EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A new restaurant coming to East Lansing is a throwback to the style of the Roaring ’20s and Prohibition-era speakeasies.

The GOAT on Grand River, GOAT meaning “greatest of all time,” aims to open in April at the former location of The Cosmos/Punk Taco in the shopping plaza on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Hagadorn Road in East Lansing.

Co-owner and operations manager Mel Spencley has an ambitious vision for the restaurant, one that includes regular live music performances, community events like outdoor movie nights in the spring and summer, private parties, murder mysteries, drag shows, and anything else she and her team can think of.

Spencley and her partner, Nancy Gilbert, have worked in the event planning industry for many years and decided to consolidate their business by bringing their connections to their East Lansing restaurant instead of booking them at several one-off events and festivals across the state.

“By doing events, I have noticed that people go to Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and they go to Detroit. They never stop in East Lansing to just come here and hangout,” owner said. “I am hoping that we can make this a destination.”

Never heard of a speakeasy? Speakeasys were secret bars frequented by people in-the-know that required a password for entry.

These clandestine bars began popping up in cities across America in response to the ratification of the 18th Amendment in 1919, which outlawed the sale of alcoholic beverages beginning in 1920 until it was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

Spencley and her team are very committed to the speakeasy idea. Anybody entering the GOAT on Grand River will actually need a password, which they can find online.

“There’s a lot of thing’s we’re going to do that nobody else is doing,” Spencley said.

The food at the GOAT on Grand River is being handled by Dustin Morrell, who does catering as Chef Dustie. Morrell has a lot of unique experience in the culinary industry, having served as the traveling chef for the Los Angele Dodgers for nearly a decade.

Morrell said the dishes will be a small plate, seasonal, tapa-style approach. Tapas, originated from Spanish cuisine, are smaller appetizer-sized dishes that can be combined to form a larger entrée. Spencley described it like a flight of beer, but with food instead of alcohol.

“We’re going to be working with local farmers, MSU agriculture, dairy and meat processing plant, to make it more of a Michigan, hometown staple,” Morrell said.

And drinks, of course, will be plenty. The GOAT on Grand River will have a vast selection of beers on tap and many special cocktails for guests to choose from.

“When our guests leave they will have had a great experience going back in time and hopefully they will come back every weekend,” Spencley said.