After floods, false starts and a pandemic-era debut, the owners of Bent Nails have learned a thing or two about reinvention.
Now, the quirky gathering spot once known as Bent Nails Bistro in Montpelier has reopened across the Winooski River in Middlesex as Bent Nails Roadhouse, settling into a space across from Camp Meade and embracing what co-owner and chef Charis Churchill calls “restart number three.”
“We started, then we started again after the flood, and now we’ve moved and reopened,” Churchill said. “But this feels right. This feels like home.”
Churchill and her business partner, artist, musician, and restaurateur Aaron Ingham, first opened Bent Nails in Montpelier in 2021 on Langdon Street, in the former home of Sweet Melissa’s. The pair envisioned a cozy bistro blending hearty food, original live music, and Ingham’s whimsical scrap-metal sculptures.
But the space – long associated with music – proved hard to rebrand.
“People kind of saw us as a music venue first,” Churchill said. “And that was one of our highlights, for sure. But the food part didn’t really take off the way we wanted it to.”
Then came the July floods that inundated downtown Montpelier. Churchill remembers their restaurant standing like an island in rising water.
Rather than rebuild yet again in the same footprint, the partners began looking for a space that would allow them to lean more fully into both sides of their identity: comfort food and creative expression.
They found it in Middlesex.
The new Bent Nails Roadhouse occupies a familiar roadside building that has housed other restaurants in recent years. Inside, the main dining room wraps around a bar, with a second room now outfitted with a stage. The atmosphere is colorful and offbeat, anchored by Ingham’s sculptures fashioned from car parts, scrap metal and found objects.
“We call it a roadhouse because a lot of his sculptures are made out of car parts,” Churchill said. “And we’re on the way to everywhere. It’s a great pit stop.”
Ingham, a Marshfield resident, creates his work at Bent Nails Studio on Route 2, where passersby can stop in if the garage door is open. At the old Montpelier location, his pieces decorated the walls but weren’t for sale. In Middlesex, that has changed.
“He’s willing to part with them now,” Churchill said. “When something sells, something new will come in. It keeps the space fresh.”
While Ingham focuses on booking entertainment and shaping the visual identity of the roadhouse, Churchill runs the kitchen – without formal culinary training.
“I’ve never trained as a chef,” she said. “I learned from my mother.”
Churchill’s mother was born in Belgium and raised in France, and Churchill spent a year in France as a teenager living with her grandmother. The European influence shows up in dishes like coq au vin and ratatouille, but the heart of the menu is unabashed comfort food.
“It’s things I grew up with, things people crave,” she said. “Simple, but solid. Quality.”
Regulars will recognize staples like handmade meatballs with spaghetti, rich meatloaf with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, Irish stew, and creamy fish chowder. Sauces are made in-house, and the meatballs are formed by hand. Smash burgers, gumbo, panini-pressed sandwiches and macaroni and cheese round out the offerings.
The expanded kitchen and dining room have allowed Bent Nails to emphasize lunch service, something Churchill said was harder to establish in Montpelier. The roadhouse now opens at 11 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, with Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The restaurant is currently closed Monday and Tuesday.
Churchill is eager to spread the word that the restaurant offers quick, grab-and-go options as well as sit-down meals.
“People might think it’s more dine-in, but you can come in and get a super sandwich and be on your way,” she said. “The menu’s all online.”
Entertainment remains central to the Bent Nails identity, but with a slightly different focus. The new stage hosts weekly trivia on Thursdays, a monthly live-band karaoke night where guests front a full band, a Celtic jam session on the first Wednesday of each month, comedy shows and even a monthly DJ goth “crypt night.”
Ingham, who performs with his own band, is especially committed to showcasing original music.
“He’s trying to focus on original bands,” Churchill said. “We love cover bands too, but we really want to give people a place to play their own music.”
Outside, the roadhouse has begun hosting fire pit nights when weather permits, complete with hot cocktails. Churchill hopes to collaborate with nearby Camp Meade, a growing arts and events hub across the road, especially during the busy summer season.
For Churchill, the goal is larger than simply serving food.
“It’s not just a place to eat and drink,” she said. “It’s an experience. There’s an energy here. Everybody’s welcome. It’s very kid-friendly. We want it to be a community space.”
After years of uncertainty, she said, the move to Middlesex feels like a fresh chapter rather than a recovery effort.
“We’ve been through a lot,” Churchill said. “But we’re still here. And this time, we get to build it the way we always imagined.”
