Barbara Lawlor, Nederland. Choosing a name for a new restaurant could be a risky dilemma. You don't want to be ostentatious or corny. You don't want to intimidate or seem cheesy. You don't want to be too simplistic. Nor do you want the name to be confusing.
The name of a good restaurant should resonate a bit of class, should reflect its environment and should be welcoming. When one opens a restaurant in a small town, the locals should be able to identify with the name, but not by golden arches or colonels with white beards.
When Andrew Fischel decided to open a restaurant in the former First Street Pub and Grill, he did a little research and discovered that the local pub had been the site of the Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival Rocky Mountain Oyster eating contest for just about as long as the festival was in existence.
He knew locals understood the full description of the not-related-to-seafood oysters, and he thought the name might be captivating. He could picture tourists seeing the Rocky Mountain Oyster Bar sign and stopping to reflect a moment. "Hmmmm. Oysters in the mountains? Maybe we should check it out."
Andrew wanted people to stop and look and wonder. He says, the name was meant, is a sense, to be funny. It was also fun. He can picture visitors to Nederland leaving the restaurant with t-shirts advertising the infamous oysters, bringing the shirts back to east coast and getting a chuckle out of explaining what they are.
Wikipedia: Rocky Mountain Oysters are bull, pig or sheep testicles. The organs are often deep-fried after being peeled, coated in flour, pepper and salt and sometimes pounded flat first.
Yum. Andrew says he will have the oysters on his menu, and hopes to continue the FDGD eating contest, but his cuisine will be New American, drawing inspiration from local favorites from across the country and includes houseground burgers, southern inspired fried chicken, house cured smoked meats and fish, such as bacon, smoked trout and mountain lox, and some New York favorites. This isn't Andrew's first time around in the restaurant business.
In the past couple of weeks, people have noticed a cadre of workers busy as bees hammering, sawing, sanding, painting and giving a new look to the former First Street, the former Assay Office and the former Branding Iron.
The rustic wood exterior has been transformed into a red, yellow and two shades of blue Caribbean feel facade, reflecting Andrews desire to present the restaurant as a fun, lively spot to enjoy downtown Nederland.
The restaurant interior is a total transformation. The dining area and the former pool room have been gutted, and half the bar wall removed creating a large, light area with gleaming hardwood floors, overhead light glowing warmly against the newly painted walls and ceiling. A bar shining with pieces of copper and slices of weathered leather is a work of art created by local carpenter and tradesmen, Wes Dalmolin, and local artist, Ben Sproul of the Pine Dwellers.
Black and white photographs by Jacques Lowe, renowned Kennedy photographer, add a touch of class to the walls: one wall depicts country scenes and one wall city scenes, specifically, New York City. Andrew brought a bit of his city side to the mountains with him. On Friday, wearing his New York sweatshirt, he watched a crew of about 10 workers working on the finishing touches of the restaurant. He had every intention of opening his doors on Wednesday, introducing himself and what he has to offer to the residents and business owners of Nederland.
Growing up in a town on Long Island, Andrew says New York City was basically his home. His father was a manufacturer who owned an Italian Restaurant as a hobby. Andrew attended the Fashion Institute of Technology and became a professional photograph who entered the 90s technology explosion, working with streaming music on the internet.
He says that at that time in his life, "I wanted to hang out with as many girls as possible. Music and food were my two favorite things." He was young.
But Andrew had other fish to fry. He decided to go into the restaurant business, the barbecue restaurant business and found a place in Chelsea, on West 23rd Street, next to the Chelsea Hotel and the YMCA of song fame. He partnered with Kansas City BBQ Baron Chef Paul Kirk and began to look for the chef he wanted. When he met Scott Smith, the chef at an Ithaca barbecue restaurant, he invited him to come down and work for him in the city.
Scott started cooking when he was in school. His time as a ranger in the U.S. Army gave him an opportunity to travel through the South, the Caribbean and the jungles of South America, tasting the food. When he returned to Ithaca, he became a partner in a Spike's Bar BQ and then went on to add a barbecue section to Maxie's Supper club.
When Andrew asked him to move to Manhattan and become the Pit Master of the soon to open Righteous Urban Barbecue, R.U.B. BBQ, he was all for it. The restaurant was instantly popular. Scott started his own twist, a Monday Burger Night, grinding his own custom blend of beef. The BBQ and the burgers gained acclaim and Scott and Andrew were soon appearing on television talk shows and getting rave reviews in New York restaurant guides.
In 2010, RUB's Burgers were named among the best and most revered in New York City at the annual Burger Fest, considered to be the Crown Jewel of eating events.
A Fest reviewer wrote: "I tried RUB Burger and my life changed forever. I don't know what kind of black magic Andrew Fischel and Scott Smith are using to create this ultimate treat but I don’t care. It’s only served on Monday nights starting at 6 and they have a limited quantity so don’t be late."
The pair became a legend. Celebrities frequented their restaurant and they were featured in gourmet magazines, even on the Martha Stewart Show.
Andrew soaked it all up, learning everything he could about the business end as well as the bacon end of the restaurant.
And then in 2012, it all came to a crashing end. In September, the driver of a stolen Hummer turned the huge SUV into oncoming traffic on Sixth Avenue in Chelsea, collided with a bus, jumped a curb and rammed the storefront of the restaurant. Several people were injured in the accident. It was reported that the Hummer was stolen from the front of the 40/40 Club, where President Obama was holding a fund-raiser. The incident was headlined, "The Hummer Bummer."
In October, Hurricane Sandy and the power outages and flooding led to the closing of the restaurant.
Andrew took some time off, traveled with his wife, and decided that Colorado was there he wanted to be.
His sister lives in Denver and his wife, Julia, a chiropractor, opened an office there. She had childhood friends who lived in Boulder and the couple looked at living there but chose to come to Nederland, to live in the mountains but still be close to civilization.
"We came up and saw that the restaurant was for rent. I liked the feel of the place and I liked the people and I had a good rapport with the owner, Ron Mitchell, and we went to work."
The redo project actually began about eight months ago when the First Street Pub had to shut its doors because an unfortunate situation with the plumbing. P.J. Sadows, Ron Mitchell's project manager was put in charge of solving the problem, which originated with a leak in a pipe under the bar which leached tossed out alcohol into the clay below the building. Sadows says a film formed across the top of the seepage, holding the fermented fumes in. When it was disturbed the smell rose and permeated the walls and ceiling upstairs, infusing to the wood and the cork tiles.
Sadows and his crew have taken out the old and put in new everything, wiping out the scourge, before Andrew and his workers came in for the finish work.
Andrew and Julia moved to Big Springs about two months ago and brought in the crews for the remodel. King Coils, a company specializing in custom built high performance beer systems, out of Pennsylvania, has been in town the past couple of weeks installing the new taps, which will be adapted to the altitude.
"We care in what we do," says Andrew, who said he has gone through the remodel process many times. "We have brought in one of the best chefs in the country and spent a lot of money fixing this place up. It is a gift to Nederland and on Wednesday we will open it for a happy hour and a chance to talk to the people of the town."
During the spring, the restaurant will be open five days a week, six in the summer and Andrew plans to start a bluegrass brunch on Sundays. He has installed the only stage multi track recording and mixing console in town and says that Black Dog and Power Lung Rangers will be opening the restaurants stage on Friday night at 9 pm.
Carrying on the home-smoked, home-cured tradition of RUB, Andrew says there will be no food arriving in a box. "We grind our own hamburger and make our own bacon from pork bellies and smoke them until each individual parts are fully cooked and then we serve them. We spent $24,000 on a J & R Smoker and will use that to also smoke mountain lox and trout. We plan to also do primal cuts, and cook the whole animal, Argentina style."
The restaurant will also carry vegetarian and gluten-free items, so that everyone can enjoy some delicious food, says Andrew.
He says the secret to great meat is turning it properly and cooking all parts until they're done. An expert knows you only take out what's ready, when it's ready, from pit to plate."
Andrew describes the restaurant's cuisine as New American. His motto is trying to do the right thing, to not cut corners and to become part of the community in which he now lives. "We chose to come here and do this and we love the people.
