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The Federal showcased Sunday on "Bar Rescue"
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
Part 2 of the Youngstown stretch of “Bar Rescue” will air Sunday night, when the Spike reality show features The Federal.
The downtown bar formerly was known as Martini Bros. Burger Bar, but was given a name change by the show.
Last Sunday, The Royal Oaks bar on the East Side was the focus of “Bar Rescue,” and it was a raucous episode.
The Oaks will be a hard act to follow, but The Federal is a different kind of place.
As a linchpin of the rebirth of downtown into an arts and entertainment district, it has a short but lively history. For that reason, it should offer plenty of story lines for Jon Taffer to create some high drama.
A bar-management expert and star of the show, Taffer sizes up struggling bars each week and gives them physical makeovers while setting management on the right path to profitability.
The Federal has had a handful of names and managers over the past decade, and the renovation it received from “Bar Rescue” when the show came there in August wiped away the remnants of each past life by creating a completely new look.
The bar-restaurant is owned and operated by Jacob Harver and Dan Martini. Harver founded the place as the Lemon Grove, the short-lived but fondly remembered artsy mecca. Martini is a successful restaurateur known for producing top-quality burgers.
The Federal will host a viewing party Sunday night that will be open to the public. Martini expects the place will reach capacity quickly. “It will be first-come, first-serve,” he said. The one-hour show airs at 10 p.m.
Harver said the “Bar Rescue” experience was fun, adding that The Federal has been used for film projects before. Because of their experience with filming, he and his staff knew how to cater to the “Bar Rescue” crew, even though they were part of the cast, he said.
“I enjoyed [the production end] as much as the shooting,” he said.
“We’ve done band videos, interviews and commercials here,” he continued. “The Federal is more than just a bar, and we came at it with a different approach than The Royal Oaks. It will be a different kind of episode [from last week’s]. The Oaks has a solid history and identity. We’ve always played with our identity. I hope the episode captures that.”
Harver also pointed out that regardless of how it turns out, it’s still reality TV – a genre that amplifies reality and thrives on interpersonal conflict.