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Bunkhouse updates: New shows booked plus Chef Natalie Young to oversee kitchen

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Built to Spill plays the Bunkhouse.
Photo: Spencer Burton

The date is set: After its latest hibernation, the beloved Bunkhouse Saloon will awaken once more on November 13. Kicking off the Bunkhouse’s third life will be Vegas expat Zach Ryan (now based in Nashville) and his band the Wanderers, plus locals Paige Overton and Jack Evan Johnson. And the biggest news for the once music-focused bar: Chef Natalie Young of Eat, and more recently, Chow, will run the bar’s dining operations.

“We’ve just confirmed that Natalie will be running our kitchen,” Bunkhouse entertainment director Ryan Pardey confirmed. “We’re going to be working with her to maybe expand and have some more food-related events.”

The venue, which shut down without warning on July 20, will reopen under former Artifice bartender Jillian Tedrow. Music programming will be overseen by Pardey, with assistance on touring acts from former Bunkhouse booker Mike Henry of the Downtown Project. Beyond opening night, the lineup of shows includes: Rusty Maples and O Wildly (November 14), Weatherbox with Dark Black and State Champion (November 18), Brian Buss Havens and Par (November 19), Bass Gravy drum ‘n’ bass party (November 20), the Chicken Shack party (November 21), a Rolling Stones tribute (December 26), Tijuana Panthers (December 28), a Morrissey afterparty featuring Maladjusted (January 2) and Supersuckers (February 14).

Shows will take place inside for now, but Pardey said plans call for an outdoor stage come springtime. “We won’t have a whole lot of national acts until March, April and May, because those are normally things you have to do three to four months out. I know it was originally said we won’t be [booking national acts]. It won’t be on the scale it was before, but we’re still going to work on it. When a good show comes across my table that I think we can take a calculated risk on—if a good show is there and we can afford it, we’re gonna take it.”

New Bunkhouse programming will also include interactive game nights on Wednesdays, trivia nights, karaoke and more. “I’m talking to a lot of local promoters and party throwers that do stuff at other places in town about moving their events here or adding on to their list of events,” Pardey said. “We’re trying to figure out what’s economically smart.”

Cosmetic changes should be unveiled over time, including the addition of carpeting, lighting and a living wall, which will provide a garden of succulents and herbs—the latter to be used in Young’s kitchen. The venue has already installed AstroTurf in the back, replacing much of the gravel that filled the patio.

“We’re just trying to get open again so we can get all these things in place as time goes,” Pardey said. “We’re not making any money being closed. It’s a full plate, but it’s good. It’s exciting.”

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