This past Tuesday night, Patrick’s Grille of Michigan City celebrated their one year anniversary with an outdoor bash. Attendees were invited to enjoy the restaurant from the inside out, from their beautiful worldly inspired fine dining room and bar, to the outside where the restaurant entertained guests with delicious appetizers and live entertainment.
Patrick Wilkins, Owner of Patrick’s Grille, says that what really brought the restaurant to this successful milestone was the restaurant’s unique style and the hardworking staff.
“We’ve got a great staff. Hard working staff, dedicated staff,” said Wilkins. “And I think we’re paying attention to the details. Good quality food, high end and fresh.”
The design and food at the restaurant was inspired by Wilkins’ 40 years of traveling and enjoying so many great restaurants along the way.
“The idea with the kind of cosmopolitan look out there is to kind of make it look more like a little bit of different parts of the country. And the menu is related to things I’ve liked when I’ve been out on the road.” said Wilkins.
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Wilkins is especially proud of his steaks. “I’m a meat eater so steaks were obviously a priority. So, I knew my steaks had to be top notch and have a unique flavor to it. And I think we’ve accomplished that.”
Wilkins is looking forward the years to come and is excited for the 1 year anniversary. “It’s been fun so far. The first year has been interesting, educational, but a lot of fun. And we’ll continue to work on constantly trying to make ourselves better.”
“It’s a great feeling to know we’ve hit our first year and things are really getting ready to take off, so we’re ahead of schedule, you know, from where we thought we would be.” said Julie Gill, General Manager.
Gill says that there are big plans ahead for Patrick’s Grille. The restaurant will be branching out in their catering and will be utilizing their banquet room a lot more with special events.
Carole Loniewski of Lonici Rental in La Porte, a long time friend of Patrick himself, donated the use of their tents, bars and cocktail tables for the event. “We think that Patrick’s is a great establishment. We want to just see them succeed and do well.” said Loniewski.
Loniewski and her husband also own E & L Paving, a company that also did the paving, curbs and landscape stone work for the restaurant before they opened.
During this special event, the restaurant released two specially created wines to be served at their restaurant. The wines were created in collaboration with Shady Creek Winery in Michigan City. The wines include Patrick’s 5, a dry red and Patrick’s 3, a dry white. They are numbered by the amount of flavor variations in each wine. The wines can be enjoyed by the glass or by the bottle only at Patrick’s Grille.
The event’s entertainment was also provided by another friend of the restaurant, High Noon, a country band from NWI.
The entire restaurant was filled with family and friends celebrating the success of a very unique aspect of the Michigan City area. The restaurant invites everyone to come out this Wednesday, August 3 to enjoy a few drinks and a delicious dinner inspired by one man’s love for traveling to continue the celebration on their official anniversary date.
