Regent Square’s Frick Park Tavern on ‘pause’ until spring
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Even before Gov. Tom Wolf announced new covid-19 orders on Thursday, Jimmy Brown planned to temporarily close his Regent Square restaurant.
“It doesn’t make sense to stay open the way things are,” said Brown, owner of the Frick Park Tavern on Braddock Avenue. “We are a sit-down and enjoy kind of restaurant, and people haven’t been able to do that. Our guests come here to enjoy the space, to relax and have a drink and a good meal.”
Even as the restaurant offered takeout meals, sales were down 75% since March, Brown said.
Brown in 2016 opened Ease Modern Comfort Cuisine in the former space of Dunning’s Grill at the corner of South Braddock and West Hutchinson avenues. But the place never took off, so Brown renovated and rebranded as Frick Park Tavern in October 2019.
The first five months it was open, the tavern averaged 150-200 people a night, he said.
“This is a shame for all restaurants,” he said.
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Brown said he understands why the governor needed to do something, but he doesn’t understand why restaurants aren’t receiving stimulus money to keep afloat.
“This is the only job for some of my staff,” said Brown, who lives in Fox Chapel and grew up in Squirrel Hill. “They can’t live on unemployment for months and months and months. And this shutdown is happening right before the holidays, which is the busiest time of the year for restaurants. Someone needs to come up with a stimulus plan.”
The place seats 98 at 100% capacity, which Brown hasn’t been able to do since early March. During the pandemic, he converted the small back parking lot into an outdoor dining area — with tables socially distanced across the space.
“The plan is to reopen in the spring,” Brown said. “I will reopen when I feel people are comfortable with dining in a restaurant again. I am just calling this a ‘pause.’ ”