Bacon, bourbon-themed eatery projects mid-winter opening
Construction is proceeding on the building that will house Bacon, Bourbon & Beer at Park Place at Meadow Lands in North Strabane Township.
Rebecca Anderson, left, stands inside one of the three businesses she recently opened in Amwell Township with Kathy Kefover, center, and Sarah DiGiacomo.
Three B’s or not three B’s – that is not the question. Bacon, Bourbon & Beer is being built in Park Place at the Meadow Lands. It’s the time frame for opening that hasn’t been determined.
Shawn Janovich has a ballpark, though.
“I feel comfortable in saying late February,” said the owner of the bar/restaurant under construction in North Strabane Township, a short trot from The Meadows Casino.
That is later than he had projected originally – October – but he said in an email, “things are progressing nicely after a few delays.”
Janovich, 40, a 1993 Wash High graduate, has returned to his roots to fashion an establishment near Route 19 and Racetrack Road. In announcing his initiative in July, he said, “I’m ready to do something more upscale.
“I don’t want this to be a place for 21-year-olds willing to party, seeing how much they can consume. This is not going to have frozen chicken tenders or a burger patty being microwaved. We’re looking at this as a bar, but with a chef-driven menu, a place where people will want to come and eat.”
It will be a place with 20 beers on tap, more than 50 selections of bourbon, food, and 2,688 square feet of space inside and an adjacent 800 outdoors. Bacon, Bourbon & Beer is on the right end of a building that is still being erected in the early stages of Park Place phase II. The outdoor dining area separates that structure from the phase I building that houses Tender Care Learning Center, Napoli’s and other businesses – and where window signs indicate LA Nails and Burgerz and Dogz will open fairly soon.
This is Janovich’s second bar venture. After running a delivery company in Washington, D.C., for the better part of a decade, he returned to Southwestern Pennsylvania and bought a small tavern on Pittsburgh’s South Side that he operated for four-plus years before selling.
A West Virginia University graduate, Janovich lives in Robinson Township, Allegheny County, with his wife, Maria, and their two young children. He is now overseeing the development of a business that will require about 20 hires and that he plans to have open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily.
Janovich has committed to this endeavor long term. He has signed a 10-year lease at Park Place, which is being developed by Dave Biafora of Morgantown, W.Va.-based Metro Property Management.
Rebecca Anderson wasn’t about to brush off the opportunity.
She purchased the former Moses Little Tavern, a historic structure built in 1840 along Route 40 in Amwell Township. At same point, there apparently was room at the inn for Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th U.S. president, who is believed to have stayed there. The building became Old Pike Antique Center in a later incarnation.
Now it is home to a triumvirate of businesses.
Anderson, of East Washington, launched Painting With Friends, Wilma’s Old-Fashion Cookies and Village Primitives last week in the red brick structure at 438 E. National Pike. It is an eclectic mix of initiatives – cookies, colors and crafts – that she hopes will prove to be electric.
All three are open Wednesday through Sunday. Wilma’s and Village Primitives operate from 3 to 9 p.m. each of those five days; Painting With Friends opens at 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and noon to 9 p.m. on weekends. Kids classes run from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Painting With Friends features classes only for adults and youths, led by Anderson and two instructors. They include painting on canvas, painting on wine glasses, geo mesh wreath and wood folk art. Adult classes are BYOB.
Wilma’s sells cookies, but only by order. One cannot merely walk in and buy. Anderson said the shop bakes three kinds of cookies each day.
“We also bake them for breaks during classes,” she said. “It’s more or less like ‘painting and dessert.'”
Village Primitives is a gift shop.
The number for all three businesses is 724-222-2431.
A deli/market will open soon near the traffic light on Route 40 in Beallsville. Or so says a handmade sign. No other details are available.