Back in the Game: Ebbets Field reopens after over two-year closure

New Ebbets Field owners Sydney and Jarrad Davis had an unexpected challenge just two minutes after they reopened the doors on March 27 after being closed for more than two years: a power outage.

“There was a blackout on the whole entire street,” Sydney said of the situation that developed at 11:02 a.m. that day at the 1027 E. Walnut St. restaurant and pub. “We were like, ‘Oh, what just happened?”

Luckily, power was restored after about 20 minutes, she said, and the kitchen was back in action.

“It was a little too long for comfort,” she said with a laugh.

Despite the early snafu, the Davises, who married last May and moved to Springfield from St. Louis to relaunch the restaurant, said opening weekend was long, very busy but fun. The eatery first opened in 1981 on Cherry Street under the management of founder Nick Russo before moving to Walnut Street in 1994, then was shuttered two years ago under its prior ownership, Bryan Properties, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. The Davises declined to disclose startup costs, including the purchase price for the business and the 5,000-square-foot Ebbets Field building from Bryan Properties.

Making a move
For Sydney, reopening Ebbets Field is a bit of a homecoming. A Springfield native and 2019 Missouri State University graduate, she also had two years of experience working at the pub under the previous owners. She said she used to joke around that if the restaurant ever went up for sale, she and Jarrad would want to buy it. Last summer, that joke became a reality when the couple finalized the purchase of the business and the building.

Jarrad said they saw becoming restaurant owners as part of their 10-year plan.

“We just didn’t realize it was going to be year one, and then we kind of just jumped in,” he said. “This opportunity is not going to come back in the future.”

The couple had to make the decision as they were amid wedding plans.

“It was definitely like spur of the moment, but it was also, yeah, we knew we wanted to do it,” Sydney said.

After the deal closed, the couple moved to Springfield, where they met years earlier at downtown Irish-themed tavern Finnegan’s Wake. They then set out to renovate Ebbets Field, a process started last July. Originally, they thought it might take about a year.

“I pushed it. Actually, I wanted to be open before baseball,” Sydney said of the late March start for the new Major League Baseball season. “(Jarrad) had a realistic mindset of maybe doing like May or something like that, and it just ended up falling into this.”

Sydney said the building, constructed in 1912, has good bones despite its age. Still, renovation work included replacing the back patio ramp and the downstairs bar top, as well as rebuilding the front balcony that hangs from the roof, which was dry-rotted, Jarrad said.

“There’s a lot of just random leaks in the plumbing that needed to be fixed, and a lot of just plumbing fixtures and things that needed changed out because they were just starting to get to the end of their lifetime,” he said.

“We definitely just wanted to take the time to get it done, especially since we’re going to be open seven days a week,” Sydney said, noting the restaurant has seating capacity for around 123 people. “We don’t have an extra day to do those little things.”

Jarrad, who attended MSU for graduate school and played lacrosse for the school, has a bachelor’s in architectural technology from Robert Morris University in Chicago. He also worked in the insurance restoration field for around five years while in school, which came in handy for tackling some of the repairs.

“Having a general contractor in our family has been super nice to do the little things,” Sydney said with a laugh.

The restaurant is also now a full-time professional pursuit for the Davises. While Sydney has focused on the restaurant since last summer, Jarrad quit his remote job in March as a technician for Knoxville, Tennessee-based engineering firm Haines Structural Group Inc. to solely work at Ebbets Field.

Keep growing
Sydney said she expects Ebbets Field will hire perhaps 20 additional employees in the coming weeks. Staff size at the restaurant is starting at just under 40 people, she said. “We’re going to keep growing, especially with us opening up the patio. We just don’t want people to be overwhelmed,” she said of the staff’s workload as outdoor dining will soon be offered.

To craft the new Ebbets Field menu, the couple looked to the old – namely the past versions of menus they could find from the restaurant’s history.

“We pulled from all of them,” Sydney said of the streamlined menu. “We brought the pizzas back because those went away in 2023, and then we kept all the burgers. We knew we wanted to bring back the old menu, so that was easy. We’re not coming up with a whole entire new concept of this place.”

Most of the menu items will be familiar to past customers, with baseball-themed names such as Da Duke, a cheddar and bacon burger, and The Herzog, a pizza including pepperoni, sausage, bacon, mushroom, black olives and jalapenos. The new menu also has sandwiches, chicken wings and salads.

Sydney said the upstairs will primarily serve as an event space with seating room to accommodate around 35 people.

“It’s obviously not huge, but you can definitely have groups or like little reunions and that kind of thing,” she said.

While the restaurant has a history that spans over four decades, the new owners sought to spread the word of opening weekend online in the weeks leading to its relaunch.

“We kind of just didn’t really know what to expect because we were getting a lot of interactions on social media, but also people that are interacting are from all over the country, which is super cool,” Sydney said of early turnout at the restaurant after making posts on Facebook and Instagram.

Additionally, the Davises said they recognize the need to create a friendly environment for new customers – such as college students and families who have never set foot in Ebbets Field. However, they also want it to be a familiar and comfortable place for those who have memories of the eatery from years past.

“We kind of just want people to think like it’s the same old place,” Sydney said. “Because Springfield loves a staple and loves nostalgia, so that’s kind of what we were trying to keep.”