Freeman’s Grub & Pub opens tomorrow

by Eric Ginsburg

The sign on the side of Freeman’s Grub & Pub says it was established in 2014, but the venue will first open its doors to the public tomorrow.

The folks behind Jake’s Billiards have been hard at work on 1820 Spring Garden St., the former site of Sessions on the corner with Chapman Street for a while now, completely redoing the interior and adding a massive kitchen space. Randy Pettigrew built a beautiful wooden bar, tables and shelves for the space, which gel with a white tile backsplash separating the kitchen from the front of house.

The opening is part of a spurt of new restaurant openings in Greensboro (which you can read more about in tomorrow’s issue of Triad City Beat).

At a small event on May 8, Freeman’s unveiled a reasonably-priced menu and considerable whiskey collection at the restaurant, which is a fraction of the size of Jake’s Billiards up the street.

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The menu includes several delicious — albeit questionably labeled — options, such as a poutine and a banh mi sandwich that don’t live up to the name but are still satisfying. The beef in the banh mi is remarkably well prepared, and several of the sides are worthwhile, too.

The venue is set up so that attention is on the large bar, with tables fit around the edges of the room and more seating on the open porch outside. The rolling hill area that used to be part of an outdoor component at Sessions is currently overgrown, and it’s unclear if the grassy section will be a part of the new venue.

Two fans on a large pulley system turn slowly in the front inside of Freeman’s, keeping the venue from feeling hot or stuffy even when every seat is occupied.