Restaurants: The Village adds new bar and grill, downtown Muncie loses its soul food
MUNCIE, Ind. — A new bar and restaurant has opened in The Village near Ball State University, while a pandemic-era eatery has closed downtown while offering hints of plans to reappear.
Going 'Wild' in The Village
Margaritas Gone Wild Bar and Grill recently began serving deep-fried pizza, street burritos and — not surprisingly — drinks in the split-level storefront that housed Two Cats Cafe until 2018, at the west end of the near-campus business district.
While the restaurant and bar at 1813 W. University Ave. does have a three-way license to serve alcohol — including frozen margaritas and daiquiris in Ball jars — it's open for family dinner business as well, according to spokesman Ron Parsons.
The menu includes appetizers, pizzas, wings, nachos, burritos, tacos and quesadillas, with daily specials and gluten-free options for breadsticks and pizza.
Regular hours are 5 p.m.-1 a.m. Sunday and Tuesday-Thursday; and 5 p.m.-3 a.m. Friday and Saturday, according to the website. The kitchen closes at 11 p.m., after which a bar menu is available, according to Parsons. The business is closed on Mondays.
Information, including the menu, is available at margaritasgonewildmuncie.com.
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Mama Bond's leaves downtown
Mama Bond's Soul Food Kitchen, which opened in the Rose Court in downtown Muncie just months into the COVID-19 pandemic, closed as of May 30.
Owner Andrea Venable-Bond opened the restaurant in the Charles Street corner storefront in November 2020, after she decided a soul food restaurant was a promising option for a business amid the pandemic.
For the next year and a half, Mama Bond's — named in honor of Venable-Bond's late mother-in-law, "Mama" Regina Bond — served up soul food staples like fried chicken wings and fish, macaroni and cheese and greens, and later added weekend breakfasts offering chicken and waffles and more.
On its Facebook page just before the Memorial Day weekend, however, the restaurant announced it would close as of Monday, May 30 — but hinted in that and later posts of "phase 2 coming soon" for the business.
Details about future plans for the business were not immediately available this week.
Contact content coach Robin Gibson at ragibson@gannett.com or 765-213-5855. Follow her on Twitter @RobinGibsonTSP.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Muncie restaurants: Village adds bar and grill, downtown loses soul food
