Brick by Brick: A Restaurant Owner’s Journey Through Greenwood

Folktale Event Center in Greenwood, Indiana

"Brick by Brick: A Restaurant Owner’s Journey Through Greenwood"

Welcome to The HILL OF BEANS Podcast Hosted by Ezra Hill

From the Fryer to the Front Office: A Restaurant Owner’s Journey

Meet Chef Mark Henrichs of The Revery Part 2

Revery owner and chef Mark Henrichs honed his craft in Michelin-starred restaurants and innovative eateries in New Orleans, Sonoma, Chicago, New York and Indy before creating the immensely popular Revery in 2014 in downtown Greenwood and now Folktale Event Center

One of our proudest transformations was the Folktale Event Center. The building itself is nearly a century old, and when we first stepped inside, you could feel the history clinging to the air. It had that quiet, stubborn resilience that only time can create. We named it Folktale because every brick, every beam seemed to hold a piece of someone’s story. Weddings, reunions, community gatherings—it’s a space designed not just for events, but for new memories to take root, layered on top of the old.

But with those stories come surprises—some romantic, some expensive. Plumbing from the 1920s. Electrical that hasn’t met code since Eisenhower was president. We’ve found newspapers sealed in the walls, and once, an old safe no one could crack. These buildings require care, creativity, and a good contractor on speed dial. But when you bring one back to life, the community notices. Locals stop in not just for a meal, but to share their memories: “I had my first haircut in this building,” or “My grandma used to bring me here when it was a bakery.”

Then came COVID.

Everything stopped. Empty dining rooms. Silent kitchens. But those old buildings—they’d seen tough times before, and we weren’t going to be the ones to let them go dark. We pivoted hard: curbside service, family-style meals to-go, pop-up events in the parking lot. I delivered food myself, often in the middle of the night, just to keep moving. It wasn’t pretty, but it kept us going. And somehow, through the fear and the hustle, our little restaurants—and the Folktale Center—held strong. Maybe it’s something about their bones—built to last.

Coming out of that storm, we didn’t just rebuild—we expanded. We took what we learned and opened new locations, still in buildings with history, still in places where stories are waiting to be revived. That’s what makes it all worth it. We’re not just cooking—we’re caretakers of Greenwood’s past, shaping its future one plate, one event, one gathering at a time.

This life? It’s not easy. But it’s real. It’s rooted. And if you listen closely to the walls, you’ll realize you’re not in this alone.

Produced and recorded at JoeAkeStudios©2025