plenty of evening sun, so the tables will have umbrellas, and Robertson is planning to build a pergola and put up windscreens without obscuring the view of the lake.

There will be outdoor patio games for people to play. He dreams of making use of the lake someday with radio-controlled boat races, maybe a private dock for fishing and fireworks over the water.

Inside, there are several TVs, but it’s not a sports bar, Robertson said. “People can come enjoy whatever they want to watch. Everything won’t be sports that’s on.”

The space is filled with sunlight, with lots of windows to the south and several to the west. The finishes are a mix of wood, brick, quartzite and concrete with an exposed ceiling.

Eventually, the largest wall space will have a big map of South Dakota with brewery logos showing their locations.

“Say you’re drinking a beer from Eponymous. ‘Oh, this came from Brookings. That’s cool.’”

Customer service is going to be the hallmark of Session Ale Works, Robertson said.

“Our primary focus is going to be service because that’s two of my biggest pet peeves: paying too much for not enough and service.”

He and McKenna have hired enough bartenders but are still looking for servers and kitchen staff.

Robertson no longer is part of Glacial Lakes Distillery and instead has his own spirit line coming that he will introduce after Session Ale Works has been up and running for a bit.

Later this year, he plans to open a cocktail bar next to Session Ale Works in a space that’s half the size of the restaurant.

“That’s going to be an adult-only cocktail bar, vinyl lounge, all that stuff, and I’ll start working on that this summer. It’s going to have its own small kitchen, and I’ll probably invite chefs in to do a small, 10-person, 12-person, intimate dinner once a month or something like that.”

But for now, Session Ale Works is getting all the attention.

“I’m just ready to open; we’re going to have some fun,” Robertson said. “Give people a place to relax, after work, before work, during lunch, whatever you name it. Weekends, holidays.”