Hey, this ain't gonna be just a bar that serves food, you know, one of those joints where people wash down cheap, greasy grub with too much liquor, then throw up in the parking lot, pee on other people's cars and make so much noise the neighbors lose their minds. No sir, this will be a classy place:
McDonnell said the church is falsely assuming the Fireside will become another "Notre Dame student bar." Instead, he called it a "gastropub," a concept that since 2004 has grown in popularity in larger U.S. cities.
He expects about 60 percent of his revenue to come from food sales, with average dinner prices at $28 and a typical lunch costing $12.
It would have patio seating with an outdoor fireplace. It will have some flat-screen televisions but won't be a "sports bar," he said.
An average dinner price of $28, with the cost of booze on top of that? Yikes. I love tavern food. A good bar cheeseburger is a wonderful find, and a place that develops a specialty, like Acme's breaded tenderloin and the late, lamented Palace's beef Manhattan, is a treasure. I don't think I'd find my kind of food, or people, at a "gastropub."
The concept originated in England, of course, where such places offer high-quality food, but much of it "based on traditional pub recipes. A shepherd's pie may still be on the menu in a gastropub, but the ingredients may include more exotic meats and a higher grade of potato to form the crust. Fish and chips may be reinvented as a grilled fish entree served with a mixture of fried potato varieties. Classic pub food is usually found in spirit, even if the chef applies his or her gastronomic training to the dish."
And, of course, much higher prices and a snootier attitude from the help. And any patrons who overindulge will toddle quietly to their cars and politely drop their cookies (never toss, of course!) into their purses or coat pockets.
