We're gonna go inside and find out some of the changes that are in store here. Today I am at Harry's Downtown at 601 William Street in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia. And I'm with Trevor Sherwin, who recently became the owner of this location for Harry's.


Trevor, thank you for joining us.
So thrilled to be here. Thanks for having me.


Trevor, you've been involved with Harry's for a number of years. Tell people a little bit about your background with the restaurant.
I've been in the industry since I was 15. I had the opportunity to be the bird at Red Robin. So that was fun. But as I kind of grew and I had a fiancée, I knew I needed to put some roots down. So in October of 2016, I had heard about a small restaurant that was opening up in Harrison Crossing. I went there, became a bartender and about a year and a half in, I became the GM and worked with the company and came downtown, opened this store up. I was a partner here and so me and my wife made a decision, we said “Hey, I think the timing's right” so we decided to pull the trigger and now we are thrilled. It's been a long story of history though.


Well, congratulations. And you mentioned that you're licensing the name and the branding from the other location, so the two Harry's are sort of related, but under different ownership. Is that right?
Yes, historically since this one opened, the core is the same Harry's that our guests expect, but there are some microcosms that are different. Whether it be the cocktail menu, draft list, some items that are obviously more downtown fitting, we've rolled out some differences in our menu. What you can expect from Harry's is what you've gotten in the past and although you'll see us make some changes, the core of the brand is going to stay identical.


So what are some of those changes that you're thinking about making here?
We wanted to freshen up the space a little bit as we get into the summer so we've redone our patio, trying to make it more attractive and make people want to spend more time out there. We're going to introduce a lot of music for the first time. We haven't done that before. We're looking at doing that at least once a month right now. But outside of that, some of the menu items that we're looking at how can we take something that's been selling very well and potentially make it in a way that's better for our clientele. My wife and I are very much into a health kick and we've found ourselves obviously shifting away from processed. Now, I've always thought it's interesting for folks like us, when you go out to a restaurant, you're not asking those questions typically. You just eat whatever's on the menu. So if we can make small changes that not only better the items from a flavor perspective, but also make sure you're walking away without a stomach ache and you feel great those are the things that we're looking to do. There is some seasonal stuff that we'll do that most restaurants in a downtown or urban environment would do. So we will incorporate a couple of new items for spring and summer that we're thrilled about. As for cocktails and beer, we've always switched that up and I’ve had my hand in that since I started here. So I'm excited to take back over control of the beer program and take that to new heights. And then we have a couple of managers here that are in love with cocktail bars so I'd like to see that area take a step up as well.


And you've also got, Harry's Sidecar here on Winchester Street right next to you. You have a couple changes that are planned there too?
Yeah, so we've got some stuff right around the corner. The staff is working really hard right now with me to try and figure out “what do we want this to be?” So when you look at the landscape in downtown and you're trying to figure out where does this fit in, we've tried it as just kind of a what we call the tasting room, where it's this environment, you just come in, you maybe buy beer to go, you've got a good wine list, cocktails. We realized there's a couple restaurants in town that do higher end food and they're always on a wait so we tried the whole higher end concept, which is what we're doing now. And what we found is we want to be able to focus our efforts on Harry's Downtown and have that space complement this or complement what, what the rest of the restaurant scene is looking like in Fredericksburg. So I think how we're going to accomplish that is we're going to shift away from full service plated dinners and go more to upscale, eclectic small plates. And the cocktail menu's going to be a focal point as well as our whiskey program, and private events. Like we have been, I'll do some beer and wine dinners, things like that, but we want to use that space a little bit more for event or, “Hey, I just want to go into town, have a couple drinks with my wife or, or my girlfriend”, that's kind of what I'm hoping that space becomes is less of people sitting there with fork and knives, cutting steak and more of this interactive experience where we're able to share some experimental stuff that we're trying.


And how can people find out more about, about your restaurant online?
Right now, you'd have to go to harrysalehouse.com and then you would click on our location downtown, or you click on Sidecar. We are in the process of rolling out a new website, but I don't want to rush our designer. I've learned that. So she's working hard on that. We'll have an update for you guys on that soon.


Trevor, congratulations to you and your wife on taking over full ownership of this location. And we wish you a lot of luck going forward.
Thank you, Bill. I really appreciate it.

Harry's Downtown is under new ownership.