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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe company that launched Indiana hamburger chain Clancy’s and casual dining concept Grindstone Charley’s might not have been a likely candidate to establish an upscale restaurant in the Bottleworks District and a Noblesville bar devoted to listening to recorded music.
But Clancy’s Hospitality, a family-owned business founded in 1965, delivered a hit with The Fountain Room, 830 Massachusetts Ave. Offering steak and seafood in an art-deco-influenced setting, The Fountain Room opened three years ago as a Bottleworks fixture and boasts a Yelp customer rating of 4.4 stars out of 5 across 449 reviews—within striking distance of Mass Ave’s celebrated Livery and Bodhi restaurants (each at 4.6 stars).
People magazine made The Fountain Room its Indiana selection on a 2024 list of the 50 Most Beautiful Restaurants in America.
Clancy’s Hospitality plans to continue to defy expectations in 2026 by opening The Pretender, a spot on Noblesville’s courthouse square inspired by Japanese kissa lounges known for catering to audiophiles since the 1950s.
Blake Fogelsong, director of operations for Clancy’s Hospitality, refers to The Fountain Room and The Pretender as “fun passion projects” in a company portfolio that includes Clancy’s Hamburgers (two locations), Grindstone Charley’s, Michaelangelo’s Italian Bistro, Grindstone Public House and Grindstone on the Monon.
“We definitely want to create spaces that people aren’t familiar with and are going to differentiate our company from somebody else,” Fogelsong said.
The ownership group for Clancy’s Hospitality includes Fogelsong, his father, Perry Fogelsong, and his aunts Becky Thomas and Annette Cunion. Blake Fogelsong’s grandfather, Carl Fogelsong (1934-2006), became an inductee of the Indiana Restaurant Hall of Fame in 2003.
The Pretender, expected to open by February at 818 Logan St., is the brainchild of Perry and Blake—two music fans representing different generations.
Perry, president and CEO of Clancy’s Hospitality, is a 66-year-old fan of classic rock. “The Pretender,” a 1976 song by Jackson Browne, inspired the listening lounge’s name.
“Every night when I get home, the first thing I do is turn on my Sonos, pick some music out and then have a cocktail,” Perry said.
Blake, 37, said he has an annual tradition of catching the Dave Matthews Band perform at Ruoff Music Center.
The Pretender will feature a reel-to-reel player, a piece of vintage audio equipment you’ll also find at The Fountain Room. Clancy’s Hospitality is a client of Uncanned Music, a Chicago-based company that curates 3-1/2-hour compilation tapes for restaurants spanning Hong Kong to London.
Blake said a David Bowie-focused tape is popular with staff and guests at The Fountain Room, where diners also can hear an Uncanned mix featuring songs by the Chi-Lites, Harry Nilsson and Thin Lizzy, among modern artists such as Khruangbin, Steve Lacy and Cleo Sol.
The Fogelsongs said they’re investing more than $60,000 in audio equipment at The Pretender. In addition to supplying reel-to-reel tapes, Uncanned is delivering an Akai reel-to-reel player, two Technics turntables, two McIntosh amplifiers (one vacuum tube, one solid state), two vintage Sansui speakers and five Tannoy speakers for the 2,000-square-foot space previously occupied by Sara’s Soiree Music Lounge, a live music venue that opened in 2024 and closed earlier this year.
About 50 people will fit in The Pretender, which will specialize in high-end cocktails and a menu of small plates for sharing, Blake said.
Uncanned audio engineer David Allen said music heard in a restaurant is an essential part of the dining experience.
“If the music in a restaurant is bad, it’s inescapable,” Allen said. “You may be able to choose where you sit in a restaurant, and you choose what you order off of the menu. But you can’t choose the music, and it’s all around you. If it’s really good, it can elevate all parts of your experience. It can be like the soundtrack to a film. If you’re trying to create a special experience like that, it can really take you there.”
Drive-thru days
About a decade after Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s franchise in suburban Chicago and Burger Chef debuted in Indianapolis, Carl Fogelsong joined the fast-food movement by opening Clancy’s Hamburgers in Hamilton County in 1965.
Perry was beginning elementary school when his father designed Clancy’s with drive-thru lanes on two sides of the restaurant.
“I think the menu was 15-cent burgers, 20-cent cheeseburgers, barbecue pork, fries, shakes and soft drinks,” Perry said. “It was a limited menu, but they opened up in Noblesville, and people just were lined up out the door. They couldn’t get enough of it.”
The second Clancy’s location opened in Sidney, Ohio, a city of 20,000 residents about 70 miles east of Muncie, in 1965. Although the hamburger chain peaked at 31 locations in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, the present Clancy’s roster is made up of the Sidney location and counter service at the Garage Food Hall in Indianapolis.
In the early 1980s, Perry spearheaded the introduction of Grindstone Charley’s, a full-service restaurant that billed itself as a gathering place featuring “the warmth of ‘Cheers’ live and in person.”
Although the number of Grindstone Charley’s locations grew to more than a dozen, the only present-day restaurant serves customers in Kokomo—Carl Fogelsong’s hometown. Gale Fogelsong, Carl’s brother and a former co-owner of Clancy’s Hospitality, died in August at age 88.
Blake, who studied marketing at Ball State University, pursued an updated legacy for the Grindstone brand by opening Noblesville’s Grindstone Public House in 2018 and Westfield’s Grindstone on the Monon in 2019.
“It wouldn’t be like a chain, which is what Grindstone Charley’s was,” said Perry, recalling planning discussions for the restaurants. “It would be more chef-driven, giving more creativity to the executive chef. It would be improved food quality, enhanced cocktails and all the things we felt we needed to be competitive going into this era.”
Steve Delaney, a first vice president at the local office of Dallas-based commercial real estate company CBRE, frequently works with Clancy’s Hospitality when the Fogelsongs look for restaurant sites.
“Each generation has contributed,” Delaney said of Carl, Perry and Blake.
Delaney credited Clancy’s for not being overly aggressive in its expansion philosophy.
“You don’t have 60 years in the restaurant business unless you’re disciplined, you’re very careful in your site selection, and you know your operations and your food quality,” Delaney said. “Those are all marks of a successful business.”
Mass Ave appeal
When the Fogelsongs wanted to reintroduce Clancy’s Hamburgers to central Indiana, the Garage Food Hall in the Bottleworks District made a lot of sense, Perry said.
“Low cost of entry,” he said of the Garage, which opened in 2021 with 17 tenants. Clancy’s Hamburger’s was one of the original 17 and continues to rank as a top-performing vendor, according to Lance Evinger, vice president of acquisitions and dispositions for Wisconsin-based Bottleworks District developer Hendricks Commercial Properties LLC.
The revival of Clancy’s led to The Fountain Room, Blake said.
“When the food hall opened up so successfully, and the hotel opened up so successfully, we said, ‘We need to commit to a steakhouse supper club,’” he said.
About 120 feet separate the front doors of The Fountain Room and the Bottleworks Hotel, which was awarded the One Michelin Key distinction in 2024. The only other Indiana hotel to be honored was Ironworks Hotel Indy, another property developed by Hendricks.
Blake defines a supper club as “high-class atmosphere but affordable pricing.”
Evinger said The Fountain Room aces the assignment.
“It’s certainly not stuffy,” he said. “It’s cosmopolitan. I think it works really well with the hotel. They have similar themes, where it’s a blend of contemporary with classic in a way that feels fresh and timeless.”
The Fountain Room’s gold-and-green interior was designed by Phanomen, the Indianapolis firm known for its work with locally based Cunningham Restaurant Group.
Accessible audio
The Pretender won’t be the first bar in central Indiana devoted to listening to recorded music played on a high-end sound system, but it’s expected to be more accessible than an earlier business.
In 2017, the 16-seat Bar One Fourteen opened in the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood for customers who reserved time in the bar’s low-light environment. In 2023, the concept launched by Won’t Stop Hospitality founder Martha Hoover altered its business model and became a private-event venue.
The Pretender will open next door to Syd’s Fine Food & Spirits, an iconic Noblesville bar and grill that opened in 1945.
Allen, the Uncanned Music audio engineer, said “hi-fi culture” is on the rise in the United States, where enthusiasts seek vintage equipment that’s proven to be durable and of exceptional quality.
The refurbished Akai reel-to-reel player headed to The Pretender was made from the early-’70s to the mid-’80s. Quarter-inch tape is used in the machine.
The Pretender’s amplifiers are made by McIntosh, a New York-based company that supplied amplifiers for the 1969 edition of Woodstock.
“Part of what got me excited about doing these kinds of sound systems in hospitality environments is that it’s a place where people can go and experience high fidelity in a way that’s approachable and affordable,” Allen said. “I can’t afford a system like that.”
Allen characterized Blake Fogelsong as an open-minded collaborator.
“He hears us out and is very trusting of our ideas and opinions for him,” said Allen, who works with Uncanned founder Scott McNiece, an Indiana University alum who played drums in bygone Bloomington-based band Prizzy Prizzy Please.
Perry Fogelsong referred to Blake as a “visionary.”
“He’s been very much an idea person,” Perry said of his son. “He’s a good guy to have on your side.”
In response, Blake said Perry provides balance to their work relationship.
“I think it goes both ways,” Blake said. “I would probably go too far if it was just my wacky ideas. You need somebody a little more conservative holding you back some days.”•
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The Pretender is a great idea. I look forward to it.