Mother Russia

I just returned from spending a week in Russia then passed by far too quickly.

A close friend from home who now lives in St Petersburg Russia was getting married. So I opted to take full advantage of the opportunity presented and made the trip over. What an incredible experience it was. I truly feel I got as much out of my trip as possible, both on the late night social scene as well as the daily cultural aspects.

All in all there is too much to speak of independently but I have created an outline to help speedily tell the tale of my journey. It goes as follows:

§ Fri July 4:

o Flights from Buffalo to St Petersburg

o (Buffalo to DC 1.5 hours)(DC to Frankfurt 7.5 Hours)(Frankfurt to St Petersburg 3 hours)

§ Sat July 5:

o Arrive in St Pete's

o Luke’s friend/ co employee DAN SELL MET me AT THE AIRPORT.

o We TOOK THE SUBWAY UP TO VLADIMIRSKAYA WHERE I MET the rest of the group.

o WE ATE AT YOLKI-PALKI, a Russian chain restaurant

o Irina and I TOOK ALEK HOME because he was falling asleep at the table AND THEN CAME BACK to meet the group.

o WE WALKED AROUND THE CITY FOR A WHILE, THEN TOOK THEM TO THEIR APARTMENTS AND Luke, Irina and I TOOK OFF to prepare for a night on the town. We went to the newests hippest night club in St Pete’s called “Sand” located right on a dock on the Gulf of Finland. Typical night club, included pool (only one I saw in St Pete’s) Miami like scene.

§ Sun July 6:

o Woke up in bed (futon with Alek) went to meet wochensky’s…. they were 2 hours late, Al and I had to wait in the rain.

o Walked through a RUSSIAN MUSEUM with Wochensky clan,

o Museum contained RUSSIAN ART FROM ICONS TO EARLY SOVIET ART. Luke was our tourguide, I was our pace car.

o Dinner with Ilya and Igor and entire Wochensky Clan - RESTAURANT TARKHUZ

o After dinner we took a Canal cruise as a group, Pierre, Ed and myself enjoyed Pirva

o After the canal cruise, we parted ways with the Wochensky’s and Luke, Al, Aaron and I went to see Luke’s office

o At the office we had some cappuccino, champagne and played table hockey.

o My friend Maya from Swarthmore Met us there with some students and friends of hers and we all headed out to Dacha bar,

o Luke, Al and Irina went home early leaving Aaron and I to hanout longer. We had one drink and Dacha then headed outside to a Baltica Beer Garden.

o I dropped Aaron off at 4am and stayed in a Hostile with the Swarthmore clan. The room I stayed in had 10 bunks, with 9 of them being full. I didn’t pay because I showed up so late.

§ Mon July 7:

o In the morning two germans came in to stay at the hostile and were surprised when one of the bunks they paid for was occupied so I had to quickly bolt out of the hostile before being noticed.

o Called luke on Maya’s cell phone and was off trying to find my way back to Lukes apartment.

o Once outside I realized I had no idea where I was, or how to get back to the metro or to find Luke’s apartment.

o Asked several people if they spoke English, no one did. Eventually found the metro by wandering around the city for a while and then managed to make the necessary transfers to get to Luke’s metro stop.

o successfully made it back to Luke's apartment on my own, GOOD WORK!

o Daytime activities, late in the afternoon we headed back into the city to show for shirts and ties for luke. But didn’t buy anything. Stopped at a Sushi restaurant for dinner, then met up with Luke’s family.

o Luke, Ina and I took IRINA TO THE TRAIN STATION where we ran into her cousin who she hadn’t seen in ten years.

o After the train station, we returned to the apartments to drop off Ina, and Luke, Al and I went out to an Irish Pub to meet with his friends from Ohio State.

o We were all going to call it an early night around 1am, but then the guy from Nebraska who had left an hour earlier to catch a train called saying that all trains were cancelled until 6am. So he wanted to go out in the city until it was time for him to catch the train.

o Al and Luke when home to bed, I went out with the other two guys to Marstall, a popular bar in the city.

o Stayed in the city at the Ohio State guys apartment that night. (went to KFC on the way home)

§ Tues July 8:

o Woke up in Ohio State apartment, took my first cold shower.

o Luke and Al met me there with a change of clothes, and we decided that I needed to have a cell phone from now on seeing that I have already created a trend of winding up in random parts of the city on my own.

o We then left to meet the Wochensky clan and TOOK THE METRO TO THE SUBURBAN TRAIN AND TOOK IT OUT TO PETERHOF WHERE WE WALKED AROUND THE PARK WITH THE FOUNTAINS AND SAW THE GULF OF FINLAND.

o WE GOT BACK IN to the city around 6pm AND THEY WENT TO THEIR APARTMENTS, and we picked up Mike Brady who had just flown in.

o Night Time activities, "Bachelor Party". Molly's pub, Marstall, and that other place. Where we went at 4am and haggled on the street for 15 minutes until they allowed us to enter the club and not pay full price.

o Cecala and Brady first real night out in St Pete’s. Dropped Cecala off with his wife at 7am. We got home around 8am.

o KFC on the way home. Delicious everywhere in the world.

§ Wedsneday July 9:

o Woke up early in the afternoon…Hungover as hell

o Al left early in the morning to meet Wochensky clan to visite the Hermitage, we all yelled at him belligerently for no reason in the morning other than the fact we were all still drunk and had just gotten in.

o Went across the street from Luke’s apt to the mall were we had a Business Lunch (Cucumber salad, Soup, Meatloaf, Home fries and tea… saved my life.)

o After lunch, went shopping with Luke, picked out cuff links, ties and went to pick up his suit pants.

o Suit pants were mistakenly given to the wrong person. But they got them back the next morning.

o Wednesday night, Met with Ilya, Dacha and Igor to go to dinner at the restaurant over looking St Pete's. Great view, stayed there to watch the sun set… but it never did. Left around midnight. Lindsay Ehinger met up with us this night for dinner.

o Luke, Al, Brady and I all went back to Luke’s apartment in Kamandanskee for an early night in to recuperate. (Cab driver played Blues in his car, first time I heard any music other than techno being played.)

§ Thursday July 10:

o Goal of the morning was to get everyone’s bags to the train Station

o Luke left early in the morning to meet Wochensky clan at the apartments and start taking cabs filled with bags to the Train Station.

o Brady, Al and I were to take the Metro directly to the train station and meet Luke.

o Leaving the apartment, we realized we didn’t have keys to lock the door so we had to leave Al at the Apartment.

o Brady and I then attempted to go to McDonalds for breakfast. Failed at our attempt, the menu is very different in Russia than it is in the US. Left starving and defeated

o Took the Metro and met Luke at the Transtation. Aaron and Becky met us there.

o Accumulated a tower of bags, the required the assistance of Luke, Axel, Brady, Aaron and Becky all to move to the temporary holding room.

o Waiting in Line for the luggage storage room, the attendant said it was full. Luke finagled with him until he allowed us all to put the bags in there.

o From there, Brady and I left to go to the Hermitage for a speed tour with a private guide. But first stopped at Sbarro pizza, where the employees spoke English. Got food and were happy.

o At hermitage, Saw original works from Monet, Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Picasso, etc.

o From the Hermitage met with Luke’s family near the Church of the Spilled blood. Had Brick oven Pizza.

o From there left to go to the Train station via Metro, made it a few minutes early so Brady and I went to the store to buy some beer and vodka.

o Long lines at the cash out so we had to run to the train, and barely made it aboard

o Overnight Train to Cherepovets, drank a few beers which is apparently not allowed on the trains. The police came down and yelled at us. We had 6 people, all foreigners in the room drinking beers. As they were yelling at us, we just all pulled out our tickets thinking they were asking to see them. Luke was laughing at us.

o On the train realized that the vodka I purchased was Smirnoff… I failed to sound out the writing on the bottle before buying it. I was devastated, but turns out we didn’t need it.

o Very hard to sleep in the cabins at night. Each time the train stopped it would get very hot and smelly as the circulation system would turn off. Eventually, Brady, Myself, Cecala and Dan were all just laying in pools of our own sweat stripped down to our boxers. Pretty funny image.

§ Friday July 11:

o Arrive in Cherepovets Train Station around 7am in the morning.

o Take cabs to hotel and check in. The hotel was very much like a college dorm. Each room had one single bed, a desk and a bathroom.

o There were even hall monitors, that you had to hand a card to each time you wanted to go to your room, you would hand them a card, and in return they would give you room key. Then when leaving your room you would turn your key back in and they would give you back your card. The room keys had a hefty keychain so that you could not take it out of the hotel, similar to gas station bathroom keys.

o After napping for the rest of the morning, met up around 1pm with Irina’s brother Sasha and his wife and friends. They then gave us a walking tour of Cherepovets. Sasha spoke a little English, but his wife’s friend Nelly once lived in South Carolina for some time and spoke fluent English. Helped tremendously with the translation and communication.

o Cherepovets is a small city, primarily based around the steel industry, not many exciting sites.

o After walking around the city for a while, looking at some churches and seeing the general sites, we headed to a restarant/bar on the outdoor deck/patio. Alexe and Nelly served as primary interpreters and we ended up having a good time with the help of beer.

o Prompted us to head out to the clubs that night, inspired by Alexe.

o Returned to the hotel for quick PTA and then headed out for the night.

o 1^st stop was Dacha night club… weird dude with glass and sharp objects

o 2^nd stop was Safari night club, met up with Sasha and his posse and ended up pulling a late night.

o I stayed to the very end, where I was falling asleep in the bar. So Dan taught me how to say a sentence to the cab driver, that would get me home on my own. I rehearsed the sentence over and over until I felt confident enough to try it out. Once I walked outside the club, I flagged down the cab and said the line.

o Luckily he dropped me off where I needed to be, however the hotel was locked so I couldn’t get in.

o I ended up having to call luke at 4am on his wedding day saying that I was locked out of the hotel. Luke being tired and annoyed just told me to knock on the door. Apparently the security guard was asleep as he came promptly as I knocked and let me in.

§ Saturday July 12:

o Woke up dead to the world at 11am, only due to my friend Lindsey knocking on my door. Her train had arrived earlier that morning and was trying to find what was going on.

o I was in an extreme stated of dehydration and substantially hungover, so I couldn’t move or talk.

o From my bed, I pleaded for Linzo to take my wallet and go get me a bottle of water. She returned in about 15 minutes with a magical liter of water and some pastries. I managed chug the water and choke down some of the food. After taking some Ibuprofen I was feeling ok again and back in action.

o While still being in bed however, before my miraculous recovery, Luke and the wedding camera came in to find me. He was hoping to find me in rough shape knowing that I had woken him up at 4am that morning. He got his wish.

o Once I felt a little better, I peeled myself out of bed and crawled into the shower.

o A nice warm shower helped me rejuvenate further and I was good to go.

o From the hotel room, went down to the lobby and met the group to get on our tour bus. The bus was hot and it wasn’t long before I fully sweated through my shirt. But eventually I surpassed the cusp where my shirt was fully soaked through at which point I began to cool down.

o Luckily, everyone was sweaty and smelly. Like camping.

o Took the bus to do some Pre wedding activities, namely performing tricks to win earn the bride from her family. Tricks included getting everyone off the bus (which was pulled over by Alexe dressed as a police officer) and lining up as a big heart in the road.

o Other tricks included dancing and excessive amounts of champagne drinking.

o Then off to the official ceremony for the wedding. Official ceremony was like a glorified court service, followed by dancing gypsies, bears and more champagne. We all gave our flowers to the bride and groom and proceeded back onto the bus.

o Next stop was the big suspension Bridge spanning the river. Here we launched champagne corks off the bridge and the new bride/groom tossed a bottle into the river below which symbolizes something. Can’t remember what. They also placed a lock on the bridge to symbolize their union. It was very sunny and a nice cool breeze on the bridge, I did not want to leave.

o From the bridge we headed to the reception at Club Europa. The reception consisted of many acts performed by dancers and singers, some acts involved audience participation. The cycle was performance, dancing by the wedding invitees, food, performance, dancing, food. It was actually a lot of fun.

o Wedding only had Vodka and Wine. No beer.

o Once the wedding was over a small group of us decided to once again burn the midnight oil and head out the club Diamond for late night festivities. There they had a huge mural of the Philadelphia Skyline which was very exciting. Also I had a mojito which was soo delicious. No drinks in Russia include ice, so having a mixture of ice and mint tasted delicious and refreshing. The night was very fun thanks to Ilya and Dacha’s translation efforts and once again ended late.

§ Sunday July 13:

o Woke up early early early to catch the bus for the religious ceremony. Actually it was 10am, but seemed extremely early.

o Traveled two hours to get to a small quaint church in the hills of Russia. The bus ride was fun as we all seemed to pick up our conversations where we left off the night before.

o We spent the day walking around the country side, by a large river complete with river boats. Even visited an old monastery, very relaxing and pleasant day. No drinking occurred, until lunch…

o Stopped at the only restaurant in town for the final wedding/group meal of the trip. Had traditional soup and pork meals followed by some tea.

o Getting back on the bus, after having walked around all day and now with a full stomach we all crashed for the 2 hour ride back to Cherepovets.

o Once back in Cherepovets we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some snacks for the train ride and headed to the station.

o There we ran into everyone we had met over the past few days and were able to say our good byes one last time. And finally set off back to St Petersburg at 11pm.

o Brady and I shared an compartment with two young Russians. It was hot again, but by now we were exhausted and just wanted to sleep. So that is what we did.

§ Monday July 14:

o Arrived in St Pete's early in the morning.

o Stopped by Ilya and Dacha's apartment, took my last cold shower, went for breakfast at a café

o Then took a cab to the airport.

o Flights home from St Petersburg to Buffalo (very painful) arrived in Buff at 1am

o (St Pete’s to Frankfurt 3 hours)(Frankfurt to Chicago 9.5 hours)(Chicago to Buff 1.5 Hours)

o Lost my luggage, went through Security 3 times in St Pete’s airport, twice in Frankfurt, once in Chicago.

So that there is my trip in a nutshell.

Thanks to Luke and Irina for the hospitality and the great week of parties.

Black Jack and Blues

This past Saturday night my girlfriend and I volunteered at a benefit for the Children's Hospital of Buffalo. The event was called "Black Jack and Blues" and was held at the Seneca Niagara Casino in Niagara Falls.
The opportunity to volunteer presented itself at a managers meeting my girlfriend attended with the Buffalo Athletic Club. One of the corporation owners is very active in this charity and was instrumental in setting up this event. Therefore at the meeting, she volunteered both her and I to assist.

In actuality the term "volunteer" should be viewed lightly in this case as the extent of our volunteering consisted of two 15 minute sessions handing out raffle tickets to the winners at the black jack station.

Other than that, we spent the evening enjoying the live music, open bar and Taste of Casino buffet. Unfortunately I didn't take part in any of the raffles or auctions. Although I did save money by doing so, which is a good thing. Most of the items auctioned off were pretty pricey, but all of the money went to the charity, so even if they were expensive the money spent would have still gone to a good cause... and would be tax deductible!

The event finally came to a close around 1:00am at which point we headed down to the Casino to test our luck. My girlfriend has never really gambled before, so I took her to the low stakes black jack table to learn the game.

As our stack of chips both grew and shrunk in size, my girlfriend got increasingly bored with the game. She would tell me what she could buy with the money we were placing for the bet on each hand. Therefore when we actually did win a hand, she wasn't impressed. However when we lost a hand, she seemed to find solace in being able to point out how stupid and pointless gambling away money was.

Ultimately after about 1.5 hours at the table, we walked away dead even. Now there are two ways to look at walking away even, I view it as surviving the first round with the Casino, and being able to live to gamble more, possibly at another table or game where I am sure to find my luck and win some money. Contradictingly though, the opposite view, the view that my girlfriend took was that it was a horrendous waste of 1.5 hours, leaving us with nothing to show for our efforts. (Note: Apparently the free drinks received at the table do not count as an acceptable form of retribution.)

Girls just don't understand gambling.

"Deal me a winner or this girl's gonna get tossed out the window!"

Final Note: Tina Turner?

PROUD MARY KEEP ON BURNIN!!!

The following is directly from the Press relea se on the event we attended:

Black Jack & Blues at the Seneca Niagara Casino Benefits W CHOB

FOR RELEASE: 5/30/2008

Contemporary Blues Artist of the Year and BB King Entertainer of the Year Tab Benoit will perform at the all-new Black Jack & Blues at the Seneca Niagara Casino to b

enefit Women & Children’s Hospital on Saturday, June 21 beginning at 7 p.m.

Black Jack & Blues festivities include great prizes for tournament play in several virtual games and activities, and the Learn to Play Black Jack experience is in the cards.

Guests at Black Jack & Blues will also enjoy cocktails and specialty stations featuring the Taste of the Casino Restaurants and a live auction by Cash Cunningham featuring one-of-a-kind trips and special items for your home.

This Women & Children’s Hospital pre-golf tournament party is sponsored by CGF Anesthesiology Associates and the Seneca Gaming Corporation.

Proceeds from last year’s pre-golf tournament party benefited the Pediatric Neuroscience Center of Western New York at Women & Children’s Hospital, which includes the Reg

ional Epilepsy Monitoring Center, National Pediatric MS Center of the Jacob’s Neurological Institute, Department of Pediatric Neurology and the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery.

Tickets for Black Jack & Blues are $100 each and available by

calling the Women & Children’s Hospital Foundation at (716) 881-8230. More information is also available by accessing the Women & Children’s Hospital Foundation web site at http://foundation.wchob.org/blackjackblues/.

Thursday's Square Bluegrass

Buffalo has this great summer concert series called "Thursday in the Square" where each Thursday evening, M&T bank sponsors a free outdoor concert at Lafayette Square in downtown Buffalo.

This is one of the most popular things to do in Buffalo during the summer. Each week the square is packed with people hanging out drinking and generally having a good time. They line the square with a border of Labatt beer trucks that supply you with all the merriment you can handle. Tickets for beer are reasonably priced at $3 too so its not a huge ripoff like other outdoor concerts. (I just went to see Dave Matthews play at Darien Lake last Tuesday, a single beer was $7)

Dave Playing at Darien Lake

The bands are generally B level bands. The biggest names I have seen there are Pat Benatar, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Soul Asylum, Violent Femmes and Spin Doctors. Being that this is a free concert, the big name bands do not normally show up. But you get some good eclectic bands that you normally wouldn't ever see... such as all the names I just mentioned.

Last Thursday I went to see the Yonder Mountain String Band. The can best be described as a bluegrass jam band. Pretty interesting and I actually liked them. Although it is generally hard to hear the bands if you are in the back of the crowds. Everyone is talking in the back of the square, that mixed with the trees absorbing most of the music, if you want to really listen to the band you have to wedge your way into the front.

Also, because of the free aspect of these concerts, you get a whole mess of Buffalo's finest wackos to venture out into the crowds. Last week when I was there, there was one guy who was clearly messed up on some sort of drugs just staring off into space and performing his best 'beat box'.

However, he wasn't just beat boxing, he was also rapping and having conversations with himself. Most of the conversations were about how other countries don't beat box, which he concluded was the root of all their problems. My favorite line was "middle east has war cause' they don't got no beat box."

Clearly he was right.

After the square the crowds filter out into the surrounding districts in the city, hitting up the bars. Myself and my group followed suit and ended up at Allen Street Hardware (which is actually a bar).

That night, they had a live band as well. I forgot the name now, but it too was a bluegrass band. Apparently Buffalo had an infestation of banjos on this particular night. We hungout there for a while jamming to the band, drinking Brazilian beer and feasting on appetizers. The band was actually really good too and I just remembered the name... "Down to The Roots." I think I will try to see if I can get them to play at Riley's. They were really good.

We were also hanging out with my cousin's cousin who happens to be a lesbian. Hanging out with lesbians is always a fun time because they generally travel in groups. So where one lesbian is, you'll find more. This was the case on this particular night as well, and who doesn't enjoy hanging out with a group of lesbians?

Can't think of anyone can you? Or maybe you can, but either way, they're fun people.

All in all a good night, and tonight actually will be another Thursday in the Square which I again will be venturing to. David Sanborn in the artist, I know nothing about him, but it will still be a good time regardless, I just hope the rain holds off.

Follow up to Stolen Table

The individual I spoke about last was identified in the videos. His name and the video of him committing the actions previously discussed have been sent to the local police.

We will be pursuing all charges possible against him.

It's annoying because I actually feel guilty doing so, but we have to be tough on these people. If we allow people to walk all over us and do whatever they want then we lose control. There has to be a precedent set on how we handle this type of behavior and these actions.

Unfortunately for this guy, we can't bend on this either. We need the patrons to know that they are expected to behave like civilized human beings when they are at our establishment. And if they act like assholes, we'll have to be assholes to them as well.

I know what is going to happen to, the guy, who was probably in his early 20's is going to come and say that he was drunk and apologizes for his action. He didn't mean to cause and harm and was just goofing around.

But in all actuality, the guy showed a huge amount of disrespect towards us by not only stealing from us, but by blatantly urinating all over our patio furniture. Therefore when he comes back pleading for us to drop the charges, we will have to share with him the same lack of respect and compassion that he showed us.

I'm sorry buddy, but no one likes a jerk.

No word yet as to the whereabouts of the table though, but worst case scenario we will get the money back to pay for it.

Stolen Patio Table

The first item has been stolen from our new outdoor patio. It was only a matter of time, for some reason people feel obligated to take your belongings when you are a bar owner. I'm not sure why, but they feel that they have the right to steal just about everything and anything they can and see no reason why they should not be allowed to do so. Such a frustrating phenomena.

This is how it went down. Saturday night/Sunday Morning... a group of guys came in at 3:50 am.

One of the guys, has been kicked in the past and was not allowed to enter. He promptly makes a fuss and attempts to get both my bartender and the guy we have checking IDs to come fight him in the parking lot. (both employees are in their late 40s, the guy was in his mid 20s)

While he's making this fuss, one guy reaches over the bar to steal a bottle of well vodka. Some of the other patrons at the bar grab his hand and bottle as he does, so he never actually got anything. My bartender missed this because she was tending to the ruckus out front.

After getting caught, the guy then walks out onto our front patio and watches the nonsense for a few minutes then walks to where his friends are sitting.

After the fiasco in the parking lot ends, the bartender and door guy go back inside. At which point the guy who tried to steal the bottle who is now sitting on the front patio with other friends, turns around and pisses on one of our tables out there. (about 4:15am)

Ten minutes later, the door guy comes back out and kicks everyone out, and makes the people leave the patio.

All the guys who came in at 3:50 walk away down the parking lot at 4:25am, and the door man goes inside. Then once reaching the end of the parking lot, the individual who attempted to steal the bottle hides behind a bush and waits for the two remaining employees to stop looking outside at them leaving. At which point, he scurries along the fence line in the edge of the camera view, runs on to the patio, grabs a patio table and carries it out of the parking lot.

Last night I was at the bar until midnight watching two days worth of tapes until i found where the table was stolen. I downloaded the video to CD and it has been delivered to the police department today. The guy was obviously a local guy, being that he was walking around the village that night and the bartender said they have seen them before.

Needless to say, I will be pressing as many charges as possible against this kid.

I'm not a lawyer, but I think we have a few doozies. i.e. Attempted burglary, indecent exposure, public urination, destruction to property and first degree burglary.

Just some of the joys of being a bar owner.

Now I will get a chance to go to court again! Woohoo! We normally don't have to us an attorney for situations such as these though, unless the culprits fight the allegations. But its hard for those individuals to fight the allegations when there is visual evidence of them doing it.

70 year olds can drink!

This past weekend I spent both Friday and Saturday at Riley Street Station. The outdoor patio has been picking up, so we hired a new waitress to help handle the additional crowd. Pretty exciting move when you need to bring on additional staff to accommodate the growing crowds.

Due to the recent buzz about the place, a group of my mother's friends came in to pay a visit. My mother is a retired telephone company employee, so her and a few friends she used to work with meet up at least once a week for drinks and dinner. This weekend however, they made an additional outing to our bar spurred by the article in the paper.

Predictably, we all wound up venturing into the martini bar and proceeded to consume many martinis. I was drinking girly drinks like it was my job! So much so that some of the patrons started to tease me about it, but to be honest with you I didn't really care. They tasted too good to worry about the temporary damage I was inevitably subjecting on my image.

Side Note: Our Espresso Martini is absolutely incredible.

The most shocking situation of the night however was the amount that my mother's friends could drink. For a couple in their late 60's, they could put them down with the best of them. They were well kept individuals too, so you would never have imagined they could hold their own like that.

I was impressed to say the least, and it should be noted that their drink of choice was the Lemon Drop Martini. That is a mixture of citrus Vodka, triple sec and Lemoncello.... it's all alcohol! Each martini has about 7 shots of liquor in it, and they were sipping them down with ease! My mother on the other hand did not impress with her ability to handle her alcohol. Clearly she needs a more regimented conditioning program, and I recommended that she hire her friends to be her personal coach.

Write up in the Buffalo News about Riley Street Station!!!

http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/gusto/story/353603.html

Club Watch: Riley Street Station is on the right track

Riley Street Station successfully transforms railroad landmark into a classy pub

BY TOM WATERS - Special to The News
Updated: 05/23/08 8:07 AM

Enjoying Riley Street Station are, from left, sitting, Chrissy Marchetta, Brittany Gagliardo, Kelly Dudek and Jon Derr; standing are Andrew Wheeler and Stephen Murak.">

Photos by Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News

Enjoying Riley Street Station are, from left, sitting, Chrissy Marchetta, Brittany Gagliardo, Kelly Dudek and Jon Derr; standing are Andrew Wheeler and Stephen Mura

Bartender John Deibel works the taps in Riley Street Station.

There’s a certain gulty pleasure to be had in sitting at the rail of a bar on a Sunday afternoon. While others were out flying kites with their families or washing their cars while the weather held up, Lindsay and I were holding down the bar at Riley Street Station.

A trio of folks was waiting for the kitchen to open when we breezed in at 2 o’clock. Another older couple took turns smoking cigarettes out front and sipping glasses of soda at the bar. A kind, older woman took our order and, feeling kooky, I opted to go with a mysterious-looking brown bottle of Irish whiskey. A plain-looking bottle can either be a sign of something really good or deplorably awful, but my double was smooth and potent. A pitcher of Bud Light, the aforementioned double and a plain iced tea rang up to a shockingly cheap $10.50. Lindsay was flattered that she got carded for proof of age. I was neither surprised nor emotionally devastated that I wasn’t.

The bar area was swank and lavish with a black and tan horseshoe-shaped bar, stained dark brown support beams overhead and a light pink and black motif on the walls. An antique model train took a permanent pit stop above the bar. A regulation pool table sat near a far wall under an oil portrait of W. C. Fields and Al Pacino. Keeping in line with the railroad theme, a neighboring wall featured a conductor’s hat and a red bandana. A row of railroad emblems lined the wall over the entrance. A vintage black-and-white photo of the building back when it was an honest to goodness railroad station hung from the far wall. The overall impression was a strange yet functioning blend of Irish pub and railroad bar.

Not content to have just one patio, Riley’s has a nonsmoking patio in the front with a black, cast-iron border and a patterned awning and a smokers’ patio in the back with plastic lawn furniture and a wooden fence. We grabbed a smoke out back and admired the plywood outdoor bar while marveling at the concrete steps that led up to the railroad tracks, the old lamp posts that they’d painted green for decorative purposes and a boarded-up elevator shaft that must have served as an elevator for handicapped passengers. It gave us a strong sense of how much the area — make that the world — has changed in the last 150 years.

Dave (my future father-in-law) showed up and ordered a can of Genesee “premium beer,” his lager of choice. A separate whiskey bar beckoned to me from the left of the building like the lure of a siren, but we were told it was only open on Fridays, Saturdays and during booked events. A shiny copper beer at the front of the bar stood as an example of the management’s recent rebeautification efforts.

For 4 in the afternoon, there was a respectable crowd lining the bar with nary a spare stool in the house. After perusing the menu, Lindsay ordered the loaded french fries for $5.99. It was a generous plate of fries topped to the hilt with sour cream, real bacon, cheddar cheese and fresh fries that I was more than happy to help her with.

By the time the conductor in my head was shouting “Last call,” I had concluded that Riley Street Station was like no other bar I’ve been to. What a novel idea it was to convert a historic landmark into a classy pub.

Riley Street Station

27 Riley St., East Aurora

825-2244

Scene: Folks in their 30s to 60s with a yen for great food and cheap drinks.

Music: Open mic on Tuesdays, live bands every Saturday featuring Sky, the Riley Street Band, Teardrop and the Whiskey River Band.

Dress Code: Anything goes.

Drinks: Bud Light and Yuengling on tap and bargain-basement drink prices. Whiskey bar access on Fridays and Saturdays.

“It was like no other bar I’ve been to.”

Do You Emish?!

Friday Night at the Grill, we had a band named Emish come to play for us.

Emish is a celtic rock band primarily stationed out of Orange County, NY. (Same place as Orange County Choppers). One of the band members went to highschool with me, she plays the fiddle and is from the Western New York area, therefore they come back this way to play a few times a year.

Venturing into local music world, we have come across some pretty good bands. Some are cover bands, others play their own music. Many of these bands are decent and put together entertaining shows. However some of the others are not all that great, but they are able to put together a show that you'd be able to enjoy after a few drinks. Actually I usually find that as a general rule the more inebriated you become, the better the music becomes.

However every now and then, we come across bands like Emish. They were actually really really good. Completely original with a great sound. I liked them so much that I picked up their CD after the show and have been listening to it all week.

I highly recommend checking these guys out. They're worth it.


They have myspace too! (myspace.com/emish)

Dinning in Philadelphia

One of the things I miss the most about Philadelphia are the multitude of restaurants. Specifically the BYOBs.

Philadelphia has developed into a haven for the BYOB establishment. Reason for this is that liquor licenses are very hard to get and very costly, so in lieu of a wine cellar and liquor offerings. These restaurants have decided to focus solely on the food and allow patrons to bring their own beverage.

What an awesome benefit this is. Not only does it save money for those going out for a good meal, but you get the opportunity to decided on what type of wine/beverage you want and no longer are restricted to only what is offered in house.

In my time in Philly I would go to a BYOB about once a week. Exploring a different one each time, trying to hit them all. But as time progressed, the BYOBs grew and grew in popularity. To the point where there were just too many of them.

The following link is an interactive map to the locations along with information on each of them in the city. This truly is a concept I would love to see other cities across the country start to implement. Myself however, I'm in the bar business, which consists of selling drinks, so I have no plans of being the first to start this trend. But I still would love to see other people bring it to the area.Philadelphia BYOBs

This past weekend, we went to a fairly small and quaint BYOB called La Baia.

La Baia is only a short walk from my house in Philly so I have gone here a few times. Like most, they have a very tight dinning area, and a small menu. I always prefer to choose one of their specials as they seem to be always the freshest and best options the restaurant has to offer. If you are ever in the Philly area and looking for a good BYOB, be sure to check out this place. Although, there are so many good ones you really should do your homework before making a commitment. Also, be sure to make reservations, a day in advance if possible because the places fill up fast.

After La Baia, we met up with a friend of mine who is attending Med school in Philly. We ventured up to Northern Liberties to a belgium beer house called Belgium Cafe which is a sister establishment of a famous restaurant that I used to live across the street from called Monks. These places are really cool restaurant/bars to go to if you are into exotic beer. They have many different kinds and flavors from all over the world. Actually you won't be able to find any of the more common american beers. Very cool places to check out if you're in Philly, and they have some great oysters too!

The other thing I love about Philly is that each establishment in the city offers some sort of Sunday Brunch. Even the small bars put together a deal for drinks and food to start your Sunday off on the right foot. Personally I have a hard time drinking early in the day on Sundays, but I have never had a hard time eating. So I for one love brunch (as long as it doesn't interfere with football.)

This particular trip we went to brunch at the lone bar/restaurant in the newly developed graduate hospital area of the city. This is where my house is located and just a short 3 blocks from my front doorstep is the SideCar Bar. I have actually only been to the Sidecar for brunch, mostly because of its convenience but I would say it is pretty standard brunch... in a good way. Each brunch offering includes mimosa and a mix of sandwiches or some sort of breakfast plate. And the large portions of each allow you to quietly stuff yourself to help get you on the right foot for a lazy Sunday. That being said, I do not recommend Sunday brunch unless you don't have any plans for the rest of the afternoon. If you are planning on being productive, I would suggest just sticking with the coffee and bagel.

Weekend in Philly

This past weekend, my girlfriend and I took and extended weekend and turned it into a short mini vacation to Philadelphia, PA.

Both of us had gone to school in this area, and subsequently lived there for a few years post college. I for one still own a house in the city and am about to have three new tenants moving in this May. So I wanted to make one last final walk through of the property before they moved in to make sure everything was in good working order.

In addition, my girlfriend's old roomate's birthday was this particular weekend as was my college alumni rugby game. So with a few pretty good reasons to head down for the weekend, we set off on our 360 mile drive from Buffalo to Philly on Thursday night.

The drive usually takes approximately 6 to 6.5 hours so we didn't get in until after midnight, and being exhausted from the drive just called it quits and packed it in until the morning.

Luckily for us, the weather treated us particularly well. Upon rising on Friday morning we set off to stroll around the city with our dog "Brewski".

We started the day with breakfast of egg sandwiches and coffee in Rittenhouse Square. Rittenhouse Square is quite possibly the nicest place to be in Philadelphia. As stated in wikipedia, Rittenhouse Square is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn in central Philadelphia.

Rittenhouse is the elite area of philadelphia that boasts the highest property value and the most posh of all shopping areas in the city. It is where people in the city who wish to be seen go to stroll around, and therefore those of us who enjoy to people watch, sitting on one of its many park benches provides you with endless amounts of visual entertainment.

Not to mention, people bring their dogs their in droves, thus providing Brewski with lots of entertaining new friends to meet. We spent the morning there, just walking around before venturing down Walnut to do some window shopping. Unfortunately though we ventured into the city streets around 1pm on Friday. Also known as peak lunch hour. Needless to say, navigating through the crowds with a dog(a young energetic one at that) was neither fun nor entertaining.

After getting a little frustrated we ourselves felt it time to get some lunch but wanted to get a little further from the business center of the city, hoping that we could sit on a less busy sidewalk table where my dog wouldn't be going crazy.

So we headed south from Rittenhouse to South Street and came across a nice little Bar/Restaurant called the Ten Stone. I have been at the Ten Stone once or twice, as it was only a short walk from where my house was located, but never during the day so I wasn't too familiar with their menu. But I did know they had many cold beers on tap and ample seating on the sidewalk, pairing that with knowing it was quite a few blocks from the rush of the working professionals on lunch break, I knew it was a good fit for what we were looking for.

There we had a few Yuenglings, a salad and sandwich and then ventured back to the house. Feeling content, full and in need of some down time to prepare for the night ahead.

That night we met up with my girlfriends roomates at a place called the Manayunk Brewery. Coincidentally this is the same exact place I spent my 21st birthday at. Although I remember few things clearly from that night, I do remember it being a good time. And they had a Pizza counter upstairs in the bar. I found this to be very convenient at the time.

This past weekend, however I did not partake in any of the late night pizza eating though. There was a singles mixer there though, which allowed me to run into some friends of mine. Two guys who are known for always being on the hunt, so although I had no idea they would be there, and they didn't know I was even in town for the weekend, it came as no surprise to me to see them at a place holding a singles meet & greet party.

Sure enough, I talked to them for a brief second, but only long enough to throw them off their game. Then they were off, back on the trail of their prey. Watching this type of behavior never gets old.

A Common Misnomer About Pricing

When it comes to the bar/restaurant business, you'll find that everyone who is not involved in this business views themself as an expert consultant on how to make your establishment better. And I would say 9 times out of 10 their suggestions involve some sort of concept where you spend more money and reduce prices.

i.e. "You know what you should do? You should get this band to play here, they are expensive but really good. They always bring a good crowd, and if you ran a 2 for 1 special, you guys would pack this place and make a ton of money."

Well, thank you for you suggestion, but my response to you is that Communism also looked good in theory. Reality however is that it just doesn't work that way.

I can easily show how these pie in the sky ideas never work by using simple math.

Let's start with a drastically shorten equation for Profits:

Profits = Cost of Drinks * Number of Patrons - Overhead
or
Profits = X*Y - Z
where;
X = Cost of Drinks
Y= Number of Patrons
Z = Overhead of Drinks and Misc. Expenses

In the business world, the bottom line is always the profits. You want to run your business better to improve your profits while making the service you supply better for your customers. Cheaper service does not always mean better service, but cheaper service always means smaller profits. Which inturn lead to less opportunity to better your business. But lets take a closer look at the above suggestion about the band plus 2-1 drink idea to better our business.

The suggestion again was to hire a large band at a high cost (lets say $500 for round numbers) and then serve 2-1 drinks to attract a big crowd. Implementing this into equation format we get the following;

Suggestion:
Cost of Drinks = 1/2 X (half price drinks or 2-1 special)
Number of Patrons = 2Y (double the amount of people that show up)
Overhead = 2Z+500
(this is the part normally overlooked by these self proclaimed experts, and that is normally because they never see the costs associated with overhead so they don't event think about it. So to break this down, the overhead cost of the drinks would double (2Z) because you are selling double the drinks so you have to purchase double the inventory and then add on the additional cost of the 'great band' and you get a drastically elevated overhead.)

So now our new equation for profit, if we were to follow the suggestion would be;

Profits = 1/2X * 2Y - (2Z + $500)

=X*Y-(2Z+$500)

So essentially, by doubling the people that come by reducing the cost of drinks and adding on the cost of band, all that you as the business have done is drastically reduced your profits.

Now, if this equation format is a little too confusing, I will use real numbers to further illustrate my point.

Lets say, again for round numbers
x=$10 per drink
Y=100 People
Z=$500 overhead of drinks sold

Our original equation before making the change would be the following:

Profit = X*Y-Z = $10*100-$500 = $500 .... woohoo!!!

Our new equation after the change would be:

New Profit = 1/2X*2Y-(2Z+$500)

Where again;
1/2X= half price drinks
2Y= Double the amount of Patrons
2Z+$500=Twice the overhead of purchase price of drinks plus the cost of the band

New Profit = (1/2*$10)*(2*100)-(2*$500+$500)

= $5*200-$2000 = $1000 - $1,500 = -$500 .... Ouch!!!

So essentially we went from making a $500 profit to having a $500 loss. Not such a good business move if you plan on sticking around.

I know there are probably several different arguments as to why it is sometimes good to take a loss, namely to increase awareness of your business and boost the number of patrons. But the bottom line always comes down to profits and loss. If you can't make money, you can't run a business and you'll be forced to close.

And if you still don't believe me, then picture it this way.

View your salary as your profits and your job duties as your service. Would you be willing to work at a job where instead of getting paid, you had to pay your company money out of your own pocket just so that you could do work for more people?

That doesn't make sense why would anyone ever pay to work if you didn't make any money?

And similarly, why would a business increase their expenses if it was just going to lose them money?