What's Cooking: Ambridge to get new breakfast & brunch spot; Bridgewater gets a speakeasy
(What's Cooking is a twice-a-month look at what's new in the Beaver Valley dining & drinks scene).
Marla’s House, a new breakfast and brunch restaurant, will open in Ambridge.
Located on 2316 Duss Ave., in the former OBDQ barbecue restaurant, Marla's House bears the motto "A Taste of Home," and will bring a farm-to-table approach with soul food accents.
Menu items will include the Mavis Special, featuring salmon croquettes with cheesy grits, a side of home fries and a biscuit, and the Mayjo, a grits bowl with green pepper, onion and fried egg.
Marla’s House owner Marla Duncan named those dishes after her late mother and grandmother who taught her to cook.
An Ambridge resident, Duncan formerly managed the kitchen and did ministry at Uncommon Grounds in Aliquippa before deciding to open her own business. She completed an entrepreneurship course at Job Training for Beaver County and studied the food chain system and farm-to-table benefits at nonprofit Crop & Kettle.
"I want to support local farmers and produce growers to keep it as fresh as I can," Duncan said.
Items like breakfast burritos, grits and mushroom bowls, omelets and kale salads with homemade dressings will be on the menu.
She targets a mid-September opening for Marla’s House. Hours would be 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.
On Mondays, Duncan will teach a four-week program, Flavors & Kiddos 101, where youths ages 6-16 will learn how to grow their own food to enjoy at a sit-down dinner with their families.
Duncan herself was 6 years old when she began cooking regularly, assisting and learning from her mother, Mavis Ann, who had multiple sclerosis.
"If as a kid I knew food like I know it now, I could have saved mom's life," said Duncan, who believes in the importance of eating healthy and natural foods.
Framed photos of family members will adorn her restaurant's walls, with simple fixtures like candles and a small TV establishing the "A Taste of Home" vibe.
Marla's House will offer both takeout service and dine-in with a capacity of 25.
Step into Bridgewater's new speakeasy
Spirits Speakeasy & Lounge opens for business Sept. 1 above the Grumpy Beaver Pub.
The cocktail lounge will have a speakeasy vibe, with its new entrance resembling a phone booth.
Along with fancy cocktails, Spirits Speakeasy & Lounge will emphasize premium tequilas.
"I refer to it as a 'date night' place," said Joe Gradwell, part of the ownership team that also runs the Grumpy Beaver. "You might stop by here before or after you've had dinner at the Grumpy Beaver or somewhere else."
A few times a month, Spirits will host live music by local singers such as Rick Gilbert and Sugar Ray Morrison, Gradwell said.
Spirits will be open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and during the NFL football season on Sundays.
The opening night launch is at 6 p.m.
Spirits Speakeasy replaces The Ark cocktail lounge.
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Monaca restaurant chosen for 'America's Best'
Comfortably Yummm gets a visit Aug. 28 from America's Best Restaurants, a media site with a national YouTube presence.
America's Best Restaurants will film and post a video about Comfortably Yummm, highlighting the Monaca restaurant's unique menu emphasizing pierogies served in a variety of creative ways, along with items like stuffed cabbage and fish sandwiches.
America's Best Restaurants' website already lists Comfortably Yummm under top Pennsylvania eateries, along with Paradise Pub in Center Township and North Country Brew Pub in Slippery Rock.
Vegan ice cream, baklava await
The Epochary Inn in Ambridge, Beaver County's first vegan inn, has expanded its offerings.
"We are featuring private dining for overnight guests, special social dining events and a shop fully stocked with vintage thrift items, vegan candy bars, pre-made entrees available for pickup, and homemade desserts such as baklava, oat milk soft serve ice cream cones and donuts," owners Elizabeth Herein and William Douglass said in an email.
The Epochary Inn opened in March, proudly ensuring the inn is a totally vegan establishment. All provided toiletries and meals are 100% vegan.
"We have had over 50 nights booked at the Inn already and are preparing to launch our lunch buffet service soon, as well," the owners said a week ago.
New on the North Shore
Tom’s Watch Bar, a chain dubbed "America's super sports bar," opened last Wednesday on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, between Acrisure Stadium and PNC Park, next to Hyde Park Steakhouse.
The bar's 9,700-square-foot space offers more than 100 high-definition TV screens anchored by central oversized "stadium" screens. Tom's Watch Bar seats 624 guests.
Signature menu items include margaritas with hibiscus bombed with a Red Bull; the Ahi Tuna Tower with ponzu marinated ahi tuna, jasmine rice, avocado, truffle oil, sesame seeds and crispy onions; Tom's Famous Prime Rib Dip with shaved prime rib, Havarti, horseradish cream on a toasted brioche roll with a side of demi-glace, garlic fries or tots, and Crispy Chicken & Cornbread Pancake with sweet cornbread pancake, pickle brined and hand-battered premium crispy chicken tenders, or tossed in Nashville hot sauce with honey butter and maple syrup.
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Co-founder Tom Ryan, who appeared at the Pittsburgh opening, considers himself a "food scientist" who began his career at Proctor & Gamble and Pillsbury before moving on to Pizza Hut, McDonald's and Quiznos, where he launched iconic products from each restaurant. He's won awards for best burgers, which earned him a spot on Gourmet Magazine's "25 Top Food Entrepreneurs of the Last 25 Years" list.
Scott Tady is dining & drinks/entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@timesonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: What's Cooking: Get ready for Spirits Speakeasy cocktails and Marla's House brunches
