Commander’s Grill on Boonville, Indiana’s Downtown square, boasts a confident name and atmosphere, inspired by a classy individual who left a remarkable legacy.
Born in 1888 in Boonville, Ralph Downs Weyerbacher graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and later supervised the construction of what would become known as the U.S.S. Shenandoah, a massive zeppelin that was the Navy’s first rigid airship. Weyerbacher was the great-uncle of Julie Reeder, who owns Commander’s Grill with her husband, Mike. “He was a genius,” Mike says of Weyerbacher, whose portrait casts a dignified presence above the restaurant’s wooden bar.
“My great uncle was not only instrumental in building the first rigid airship in the U.S. military but also inspired my dad to want to enlist and fly 77 bomber missions in World War II,” Julie says. “We wanted to let folks know that Boonville’s native son and his nephew had such an impact on aviation history.”
This year marks Commander’s Grill’s 10th anniversary, a milestone the Reeders don’t take for granted. The restaurant honors Weyerbacher’s exceptional story with a menu that the couple and their son, head chef Ben, strive to also make exceptional. Ben Reeder is a product of the culinary arts program at Louisville, Kentucky’s Sullivan University, and he worked for hotels and restaurants in Louisville as well as in Kansas City, Missouri, before coming onboard his parents’ venture in 2016. “I wasn’t going to open without him,” Mike says…