Adele’s Restaurant in Stamp.
Byrd Stadium isn’t the only location on the University of Maryland campus serving alcohol. Faculty, staff and students can enjoy a selection of beer and wine at Adele’s during its newly established happy hour.
Head Chef Ivory Kornegay said his staff agreed over the summer to do something new between lunch and dinner when Adele’s was formerly closed.
“We just noticed we had this huge gap between what we were doing,” Kornegay said. “We thought we could offer something in there to the university at that point.”
Adele’s now hosts its happy hour every Monday to Thursday between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., featuring an added menu of drinks and shareable appetizers priced from $2 to $5.
While all of the menu items also are available during Adele’s lunch and dinner hours, the prices are discounted during happy hour, Adele’s Supervisor Jessica Leveille said.
Adele’s served alcohol before setting up its happy hour, typically at lunch, Leveille said.
“The bulk of our lunch clientele is faculty and staff, while a lot of our dinner is students,” she said.
The restaurant’s happy hour is geared toward university employees who already frequent the restaurant during its daytime hours and is intended to create a “university club,” Kornegay said.
And though not necessarily created for university students, Kornegay said everyone 21 and over is welcome at happy hour.
“So far it’s just a few faculty and staff that come out,” he said. “We haven’t seen [students], but the doors are open.”
Happy hour marks the first time the restaurant has remained open the entire day, and this semester has been something of a trial run, Leveille said.
Still, Kornegay said in the five or six weeks since its start, the happy hour has been a success. He said they have not had any problems thus far and hopes the happy hour will be an established and potentially expanded feature at Adele’s in the future.
With beer sales at Byrd Stadium this semester, adding a happy hour on the campus seemed a natural next step, Kornegay said.
“The university in general has, yeah, sort of evolved into this situation,” he said. “Based on the change of the environment here at the university, we just thought it was the right time to do it.”
In addition to working at Adele’s, Kornegay and Leveille are alcoholic beverage control officers at Byrd Stadium on game days.
“It’s been a great, carefully planned and slow process, and implemented the right way,” said Kornegay. “All of the customer base … I think they’re enjoying what we’re offering.”
