Hardin County Business Buzz: Restaurant News & a Big Docket

Key Takeaways

• Shogun Elizabethtown's reported Sunday closing is unconfirmed — Nate found the website still up and a recent Facebook post, and the building being for sale may be unrelated to the business
• Capri's Italian Restaurant is open and Nate visited on opening day — sit-down Italian (not pizza/subs), seats around 100, now doing takeout, same owners as Napoli's in Glasgow
• The Straight and Narrow is NOT reservation-only — they prefer reservations for space but accept walk-ups; it seats about 30, with roughly 10 at the bar, and the front-page menu is posted on the Hardin Local Facebook page
• Planning & Zoning had one of the biggest dockets Nate has ever seen (11 items), centered on the Pear Orchard corridor — the VA clinic, Fall Creek Estates, and Lake View subdivision — plus Watson Medical, War Eagle, and E-town's first 7 Brew Coffee
• Cosmic Golf launched a new menu, adding brunch options while keeping favorites like the hot brown egg roll

Summary

Nate Bryan's Business Buzz this week leaned heavily on restaurants and development. He opened with a closure that turned out to be murkier than expected — Shogun Elizabethtown was reported closing, but Nate's own research left the story unconfirmed. From there the news was mostly forward-looking: Capri's Italian Restaurant has opened to a strong first impression, The Straight and Narrow got an important clarification on how to visit, and Cosmic Golf rolled out a new menu.

The biggest single story, though, was the Planning & Zoning docket — which Nate called possibly the largest he has ever seen, with 11 items and a cluster of activity in the fast-growing Pear Orchard corridor. A new VA clinic, two subdivisions, a medical clinic, another subdivision off Ring Road, and Elizabethtown's first 7 Brew Coffee were all on the agenda, underscoring a theme the hosts kept returning to: continued investment and growth across Hardin County.

Watch this segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8E8tSSF250&t=1905s Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8E8tSSF250

Full Article

Rachel handed it to Nate Bryan for a Business Buzz heavy on restaurant news and one very full planning docket.

Shogun Elizabethtown: a closure that isn't confirmed

Nate started with a tip he couldn't fully verify. "Someone passed along that Shogun Elizabethtown was closing as of Sunday," he said. "They even had a statement that said they're gonna focus on the three Southern Kentucky" locations — Owensboro, Bowling Green, and Glasgow. But the more he looked, the less certain it became. "Their website is still up and they're still listed on the website, and they just posted on Facebook yesterday. So I am unsure what's going on there." He'd driven by and not seen anyone, but noted the building being for sale "had nothing to do with the actual business," since a restaurant can change landlords without closing. His honest read: someone needs to physically go out and confirm.

Capri's Italian Restaurant: open, and worth the trip

Just a short walk from there, Capri's Italian Restaurant has opened — and Nate went on opening day. He moved quickly to set expectations: "Somebody said 'no pizza, no subs?' I said, 'It's sit-down Italian.' Like, you don't go to Olive Garden searching for pizza or subs last time I checked." He compared the concept to Carrabba's or the Old Spaghetti Factory.

The meal won him over. He and Courtney had chicken parm, spaghetti and meatballs, salads, and free bagels, finishing with the double chocolate cheesecake — "it was all fantastic." The restaurant holds about 100 people with no booths, has a small kids' menu, and is already taking takeout orders with to-go boxes available. Nate noted the owners are on site and also run the Glasgow location.

He repeated his standing parking tip: "Go through the La Quinta parking lot. You will save yourself some time. Go under La Quinta, go under the porte cochere if you have to, but drive around — it's right there." He added that the team hopes to open a second entrance near Duff's down the road. "I think they're going to do well," he said. "We'll go back again."

The Straight and Narrow: clearing up the rules

Nate then set out to clarify the questions swirling around The Straight and Narrow downtown — and the headline correction is that it is not strictly reservation-only. "They prefer reservations because they can't see walk-ups just due to space," Jon O'Brien explained, after visiting Thursday. "But it is not reservation-only. They do take walk-ups — there may be a long wait if our reservations are full, but they do allow walk-ups." That clarification came directly from co-owner Olivia.

On size, the table settled on roughly 30 seats total, with about 10 at the bar and additional seating up front. As for the drinks, Jon — the table's bourbon voice — described a focused, no-bourbon-cocktail menu. He had a rum punch and a mezcal cocktail called the Smoke Show ("mezcal, lime, black currant, and ginger"), and pointed to the London Fog (gin, bubbles, Earl Grey, and lemon) as another standout. Bottled beer options include Coors, Miller Lite, Peroni, Bell's Two Hearted, Heineken, and a Heineken 0. Nate posted the front page of the menu to the Hardin Local Facebook page, noting there's also a separate wine list — some by the glass, some only by the bottle, since "they don't want that to go bad if you only get one glass."

Planning & Zoning: maybe the biggest docket yet

The development news was substantial. "Planning and Zoning got busy, busy, busy, busy meeting tonight," Nate said. "This may be the biggest docket I have seen on Planning and Zoning" — 11 items in all, with the Pear Orchard corridor leading the way.

Three Pear Orchard projects stood out. The VA clinic is going in at 1151 Pear Orchard Road and is set to be "a decent-sized clinic." Half a block away, Fall Creek Estates is planned at 1101 Pear Orchard Road, with Jimmy Jenkins as the developer. And the Lake View subdivision is slated for 614–622 Pear Orchard Road. Rachel, who has represented Jenkins, described the area as primed for it: "You've got access to Freeman Lake, you've got access to the highway with Publix coming, great schools... I think that area was destined for this."

Beyond Pear Orchard, the docket included Watson Medical Clinic planned at 1103 Northridge Drive, the War Eagle subdivision off 871 Ring Road, and — the one Nate had been predicting for months — Elizabethtown's first 7 Brew Coffee at 1042 Executive Drive, on the grass lot between Wendy's and Shoney's near the old Cracker Barrel. "Everybody loves some 7 Brew," Nate said. "And the thing is, like, they're like scooters — you don't need a big lot."

Cosmic Golf's new menu

Nate closed with a quick hit: Cosmic Golf has launched a new menu. Kitchen manager Jeremy and his crew added new items — including "awesome" brunch ideas — while keeping favorites like the hot brown egg roll. "It wasn't a complete redo, but I did notice quite a few new things," Nate said, encouraging people to head out and try them. The hosts riffed on Cosmic Golf as one of the area's best heated indoor winter hangouts — "you're 75 degrees inside" — and floated the idea of sending Britten and Michele out there for a future Experienced Eater segment.

That wrapped a packed segment. "Those are some great updates this week," Rachel said. "New restaurant openings, development projects in the works. It's good to see continued investment and growth in Hardin County."