GarlicBreath
Young Ape
:chk
I will check it out next Wednesday. :ss
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Primanti Brothers opens cigar bar next to South Side restaurant
Pittsburgh Business Times - by Tim Schooley
With Pennsylvania¹s new ban, smoke is an ingredient now stricken from most bars and restaurants in the region.
But Primanti Brothers Restaurant owner Jim Patrinos has found a way to feature smoking alongside his South Side location and its fries-and-slaw stuffed sandwiches. Patrinos converted the eatery's neighboring bar into a cigar bar, inaugurated with the new smoking ban about a week and a half ago.
The company was able to make the move because the bar, which Primanti bought in December 2006 but is still known to many as the Blue Note, is in a completely separate space with its own HVAC system. The bar, which fronts on Carson Street, complements the long-time Primanti Brothers Restaurant that operates in the same building in a space that faces 18th Street.
Michael Kratsas, director of development for Primanti, said the decision was an easy one because the bar operates independently from the restaurant andgets less than 20 percent of its sales from food, making it eligible to allow smoking under Pennsylvania¹s new smoking ban legislation.
"Jim is a cigar connoisseur," Kratsas said. "It just so happened that the Blue Note was a separate bar area, and it just works out."
The new cigar bar has been outfitted with a humidor that will soon offer 50 different kinds of cigars, with hopes to eventually include more than 100, Kratsas said.
Kratsas said the company supports the smoking ban overall and has no plans to convert any Primanti Brothers restaurants into cigar bars.
Terri Sokoloff, a principal of the Ross-based restaurant services firm Specialty Group, said the move is a good way to differentiate the bar from its South Side competition. She expects to see more small bar owners who sell more drink than food to cater more to smokers.
"The smaller owners are thinking this is the greatest thing since sliced bread," she said.
Marc Adams, owner of the Bloom Cigar Co. in South Side's Bedford Square and the cigar supplier for Primanti, said it¹s too early to tell yet if the smoking ban will inspire other cigar bar ventures.
"We're all waiting to see what plays out," he said.
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I will check it out next Wednesday. :ss
***********************************************
Primanti Brothers opens cigar bar next to South Side restaurant
Pittsburgh Business Times - by Tim Schooley
With Pennsylvania¹s new ban, smoke is an ingredient now stricken from most bars and restaurants in the region.
But Primanti Brothers Restaurant owner Jim Patrinos has found a way to feature smoking alongside his South Side location and its fries-and-slaw stuffed sandwiches. Patrinos converted the eatery's neighboring bar into a cigar bar, inaugurated with the new smoking ban about a week and a half ago.
The company was able to make the move because the bar, which Primanti bought in December 2006 but is still known to many as the Blue Note, is in a completely separate space with its own HVAC system. The bar, which fronts on Carson Street, complements the long-time Primanti Brothers Restaurant that operates in the same building in a space that faces 18th Street.
Michael Kratsas, director of development for Primanti, said the decision was an easy one because the bar operates independently from the restaurant andgets less than 20 percent of its sales from food, making it eligible to allow smoking under Pennsylvania¹s new smoking ban legislation.
"Jim is a cigar connoisseur," Kratsas said. "It just so happened that the Blue Note was a separate bar area, and it just works out."
The new cigar bar has been outfitted with a humidor that will soon offer 50 different kinds of cigars, with hopes to eventually include more than 100, Kratsas said.
Kratsas said the company supports the smoking ban overall and has no plans to convert any Primanti Brothers restaurants into cigar bars.
Terri Sokoloff, a principal of the Ross-based restaurant services firm Specialty Group, said the move is a good way to differentiate the bar from its South Side competition. She expects to see more small bar owners who sell more drink than food to cater more to smokers.
"The smaller owners are thinking this is the greatest thing since sliced bread," she said.
Marc Adams, owner of the Bloom Cigar Co. in South Side's Bedford Square and the cigar supplier for Primanti, said it¹s too early to tell yet if the smoking ban will inspire other cigar bar ventures.
"We're all waiting to see what plays out," he said.
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