Yogi’s changes its look, menu

Bloomington staple Yogi’s Grill and Bar built its reputation with a vast beer variety and game day atmosphere 21 years ago. Now, visitors to the location can expect a modernized vibe and new menu.

Recently, the restaurant converted from a bar into a gastropub. As a gastropub, Yogi’s will now be “upgraded with better food,” said Jim Karl, Yogi’s founder and one of the owners.

With the advice from friend David Tallent, owner of Restaurant Tallent, to upgrade Yogi’s, Karl said he took a trip to Chicago and was inspired by the gastropubs he encountered there.  

“We decided to put together a menu that was affordable, that was higher end pub food, and that’s what our menu is today,” Karl said.

Karl said with the help of Tallent, they have been working on the menu for the past six months testing options.

Karl said Tallent came to Yogi’s periodically to help train the kitchen managers.

“He helped us upgrade our menu to where we kept all of our old favorites, and he showed us how to source locally,” Karl said. “A lot of the foods that tasted better and were better, we took those on, and now our menu has great appetizers.”

Some of the new items on the menu include a Mediterranean dip and calamari.

Karl said their prices have increased by about 50 cents, which he said is in part a result of inflation.

Karl said construction was completed in March. The new menu has been in effect for the past two weeks.

The restaurant remodeled its bathrooms and its pub room.

“We knew if we upgraded the menu, we had to upgrade the facility,” Karl said.

Cat Conatser, an employee at Yogi’s, said the change took some getting used to.

“At first it was a rough change,” she said. “I felt like business kind of went down a little bit just because people didn’t know what we were doing. They didn’t know what we were about anymore. The menu was changing a lot. Now I feel like we’ve gotten a whole new cliental, brought back some of our older clientele, so it’s a nice mesh.”

Karl said Yogi’s has always tried to be on the forefront.

“We think that the gastropub is an up and coming concept,” he said. “So you can come here and see some nicer-end things.”

Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.