Meet The Misfit: Sandwiches and live music return to downtown in site of former beloved staple

Walking into The Misfit Lou feels like walking into a time machine. Or, a helter-skelter museum dedicated to beer and Bigfoot.

Or, it might just feel like an artsy sandwich shop.

In reality, the newest bar and restaurant to open in downtown Louisville doesn’t fit in just one box.

That’s part of the vision for the latest iteration of this 150-year-old building at 119 S 7th St., brought to its next life by husband-and-wife team Martin Svab and Ryan Hughes-Svab.

“We want it to be a safe haven for all the misfits of society,” Svab told the Courier Journal. “Being misfits ourselves, we wanted to build something unique and not like anything else that exists.”

Many details went into the remaking of the roughly 3,000-square-foot space, which includes the street-level casual bar/restaurant and a basement cocktail lounge, called The Hereafter.

The main space serves craft beer, miniature sandwiches and sausages, aiming to offer a much-needed lunchtime option for downtown workers and residents.

The Misfit Lou soft opened last week with a “test kitchen 1.0” menu featuring three mini sandwiches, including a Derby City Club (made with roasted turkey, bourbon bacon jam, cheddar cheese, lettuce, heirloom tomato and mayo), The Belle (made with smoked thick-cut bacon, house-made pimento cheese, lettuce and tomato), and The Misfit (a vegan option made with baba ganoush, local greens, heirloom tomato, shaved cucumber, shaved carrot,  and sprouts). Sausages include cajun andouille and bratwurst and sides include house-made chili, coleslaw, or chips. The dishes are complete with custom bread and buns from The Bakery at Sullivan University.

The owners tapped Geoff Howlett, who goes by“Chef Frankenhammered” and owns his own catering company called Fright Bites, to oversee The Misfit menu.

There’s even a lunch special dubbed the “Jury Duty,” which gets you a sandwich, side and drink of choice (maybe a soda or small beer) for $12.50, which is how much you get paid per day for serving jury duty in state court. This is a nod to The Misfit Lou’s proximity to Jefferson Circuit Court in downtown Louisville.

Patrons may also get a kick out of the dishes that come out of the kitchen. Many drinks will be poured in vintage Kentucky Derby cups and the chili will be served in Kellogg cereal bowls popularized in the 1990s.

Surrounding high-top tables and a long counter, the brick walls are covered with lit-up beer signs reminiscent of a dive bar as well as quirky framed pieces of art depicting images of the Mona Lisa, a Care Bear holding a beer, Anthony Bourdain, and a one-eyed cat. Rows of vintage beer bottles take up one corner and wallpaper featuring the outline of Bigfoot carrying a bottle takes over another area of the spacious room. Venturing to a small upstairs area, you’ll find an oversized circus clown face and some pinball machines.

The owners hope The Misfit will act as a “living, breathing art installation” with much of the fixtures on display changing and rotating.

“We both love entertaining and we both love creating an atmosphere we get to share with people,” Svab said. “If they like what we’re presenting, it’s a magical feeling.”

The two misfits met about 10 years ago in California through their shared love of the hospitality industry, horror movies, and live music. They opened a bar there, got married during the coronavirus pandemic, and moved to Louisville in 2022. Svab took a job helping open Pivot Brewing’s location in the Highlands and Hughes-Svab joined the staff at Angel’s Envy Distillery.

The couple soon got the itch again to open their own place in their new city. They found inspiration at 119 S. 7th St., known to many Louisvillans as the longtime home of Another Place Sandwich Shop. 

After serving sandwiches there for a whopping 50 years, the downtown staple closed up shop in 2021. Another Place’s downstairs jazz club, which opened as Jimmy Can’t Dance in 2017, closed soon after.

Among dozens of decor pieces, The Misfit Lou shows memorabilia from Another Shop, such as a large “Sandwiches Fresh Made” sign, an old wooden door with Another Shop’s logo, and a framed red and yellow flier, reading, “We build subs.” You might also find a couple of flamingo-themed items, left over from The Flamingo Lounge’s short-lived reign downstairs.

“We feel like we need to pay homage to everything that’s been here and how unique this building is,” Hughes-Svab said. “We’re very proud to be part of this place.”

They’ll also bring their own flair, including to the Hereafter, the speakeasy-type bar downstairs that is set to host live music several times per week and other events. Above the stage, a screen usually plays movies while the bar is open and cinema-themed events will also be on the calendar.

When the upstairs business is closed, The Hereafter can be accessed through the next-door entry for a law office and then taking an elevator down to the basement floor.

The cocktail lounge has been open for about a month, as its owners awaited the final touches of the whole concept. They initially aimed for a September opening date but that proved to be a bigger-than-predicted undertaking for the small family operation, according to Hughes-Svab.

“It’s been a long time coming,” she said. “We wanted to be open earlier, but we wanted it to be right. By the time the world is ready to come back from the winter, we’ll be ready for you.”

They pointed out something that helped “get us across the finish line,” they said.

The Misfit received a first-of-its-kind small business loan from the Downtown Commercial Loan Fund, a new program from the Louisville Downtown Partnership.

“We want to be another place to bring people downtown and get people to stay downtown a little longer,” Hughes-Svab said. “We want to add to all the options here.”

The Misfit Lou is open with limited hours, including 4-7 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 4-8 p.m. Saturday through the end of the month. After a ribbon cutting on Jan. 31, The Misfit Lou will expand its hours. The Hereafter is open 5 p.m. to close Wednesday-Saturday.

Reach food reporter Amanda Hancock at ahancock@courier-journal.com.

Look inside The Misfit Lou in downtown Louisville

We got a peek at The Misfit Lou and The Hereafter for the latest video in our Instagram series, "The Best Thing I Ate This Week." Take a look by visiting our Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: The Misfit Lou brings sandwich shop, cocktail bar to downtown space