Rosetta Stone, Staples restaurant add options to downtown scene

What do the House of Blues in Cleveland and Rosetta Stone in Youngstown have in common?

Both are in buildings that once housed Woolworth’s five-and-dime stores.

Greg Sop, a co-owner of Rosetta Stone, takes that as a good omen.

He is preparing to open a new club in the basement of the downtown restaurant and nightspot, which he also will manage.

It will be called The Vault, and — like the House of blues — it will be a venue for live rock ’n’ roll, as well as a nightclub.

The new club is hardly a secret; talk has been going around for so long that it’s becoming old news. But Sop says the opening is finally in sight: either May or June. He is just waiting for building-code guidelines from the city. Once he gets them, The Vault will be open within a few weeks.

I got a sneak peek at the club last week. Work remains to be done to the big rectangular room, but one can get a good idea of how it’s going to turn out.

A stage will occupy one end, with a bar and a roped-off VIP area (with couches and tables) at the other. Eight or so pillars are encircled by drink rails, and plans call for a raised dance platform off to one side.

The walls will be painted flat black. Members of Art Youngstown will give it a finishing touch, adding urban-style graffiti and art.

The Vault will be a dance club on weekends and will host touring and regional rock acts a couple of times a week, once it’s up and running. The basement location definitely helps with the rock ’n’ roll atmosphere, and the size — it holds 500 — will make it attractive to some fairly well-established acts.

ANOTHER NEW SPOT

Meanwhile, up on the hill a few blocks away, another new bar is adding to the downtown-Youngstown State University nightlife scene.

The Carryout Lounge quietly opened last week at Charlie Staples Restaurant, at Rayen and Belmont avenues.

It’s a comfortable sports bar, bedecked in the red-and-black of the YSU Penguins. A giant stadium-scene mural of a Steelers-Browns game dominates one wall, and photos of local places and famous Youngstowners (Isaly’s, the Warner brothers, etc.) adorn the nicely-appointed room. Booths run along both sides, a bar anchors one end, and the counter for takeout food is at the other.

The lounge, which has a capacity of about 50, also has three large-screen televisions.

The Carryout Lounge shares the kitchen with Staples Restaurant, a New Orleans-themed barbecue place. Therefore, lounge patrons can order anything off the restaurant menu.

Charlie Staples has owned the landmark restaurant that bears his name for more than 30 years. But the Carryout Lounge represents his first foray into the bar business.

The lounge is like a Buffalo Wild Wings, he said, with ribs and chicken served in a basket and plenty of cold beer on tap.

It is open until 11 p.m. on weekdays and until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays (closed Sundays). The entrance is on the east side of the building.