First Posted: 4/25/2013
When construction workers gutted the old Bottoms Up Bar on Spring Street in March of 2012, an original brick wall was uncovered. Now those bricks are the walls of the Tomato Bar and Bistro, which opened last week.
“We liked the way it looked,” Mike Partash, co-owner with his brother Andy, said of the walls. “That was the feel we wanted to go with. We like that industrial look with exposed duct work.”
The Partash brothers owned the River Street Ale House on River Road in Jenkins Township which was destroyed by the 2011 Flood.
The Ale House had a multiple beer tap system, featuring import and craft beers and the Tomato Bar recreates that and then some.
The new bar has a 24-tap system. Three Susquehanna beers, from the local brewery in Jenkins Township, and one from Breakers in Wilkes-Barre are on tap.
The facade design is by architect Paul Lewis who also designed the Napoli facade.
Both fit the city’s early-1900s themed storefronts.
During the work on the front of the Tomato Bar, Lewis said, “We’re going for an old-time pub feel. Because it is in the alley, we want to create something that will draw the eye into the alley.”
It succeeded in that with a front that features deep, nine-foot high windows with rows of smaller panes above, new and rebuilt cornices and globe-in-a-cage lighting.
The new bar has a patio which overlooks the Tomato Festival Lot. Talking on Thursday, Partash said he expected the patio furniture to arrive soon.
The bar has an upstairs room, but the brothers haven’t decided what to do with it yet.
They may use it for parties or as a wine and desert room.
The menu includes burgers and sandwiches and appetizers which include as Mike Partash said, “everything from deviled eggs, to dry rubbed ribs, to mac ‘n’ cheese.”
The Tomato Bar and Bistro is open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday and opens at 1 p.m. Sundays.