BLAIRSVILLE — A family’s presence along a downtown Blairsville street continues, as Aaron Skirboll opens Iron Alley Saloon at 181 E. Brown St., the space formerly occupied by his mother’s restaurant.
“Pie Cucina may be closing, but the business will stay in the family,” Betti Skirboll posted on Facebook as she approached her retirement on Aug. 14.
“(Betti) was getting toward 80,” Aaron Skirboll said this week. “She’s been doing it since 1983.”
In its stead, as Betti posted, the family establishment “is transitioning from a new menu that will still have great pizza, salads, sandwiches as well as bar snacks and daily specials.”
Additionally, as Aaron posted on Instagram, it is “featuring a rotating list of only the finest beers from local Western Pennsylvania’s best breweries in addition to a full bar.”
It is a transition for Aaron, too — “I’m an author and journalist myself,” he said.
His brother Adam had been executive chef at his mother’s restaurant. In 2017 Adam Skirboll was hired as executive chef at Morrison Healthcare in Louisville, Ky.
Transition meant retaining most of Betti Skirboll’s kitchen staff, while simplifying the menu.
It now includes bar snacks and the signature Margherita (Neapolitan, with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and a sprinkling of basil, served on a crispy crust).
There are also traditional and Chicago-style pizzas; “Pie Cucina Pizza Originals,” veggie, cucina, chicken and Florentine; mushroom and veggie calzones; and pizza roll-ups.
It’s not a seven-day-a-week operation, for now.
“We’re starting out Wednesday through Saturday,” Aaron said. “We hope to start slow and go from there.”
After the first week’s operation, Aaron said, “we were real happy with the community support. People have been great and we really appreciate it.”
The planning for the saloon came about prior to the coronavirus pandemic in March.
“We were hoping this was going to pass,” Aaron said. “My mother kept doing take out. We wanted to take advantage of the large eating space.”
Bernie Pynos of Pynos Construction in Blairsville was the contractor for the overhaul from Pie Cucina to Iron Alley.
Outside, there are 11 tables in two separate areas.
Inside, Aaron said, ”we took the floor out, we renovated all the furniture.”
Pynos constructed a 26-foot bar, which will fit 16 patrons, and a back bar for the liquor and wine. Eventually, Iron Alley Saloon will be able to accommodate 60 customers.
“We’re just trying to take advantage of the moment,” Aaron said. “We have options for seating in different rooms.”
Betti Skirboll chose the English word “pie” — as in pizza, but also another specialty, apple pie — and “cucina,” Italian for “kitchen.”
“That’s what I could make,” she said.
Otherwise, Aaron and others noted, Pie Cucina was known for upscale Mediterranean fare.
It was a landmark others were able to use.
In June 2010, for instance, the Indiana County Tourist Bureau went there to present its Ambassador Award, symbolic of excellence in promoting tourism for economic development, to the county’s Rails to Trails system.
In March 2017 it hosted an induction ceremony for the Epsilon Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society.
And in July 2018, U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard Township, was there for a campaign appearance after Indiana County was reconfigured into what is now the 15th Congressional District.
“My family has been doing business on this alley that runs to the rear of my bar for 100 years,” Aaron recalled.
“Great-grandfather Samuel Runzo had the first grocery store on Iron Alley,” Aaron said, referring to a location within a block of East Lane and Market Street. It later was run by Samuel’s son Joe Runzo, continuing a tradition from the 1920s to the 1980s.
“It has been a pleasure to serve you for almost 40 years,” Joe’s daughter Betti Skirboll recently posted on Facebook. “I’d like to thank all of my customers for your support throughout the years. I’ll miss you all!”
The family tradition could extend to another generation. Aaron said his wife, Jamie Skirboll, is “exhausted from the first week.” Their 16-year-old son, Hank, is employed as a busboy,
And Hank’s younger sisters, Emerson and Scarlett, were helping out where they could, their father said, folding boxes and washing windows, painting and even pulling weeds.
August 30, 2020 at 09:00AM
https://ift.tt/31D5O9M
Pie Cucina closes, reopens as Iron Alley Saloon - Indiana Gazette
https://ift.tt/2CPpHAw
Pie
No comments:
Post a Comment