NIGHTLIFE Some change is going to come

By DEBORA SHAULIS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Big changes are in store at three Mahoning Valley eateries and nightspots, where business has been affected by the sagging national economy.
Two things have remained the same, managers of these gathering places report: Local customers' heightened awareness of prices and hypersensitivity to trying something new.
"The ultimate creatures of habit live in Mahoning County," says Sam Moffie, owner of Bill's Place on Mahoning Avenue in Austintown and Coconut Grove on South Avenue, Youngstown.
New club
Moffie wants to shake things up with the variety club he's opening at Bill's Place. The grand opening is Wednesday, when Country Joe McDonald of Woodstock fame will perform there.
Asked why he's going with a variety club instead of trying to fill a niche like some competitors, "I've got to be different," Moffie said. "Bill's Place has always been different. I've got to continue that."
Joe Pedaline, co-owner of Ohio Brewing Co.'s new restaurant-lounge in the B & amp;O Station in downtown Youngstown, echoes that "do something different" philosophy. Ohio Brewing, which officially opens Friday, will be the only brew pub in the area.
Pedaline agrees that local people "unfortunately are not always open-minded to new things. That we'll have to overcome," he said.
Another change
So will brothers Leslie and Frank Horvath. Rachel's, the fine-dining restaurant they opened in Austintown in 1993 and moved to South Avenue in Boardman in 2000, reopened this week as Shark Club Grillery & amp; Distillery. It's meant to be a more casual, family friendly restaurant and lounge with a lower-priced menu than Rachel's, Leslie Horvath said.
Rachel's did well on South Avenue, but the average dinner check has been dropping, Horvath said. The building and operational costs were too big to support a dinner-only business.
Shark Club, with its aquatic theme and menu of seafood, chicken, pastas and appetizers, will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. Rachel's Banquet Center will remain in the South Avenue building.
The Horvaths intend to reopen Rachel's on the West Side in a few months, Leslie Horvath said. They also operate Checkered Flag restaurant in Austintown Plaza.
The focus at Shark Club for now will be on "casual, fun dining" at reasonable prices, Horvath said: "We're cursed with people thinking we're expensive."
In time, Horvath will seek the "better cover bands in the area," citing The Rage and House Band, to play on some weekends, he added.
Horvath is willing to bet that the Youngstown restaurant market is one of the toughest ones between New York and Chicago. That's based on feedback he gets from sales representatives, he said.
Why market is tough
Reflecting on what makes this a tough market, Horvath points not only to the local economy of the post steel-mill bust, but family traditions. He grew up in a house where the nightly dinner was a six-course meal. "That's why a la carte doesn't work well here. When people go out, they want to be fed," he said.
Besides a brew pub, Ohio Brewing Co. will also be a restaurant, banquet facility and nightlife spot. It's reopening in Youngstown after doing business on U.S. Route 422 in Niles, in the building now occupied by Max & amp; Erma's.
Pedaline said management will stress three things: good food as prepared by a chef who worked at MGM Grand in Las Vegas; good service; and safety.
The service will come into play as Ohio Brewing tries to tap into audiences on their way to Edward W. Powers auditorium for concerts and shows, Pedaline said.
The safety issue isn't really an issue for Pedaline, who used to run Amy's Campus 2000 on Elm Street. "All of Youngstown is considered bad, but this part isn't considered bad," he said. Nonetheless, he noted, Ohio Brewing will hire private security and is working with Youngstown police.
Older crowd
Entertainment will start small and be geared to an older clientele that doesn't stay out late on weeknights, Pedaline said. The presence of a upstairs banquet room will give management flexibility in scheduling entertainment.
Ohio Brewing will make its presence known in the community beginning Friday. That's not only the grand opening, but also the first "Party at the B & amp;O" night, which will alternate with Party on the Plaza events. Ohio Brewing will also sell beer at the upcoming rib festival on Federal Plaza and seek to be part of other large events.
"We're here because we believe in Youngstown. If we just wanted to make money, we'd go out to the suburbs," Pedaline said.
It's not easy in the 'burbs, either. Bill's Place, which moved years ago from the corner of Mahoning and Idaho Road into the Phar-Mor Plaza, has a long-standing reputation for its bargain-price alcohol and its long hours -- 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. daily.
"When I bought the place, we didn't have to do anything," Moffie says of his acquisition five years ago.
Things have changed. Some local factories reduced their third-shift operations. That affected workers who had been stopping at Bill's Place after their shifts. The bottom line: a 10 percent drop-off in business, Moffie estimates.
Meanwhile, "Instead of more customers coming in, there's more competition," Moffie said, citing the opening of BW-3 in Austintown Plaza and The Mill in Wedgewood Plaza. Customers who would drop by Bill's Place first for some lower-priced drinks were paying a high cover charge elsewhere, "so people stopped going to both places," he said.
Moffie moved into action. Step one: Opening a kitchen earlier this year to sell "simple, good tavern food" -- burgers, hot dogs, wings and fries, he said. It took eight months to complete the kitchen and meet the county health department's demands. Moffie's faithful clientele doubted it would ever open, he said.
Then Moffie hung a sign in the window of the neighboring, empty storefront, saying Bill's Place was going to expand. Really.
The variety club will have a stage and a 2,000-square-foot dance floor. A regular customer put Moffie in touch with a booking agency for national acts, which he'll seek quarterly. He'll also schedule local bands, comedians, movies and theme nights.
In the future, the space may even be used for cooking classes and ballroom dancing. Moffie hopes the variety club eventually will be open seven days a week.
"I may fail miserably on some events, but I'm willing to try," he said.
Ticket costs
Moffie wants to keep his event tickets in the $10 price range. Asked if locals are price-sensitive, Moffie put it more bluntly: "Cheap." Reminded that concerts at the new B & amp;B Backstage outdoor facility in Boardman cost roughly $20 to $30, Moffie held his ground.
"We're Bill's Place. We're 75-cent draft. We can't afford [that]," Moffie said.
shaulis@vindy.com