Haynie’s Corner restaurant changes

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - A number of changes are happening in Evansville’s Haynie’s Corner. Restaurants have new owners.

A bar now has quite a bit more space. All of this comes just in time for the summer festivities.

The back side of Mo’s House will be transformed into a large patio. What used to be an apartment is now completely transformed inside.

A new expanded space adds nearly 60 seats and is meant to feel like you have walked from a home’s “Man Cave” into a more feminine room. Mo’s House has been open for two years and been packed ever since.

Owner Moriah Hobgood says if you go there on a Friday night after 8 p.m. you are probably not going to find a seat. Even with this expansion, she expects to still fill the bar.

Another big reason for this expansion was to make Mo’s House handicap accessible. Mo wanted to keep all of this a surprise, so it was hidden behind a wall until last Sunday.

“I finally like stepped back, and it is all very cool. We are very proud of all of what we have built here and there’s been a lot of super artistic and just awesome individuals working on the project and when we took down that wall and you could see both sides I literally stepped back and said woah. That is...It’s definitely a statement,” says Hobgood.

Mo tells us there is another surprise in store. She is excited about a potential partnership with her restaurant neighbor Dapper Pig.

“It’s just going to be something that Evansville’s never had before,” says Sauced owner Scott Schymik.

Schymik is adding another restaurant to his repertoire. Just across 2nd Street, he is taking over Dapper Pig.

The trendy bar will soon have a new name and menu inspired by a wide variety of cuisines.

“We’re not going to stick to American, so it’s going to be a lot of different things that hopefully people haven’t seen around here in a while and the style and concept will be something like that too,” says Schymik.

It goes beyond the menu. Owners tell us they have formed a family around the corner.

“We all get along very well together, so I see a summer full of big parties and lots of fun down here,” says Schymik.

Hobgood calls the expansion her “bar baby,” saying it continues her dream to help you relax and feel at home.

“It’s always been kind of the man cave and the game room. Well this is kind of the Mom’s side of the house, the more feminine kind of dressed up. It’s definitely a different vibe over here,” says Hobgood.

For Hobgood, it has been fun to watch people’s reactions when they walk through the door.

“No one had any idea that this space even existed, so that’s been fun being like oh my goodness where did this even come from? So just took down the magic curtain... Evansville deserves a cool cocktail bar too and like a cool place to hang out and be and big cities are doing it so Evansville can do it too,”says Hobgood.

Mo’s House has grand opening festivities planned for Friday including a live band. They expect to open the back patio in a few weeks.

Over at Dapper Pig, nothing is expected to change until Schymik takes over in May.

Copyright 2019 WFIE. All rights reserved.