Weekday meal service is back at Old National Bank — and its flavor profile packs a punch.
Global Exchange, the latest venture from Pangea restaurateur Randy Hobson, began welcoming diners Aug. 10 in ONB’s first-floor restaurant space at 1 Main St. Open 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m., the eatery is manned by up to eight full-time employees who craft fresh-baked breakfast pastries, sandwiches, and coffee.
“In early conversations with ONB, it became clear that our restaurant group and ONB have something very important in common — elevating and supporting the people of Evansville,” Hobson says.
“Old National is incredibly excited to partner with Pangea Restaurant Group to provide a friendly, inviting space — located in the heart of Downtown — to enjoy flavorful food and outstanding coffee,” says Rick Vach, Vice President and External Communications Manager at Old National Bank.
Chef Andrew Pfender is behind the world-inspired menu centered around hot sandwiches, sides, and specials. Starting at 10:30 a.m., lunch diners can line up to order handcrafted dishes, which are brought out to tables. (Dine-in or to-go doesn’t matter: All orders come in a sturdy box that easily accommodates either option.) Hobson installed a charcoal oven to “offer the benefits of live fire in a contained space,” he says. “It’s a key component for creating a lot of the flavors here.”
Hobson’s well-known lasagna with focaccia was featured as an opening-week special, and others are designed to highlight the cuisines at Pangea Restaurant Group’s four other locations: Pangea Kitchen, 2nd Language, Pangea Pizzeria, and Sazón y Fuego. Sandwiches such as the El Salvadorian pan con pollo, Korean pepper steak, brioche burger, the “pork store,” focaccia caprese, and falafel hoagie are served on fresh, house made bread. Meals are served with housemade chips, or diners can substitute roasted vegetables, hummus, or a “build-your-own” salad.
The self-serve salad bar is stocked with produce from Local Source partners Beautiful Edibles, Evansville Countryside Orchard, AA Ranch, Tingley Farms, SB Farms, and Stolls Produce. The lineup includes heirloom tomatoes, gourmet mushrooms, sweet peppers, Japanese salad turnips, carrots, cucumbers, apples, peaches, summer squash, sweet corn, spinach, and cabbage, plus housemade dressings.
“As a brand, we have had the opportunity to garner a reputation for from-scratch, unique foods from all over the world,” Hobson says.
Downtown employees also have been checking out the coffee bar run by Graham Purcell, a Vincennes, Indiana, native who learned the craft at Black Lodge Coffee Roasters in New Harmony — which supplies beans to Global Exchange — and also operates a pop-up coffee bar called Ragtag.
The current selection of single-origin handbrews includes beans sourced from Colombia. The Nestor Lasso, with hints of blue raspberry and apple candy, is from Stereoscope in Los Angeles, California. Los Nogales, which tastes of fruit punch, raspberry, and red wine, hails from Blendin in Houston, Texas. Andres Martinez, which features rose, sage, melon, and floral flavors, is sourced from Second State in Charleston, South Carolina.
Rotating specialty drinks include the dulce de tomate, with tastes of cherry tomato, cinnamon, star anise, and sorghum; cardamom, with blends green cardamom with brown sugar; and guajillo mocha, with dark chocolate, guajillo pepper, and vanilla smoked sea salt. Traditional offerings like espresso, cortado, flat white, cappuccino, latte, and Americano round out the coffee menu.
Starting at 7:30 a.m., Global Exchange greets customers with a rotating pastry menu. You may find the rosemary gouda biscuit, bacon jalapeño cheddar scone, orange cardamom spice scone, strawberry chocolate hazelnut galette, or banana espresso muffin. Global Exchange also plans to sell packaged gelato.
“Quality is everything, and that is a through line you will see when you visit Global Exchange,” Hobson says. “
The bank’s prior restaurant tenant, The Deli, moved out of 1 Main St. in late July and is searching for its next home. In declining to renew The Deli’s lease after 13 years at ONB, the bank sought a new culinary partner who could also cater its events. Hobson, in turn, gets a spacious kitchen to grow Pangea’s catering operations, which previously were scattered among his four busy restaurants. Now consolidated under one roof, once lunch service ends at 2 p.m., Global Exchange can flip and go “into catering mode,” Hobson says.
“We look forward to the opportunity to work with and cater for the many amazing companies and nonprofits Old National hosts throughout the year,” he says. “We are very excited to see how this relationship continues to grow and the new ways we will be able to serve our community.”
“Global Exchange is more than a new dining option,” Vach says. “It’s a wholly unique experience that celebrates the perspectives, cultures, and connections that strengthen and define our community.”
