Quick Bites: A new show venue, a second location for a favorite barista and some comebacks
Hub City Vinyl Live scores a conditional liquor license
Work continues apace on a new music venue in downtown Hagerstown as the owner prepares for an autumn opening.
Lloyd Thoburn, whose wife Sheree owns Hub City Vinyl on East Baltimore Street in downtown Hagerstown, told the Washington County Board of License Commissioners last week that they hope to open the first stage of Live at Hub City Vinyl in late September.
The Herald-Mail previously reported there will be two sections — a smaller stage with seating for about 150 and a larger area that would seat about 450.
Thoburn said the smaller section would be completed first.
More: Regional, national music acts eyed for new, two-stage venue downtown
The board, also known as the liquor board, agreed to give the venue a limited Class D Beer Wine & Liquor license pending completion of inspections within 90 days.
The application had support both from the city of Hagerstown and the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, also known as Visit Hagerstown.
"A venue like this complements all of our plans and all of our previous investments, all of our dreams for the city's core," CVB President Dan Spedden told the board.
Thoburn said he hoped the first stage would be ready by late September or early October.
Now you can have wine with your meal at Café Roma
Remember Tony's Pizza on Pennsylvania Avenue?
Back in March, the restaurant got new owners, a new name and a new menu. Now it has a new liquor license.
The county liquor board last week granted a Class B Restaurant Beer, Wine and Liquor license to Café Roma owners Luis Alonso Cruz and José Abraham Cruz, who opened the restaurant at 14224 Pennsylvania Ave. in March.
Customers are apparently antsy to have a drink with their Italian fare. Board member Alan Levin said he'd been "getting a few calls about when you get your license."
The license was contingent on completion of paperwork.
The Tortuga is coming back
The Tortuga is coming back and so is Hager Hall.
New owners Sandeep Singh and Raipal Singh were granted a Class B Restaurant Beer, Wine and Liquor license last week contingent on completion of paperwork and inspections.
Attorney Ed Kuczynski told the county liquor board that the Singhs plan to reopen the Tortuga Bar and Grill as well as Hager Hall for events and conferences.
And there will be a familiar face at the facility. They're bringing back Wayne Peiffer of Waynesboro, Pa., a former Marine who formerly worked in security and management for the lounge.
Kuczynski noted the new owners had spent $1.4 million to purchase the facility, and had spent more than $1 million to renovate it.
Comings and goings: The latest on the Hager Hall sale; dentistry to help children
They plan to open sometime in August, initially on Thursday through Sunday, Peiffer said.
They have a 90-day deadline to complete renovations and paperwork.
Cannon Coffee opens a new location
Cannon Coffee has opened a second location in the College Plaza Shopping Center to house a hybrid café and roastery.
The new location opened on June 28 at 11359 Robinwood Drive. Owner Chris Reese said he chose the location because of the proximity to the Hagerstown Community College and the Meritus Medical Center.
Cannon Coffee now roasts its own coffee beans at its Robinwood location. This is a first step in the business’s plan to start selling their own roasted coffee beans to other stores and to customers.
Their beans will be used at Amy & Alex’s, an ice cream and coffeeshop in Shepherdstown, W.Va.
The choice to start roasting its own coffee beans rooted from an idea to expand the brand of Cannon Coffee and to cut costs of production, Reese said.
In 2019, Cannon Coffee opened its first location in downtown Hagerstown.
Customers of the second location will have similar drink and pastry options as the downtown location, but the store has a more “to-go” design. This means that more meal-like foods, such as the downtown location’s waffles, will not be served.
One of Cannon Coffee’s goals is to be as sustainable as possible by reducing waste through initiatives like its “second chance blend,” a blend of last harvest coffee that would normally be thrown away.
“There’s a lot of passion that goes into everything we do,” Reese said.
The new location is in a “soft-opening” stage, Reese said, so the café will only be open from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on weekdays.
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This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Quick Bites: Hub City Vinyl, Café Roma, Tortuga and Cannon Coffee news
