IF THERE’S ANYTHING that gratifies Mike Cunningham as much as providing appetizing plates of food and seamless tableside attention, it’s bringing historic spaces back to life. His Cunningham Restaurant Group operates 17 Bru Burger Bar locations from South Bend to Lexington, most of them newly constructed. But get him talking about the one installed in a former Greyhound station in Evansville (in partnership with Indiana Landmarks), and he’ll chatter on proudly about how it revitalized the city’s downtown. His flagship Livery, a bustling, Latin-inflected spot in a onetime stable on College Avenue, “was pretty much collapsing on itself,” Cunningham says. “And I love that when we put a Mesh in the old Bauer’s restaurant space in Louisville, we kept a stately tree on the patio. So many customers have memories of dinners under that tree.”
None of these projects, however, top the architectural feat of his most recent renovation, The Lawrence. The West Lafayette project, which spanned more than three years, revived a Sheridan barn once owned by Lawrence Beck, whose descendants founded the nation’s third-largest retail seed company, Beck’s Hybrids. CRG brought the structure out of storage and into stunning display, piece by painstaking piece, just steps from the Purdue University campus. With 130 seats and an event space accommodating up to 200 more, it’s an impressive addition to the developing Discovery Park District. Its exterior shell has the monumental effect of a Christo installation, with four stories of glass backing the skeletal frame of a 1930s dairy barn. Looking up at the underbelly of the roof and the rugged beams of the original structure is awe-inspiring. On the ground level, however, the earth-toned palette and muted upholstery recall any other CRG property.
Given the unique history of The Lawrence, you might think the menu—conceived under the consultation of CRG vice president of culinary services and innovation Carl Chambers and executed by chef Elvin Gutierrez, a Livery veteran promoted from sous chef a few weeks in—would be a bit more one-of-a-kind. But it has many of the same subtly elevated tweaks of contemporary American cuisine and fusion elements that make CRG restaurants such crowd pleasers.
Yes, there are golden, good-as-your-grandmother’s Parker House rolls served with a squiggle of whipped butter flavored with honey and dried chilies. Don’t pass them up. Many of the herbs and garnishes come from the CRG Grow hydroponic greenhouses in Indianapolis. And polenta for the shrimp and grits, as well as an impressive Gunthorp Farms pork chop, come from local sources. But little else recalls the farmland where the Becks first tested their seeds. North African touches such as harissa, cooling labneh, and sweetly tannic pomegranate molasses breathe new life into humble pork-and-beef meatballs. That same harissa on caramelized Brussels sprouts with a generous schmear of white bean hummus and bracing pickled onions makes for a less-than-typical vegetarian lunch or starter.
Grouper comes in thin filets with a flavorful enough guajillo pepper broth that’s sadly soaked up by an abundance of butter beans. The kitchen’s take on homey beef and noodles is ambitious, with bulgogi-style pulled short ribs, roasted mushrooms, scallions, and, curiously, apples. But so many toppings weigh a bit on the dish, and the integrity of Japanese yakisoba gets muddled. A chocolate torte on the dessert list is almost too dark and dense, and slightly grainy ricotta on the side is texturally challenging. By contrast, a whimsically deconstructed olive oil cake is moist and fragrant, with a bright vanilla-forward whipped cream spiked with orange.
Cocktails, especially the smooth and balanced Boiler Sling with berry-forward Citadelle Gin, spice-fragrant Bénédictine, and fresh lime and pineapple juice, need no renovation. While the menu will surely evolve to fit its environs and its developing clientele, the location is already a landmark worth the drive, with the potential of concerts and events planned by the Purdue Research Foundation in the surrounding community space. “Thirty years ago, when we were starting out,” Cunningham says, “prevailing restaurant wisdom was picking a location people couldn’t miss. But The Lawrence shows we’ve bucked that notion by picking less visible spots with character and personality.”
150 McCutcheon Dr., West Lafayette
765-690-1020,
Hours
Tue–Thu 11 a.m.–10 p.m.
Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–11 p.m.,
Sun 11 a.m.–9 p.m.
Vibe
Rustic college town
Tasting Notes
New American farmstead cuisine with fusion touches
Neighborhood
Discovery Park District
Must-Order
A textbook bowl of French onion soup; sweet potato Parker House rolls with hot honey butter; short rib grilled cheese; a painterly beet and Cara Cara orange salad on a bed of stracciatella cheese; and a deconstructed olive oil cake with orange-scented whipped cream.
