http://baysideoc.com Bayside OC For all your local news and events en http://baysideoc.com/images/logo.jpg http://baysideoc.com 9401368721212 http://baysideoc.com/eastern-shore-business/With-new-chef-Tex-Mex-and-Beyond-gives-itself-a-restart BERLIN — Tex-Mex & Beyond hit the “restart” button, with a May 11 re-grand opening of the renovated boarding house at 119 Main St.
Tara Wancowicz has been managing the restaurant since it opened on Labor Day 2012. She said the reason for the re-grand opening was to introduce Chef Jason Purkey to the community. Purkey does everything from prep to presentation, according to Wancowicz. “He even makes the homemade desserts,” she said.
Dessert offerings include banana bread pudding, coconut crème pie, flan, strawberry shortcake and tres leches, she said.
The menu includes a wide selection of favorites for Mexican cuisine lovers. It includes staples such chili relleno, burritos, empanadas, nachos rancheros, quesadillas, handcrafted tamales, and tortilla soup. Just the right prescription for a set of taste buds needing a spicy and affordable indulgence.
But Wancowicz said one misconception the owner sought to avoid, with the name of the eatery, was that it only serves Mexican cuisine. She noted that one of Purkey’s specialties is chicken or pork tortas, but added that lunch specials include pork barbeque and hamburgers.
Wancowicz peeled off a list of entrees to prove her point. “It’s not just Mexican,” according the Baltimore native, who has lived on the Eastern Shore for the past 15 years. The menu includes Texas-style brisket, chicken, braised beef short ribs, seafood and rib eye steak. That would represent the “Texas” part of the Tex-Mex name, she said.
There is a children’s menu as well with a fresh fruit cup alternative to sugary desserts, although the sugary offerings are there too.
The location was fully remodeled by owner Ernest Gerardi, and is a mix between warm and earthy, and crisp and modern. Diners seeking to dine al fresco have a choice between an upstairs balcony and street-level patio. Wancowicz took the opportunity put out the word that she is seeking entertainers who can unobtrusively serenade patrons outside. Specifically, she said she is looking for a low-key mariachi band.
Happy hour is from 3-6 p.m. and lunch special are available from Monday through Friday. After Memorial Day, closing time will be extended by one hour to 10 p.m., according to Wancowicz. The hours until then are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. ]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400 9151368127770 http://baysideoc.com/eastern-shore-business/Shooters-Sports-Pub-opens-doors-on-Route-589 OCEAN PINES — Shooter’s Sports Pub on Racetrack Road opened just in time for Kentucky Derby weekend last Friday.
The venture attracted 200 customers in its maiden run and is the brainchild of pub owners Charles Blake, Chris Ward and Vincent Wood, who have freshened up the former Steer Inn site with boldly painted walls and ceiling to lighten up the “man cave” for guys and gals. With the billiards and electronic sports games, the pub looks like a comfortable Friday night hangout spot.
Wood is a lab technician, who makes animal vaccines and has 20 years of restaurant experience, having worked at the Royal Exchange in Salisbury, Waterman’s Cove and the Marina Deck. Blake, who owns B&B Security, also worked at the Marina Deck. Ward, who is a videographer at Seacrets, is the newest member of the trio.
The décor is definitely shooting for a sports bar feel, with team and bar memorabilia on the walls, windows and light fixtures and football grid carpet in the dining area. The deck and yard in back are being prepped for full service outdoor dining this summer.
Wood said new games that will soon be added include foosball, bubble hockey, and inside basketball.
According to their menu, the drink lineup includes domestic and imported beers, domestic and specialty drafts, and wine and wine-based liquor. Wood said the pub hasn’t concocted its own signature drink yet. “But it’s something we should sit down and work on,” he joked. In the meantime, he said, they can make an orange crush like anybody else can.
For diners, the selections are bar staples with daily specials and steamed items like clams, mussels and shrimp.
Avid sports enthusiasts, Blake said they chose the name “shooters” because of its reference to ball sports. They are counting on the pub to be the go-to spot for game day gatherings for all things sports, including Ultimate Fighting Championship fights, horse racing and special events. There will be Ladies’ Nights on Saturdays, Wood said, stressing that female sports fans were welcome anytime.
Wood said he would also like to start a pool league for competitors 60-years-old and older and shuffle bowl competitions.
Shooter’s Sports Pub is located at 10514 H Racetrack Road (Route 589). The telephone number is 410-208-1900.]]> Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400 9071360259990 http://baysideoc.com/eastern-shore-business/Industrys-conversion-to-digital-forces-old-time-movie-house-to-upgrade DAGSBORO, Del. — If only Frank Capra was still around, he’d probably appreciate the irony of his films being used for Joanne Howe’s “Save the Place” campaign to fund a needed upgrade to digital movie projector technology for her 65-year-old Clayton Theatre.
Howe, who bought the movie theater with her husband in 2000, is still showing first run movies like “Les Miserables” in 35 mm celluloid film on the original MotioGraph projector that came with the building, which was built in 1948. But MotioGraph went out of business because its products never broke down, she said.
Fast forward to the new era of cinema, where imaging in general is now going digital. “We knew it was coming,” she said, with film manufacturers Kodak in bankruptcy and Fuji no longer making film stock.
But the sudden decision of major studios last year to save millions by no longer printing film in the 35 mm format has forced Howe to accelerate her conversion to the new digital technology, she said. Doing so, however, will require an $85,000 investment to update her equipment.
The conversion is hitting small town theaters like Howe’s hard, she said, because while the studios are offering theaters help with the costs of converting to digital, that help is available only when theaters order first run movies on opening day.
Since studios receive a percentage of ticket sales revenue, opening day receipts are key, Howe said, because ticket sales progressively decrease the farther away from opening day a movie is shown. Small theaters don’t tend to qualify. Although they show first run movies, they might not show them on opening day.
So fire up the community, Howe is looking for the kind of pocketbook full of miracles George Bailey found at the end in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Hence, Howe is showing movie classics to save her classic theater. On Mondays the doors open at 6:15 p.m. and the movie begins at 7 p.m., when the theater is otherwise dark. Tickets for the classics series are $4 across the board, unlike the $8.50 per adults and $6.50 for kid’s ticket rates for the regular movies shown during the rest of the week.
During January the classic series featured Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca,” “The African Queen” and “The Maltese Falcon.” Jimmy Stewart will be the headliner for February, leading off with “Harvey.” In March, Howe will feature John Wayne movies, she said.
She said she is also selling theater memorabilia and accepting donations.
The theater is located at 33246 Main St., in Dagsboro, Del. The theater telephone number is 302-732-9606, and the box office telephone number is 302-732-3744. ]]> Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500