MONTICELLO - The dry-erase board in the kitchen at the now-closed Monticello House on North Main Street still has instructions scribbled on it for the waitstaff.
"Make bleu cheese. Get to-go containers, coffee beans, butter," the board instructs.
It's a relic from a time when the restaurant was a supper club so popular people waited in long lines to eat here, said new owner Marc Barnaby. It closed four years ago.
This weekend, he is reopening the cornerstone downtown establishment as Barnaby's Monticello House, a special events hall with an updated look. The grand opening party is 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 19, and will feature live music from The Jimmys.
Barnaby, 47, envisions the hall will host seasonal balls, album-release parties, business meetings, conferences, dances, mussel nights, Homecoming gatherings and other special events. He already has two weddings scheduled for May 2014.
All food will get catered in at the new venue. A former millwork salesman who runs a guesthouse in New Glarus, Barnaby wasn't interested in the day-to-day and late-night grind of a bar or restaurant.
"I don't want to own a restaurant. I don't want to own a bar," he said. He plans to focus on daytime rentals and, at night, in organizing seasonally-themed balls with live music. "People don't get to get dressed up like they used to."
His banker initially sparked his interest in the Monticello House building.
"He knows I'm a sucker for old buildings," Barnaby said. He was approved in April for a $25,000 loan from Green County to help cover the purchase of the building, at 3 percent interest over five years. Five apartments upstairs are already rented, he said.
Ernie Gempeler, of nearby Gempeler's Supermarket, says the building predates him but has been a supper club as long as he can remember.
"I'm only 72. I'm kind of a kid here yet," he joked. When he actually was a kid in the 1940s, the supper club was called The Casino. Before that, it was Monticello House. In the 1970s, a new owner added another lounge area before The Casino closed down. It later reopened under the original name of Monticello House, then closed again about four years ago.
Barnaby's Monticello House is a family venture. Barnaby is co-owner of the building with his wife Tabatha, who heads Julia Grace Salon in Madison. They have two girls, ages 11 and 13.
"My girls will be helping out," he said.
The renovated interior is a patchwork of old and new. It has a modern, urban look while retaining elements of the classic Wisconsin supper club, like an original vinyl faux leather bartop.
The new venue "has a Madison feel to it," Barnaby said. "A lot of people around here are starving for something like that."
"Make bleu cheese. Get to-go containers, coffee beans, butter," the board instructs.
It's a relic from a time when the restaurant was a supper club so popular people waited in long lines to eat here, said new owner Marc Barnaby. It closed four years ago.
This weekend, he is reopening the cornerstone downtown establishment as Barnaby's Monticello House, a special events hall with an updated look. The grand opening party is 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 19, and will feature live music from The Jimmys.
Barnaby, 47, envisions the hall will host seasonal balls, album-release parties, business meetings, conferences, dances, mussel nights, Homecoming gatherings and other special events. He already has two weddings scheduled for May 2014.
All food will get catered in at the new venue. A former millwork salesman who runs a guesthouse in New Glarus, Barnaby wasn't interested in the day-to-day and late-night grind of a bar or restaurant.
"I don't want to own a restaurant. I don't want to own a bar," he said. He plans to focus on daytime rentals and, at night, in organizing seasonally-themed balls with live music. "People don't get to get dressed up like they used to."
His banker initially sparked his interest in the Monticello House building.
"He knows I'm a sucker for old buildings," Barnaby said. He was approved in April for a $25,000 loan from Green County to help cover the purchase of the building, at 3 percent interest over five years. Five apartments upstairs are already rented, he said.
Ernie Gempeler, of nearby Gempeler's Supermarket, says the building predates him but has been a supper club as long as he can remember.
"I'm only 72. I'm kind of a kid here yet," he joked. When he actually was a kid in the 1940s, the supper club was called The Casino. Before that, it was Monticello House. In the 1970s, a new owner added another lounge area before The Casino closed down. It later reopened under the original name of Monticello House, then closed again about four years ago.
Barnaby's Monticello House is a family venture. Barnaby is co-owner of the building with his wife Tabatha, who heads Julia Grace Salon in Madison. They have two girls, ages 11 and 13.
"My girls will be helping out," he said.
The renovated interior is a patchwork of old and new. It has a modern, urban look while retaining elements of the classic Wisconsin supper club, like an original vinyl faux leather bartop.
The new venue "has a Madison feel to it," Barnaby said. "A lot of people around here are starving for something like that."