RockWall in Floyds Knobs

hey Mark
have you tried taking them to an indy "mexican/chinese/pizza" place instead of the chains

good food (as with good beer) takes small steps to get into

as a former server at Rockwall and a lifelong hoosier, the culture of southern indiana diners runs the gambit from fine dining foodies to junk/fast foodies

my guess is that the property that Rockwall sits on is worth more as real estate than as a restuarant (parking has always been an issue there)

I wish Guy the best of luck
and hope that his next venture is just as good or better than Rockwall was

I was there a month ago and had a fine meal and local beer. I was there a couple of days ago and saw the for sale signs.

What's even more disturbing is that Rockwall is sitting in the middle of sprawl central, surrounded by new developments named, as usual, after what they destroyed. What is it exactly that all those people buying $500K+ houses do support?

Take a drive down Veterans Parkway in Clarksville...

Havening been reared in Southern Indiana, I feel more than qualified to make this statement

Wooo Hooo... We have an Olive Garden and a Cheddar's and a Longhorn Steakhouse..etc...(I saw it on TV so it must be good!)...

How can you explain the worst breakfast(or any meal) in the world that is the IHOP over there?...

I think it goes like this...

Honey, let's pack up the kids and go shoppin an eat somthin'....

The status quo wins again!

The same thing happened to Stratto's....

Clancy..Feel free to chime in at any moment...

Been there......done that! It is sad to see that Guy has bailed on Rockwall, particularly when Alex seemed to be righting that ship from a purely food perspective. Bummer! It is tough to see such places fold when so much heart and energy has been put into them, only to see them fall by the wayside due to apathy/ignorance/lowest common denominator mentality. The status quo does win again but, truth be told, the status quo is going to change as well, and very shortly we will ALL be seeking out the cheapest soylent green we can find.......thank you W!!

Craigslist had a posting for a restaurant for sale in Floyds Knob. Didnt list the name of the place. Could be Rockwall?

My point is that a restaurant, to be successful, has to meet the needs and desires of those in a geographical proximity to support it. In the 10 years I've been working in Southern Indiana great strides have been made in introducing dining alternatives. Fine dining just hasn't been able to make the in-roads that ethnic food seems to be making. Give it another 10 years.

The Rock Wall up in the Knobs was just too far from Louisville to consistantly get enough traffic to be financially viable I guess.

Not disagreeing, but sometimes one must resolve to be pro-active and to shape the needs and desires of those in geographical proximity. I've lived here my whole life, and I, too, feel qualified to make statements like this: We live in a conservative area, and a rural conservatism of our sort displays a profound laziness when it comes to intellectual pursuits. It isn't about money. It's about upbringing and how much "educashion" is necessary to get by. There is a seemingly genetic propensity to not be curious, and to not venture outside a comfort zone. It's an inferiority complex: Fear what you don't know. Most food-oriented businesses shrug, embrace that low common denominator, and "give 'em what they want." I believe one needs to give 'em what they apparently lacked growing up: A challenge to learn, and a reason to respect knowledge, not fear it.

And, if challenged, many of them will respond. Others won't, and that's fine. Let 'em drink Silver Bullet.

Then again, I'm just that elitist atheist Communist who drinks beer in order to cope with the trials and tribulations of New Albany. But as I age, it becomes increasingly evident to me that one's first obligation is to greet the preference of any majority with a healthy skepticism. The majority will tends to be passive, while the minority will is dynamic. I'll take the dynamic anytime.

The Rock Wall up in the Knobs was just too far from Louisville to consistantly get enough traffic to be financially viable I guess.

It's really a blind spot for Louisville folks, I'm afraid. I could easily get to RockWall in 15 minutes from my home in Crescent Hill. Frankly, it was less of a pain than going out to Springhurst or Hurstbourne, because it was a straight shot across I-64 with virtually no traffic lights. (Asterisk: Assuming I didn't try to cross the bridges at rush hour. )

Absolutely right. Again, it's all about irrational decisionmaking, not the rational/best interest decisionmaking that we like to mythologize as part of our indoctrination into Americana. Many Louisvillians retain an irrational aversion to Southern Indiana, just as many Hoosiers exercise their fears and inferiority complexes when it comes to Louisville. To have dined at RockWall is to know that it certainly was capable of competing with Louisville's finest eateries -- perhaps not "winning," but of being included in the conversation. But many of the locals avoided it because they're intimidated by anything approximating fine dining, i.e., requiring more effort than tearing into a bucket of fried chicken, while many of the appreciative and understanding Louisville clientele insist on thinking that a passport is required to drive a mere 15 minutes into the Knobs.

Let me say that The Rock Wall certainly got it's share of pharmaceutacal dinners early in it's day. Unfortunately many physicians and healthcare professionals live in the east end....this is a bit more than a 15 minute commute. I noticed that there seemed to be fewer of these type dinners advertised at The Rock Wall over the past year and I really think the driving distance was a major factor. Also, living in the Brownsboro corridor, you have to literally drive by quite a few really nice places to get there which makes that prospect a lower priority.

The vast bulk of these dinner are at Equis, Ruth's Chris, Jeff Ruby's, Club Grotto, 610 Magnolia. People go to these sponsered diiners and often come back on their own if they have a nice experience.
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I love dining out as much as anybody, but I think it's a little unfair to blame families with kids for sustaining "the status quo" as it relates to restaurants, or anyway as it was posited here. Put yourself in the place of a couple with two or three kids, parents (or a wife) who feel like eating out for a change but who can't really afford to do it much. Especially for breakfast. Are there equally affordable options for a family on a restricted budget (and I suspect that's primarily the demographic of places like IHOP or the Waffle House). I dunno, I'm just wondering aloud here.