Former Claridge home of Zackel's Restaurant is now SchoolHouse Tavern (and they serve the fish)
The building at the corner of Main Street and Gombach Road in Claridge has some history. Dating to 1896, it was originally the one-room Clarks Crossing Schoolhouse.
Later on, it housed Zackel's Restaurant. Variously described in old Yelp reviews as a “hole in the wall” and a “dive,” the eatery nevertheless was known around the area for its giant fish sandwiches served with a housemade onion sauce.
Now, a little bit of the schoolhouse and a little bit of Zackel's are combined in the new SchoolHouse Tavern, which opened May 3.
The menu features standard tavern fare like burgers, pasta, pizza and wings, along with that storied sandwich.
“People walking through the door would say, are you bringing back Zackel's fish? So we had the Zackel family come in and show us how to make it,” says co-owner Renee Quinn of Murrysville. “Everyone loves it, so we added that to our menu.
“Things that (co-owner Chris Sullivan) enjoys to eat and things that I like, that's how we put our menu together,” Quinn says. “Everything is made fresh: meatballs, sauces, mac ‘n cheese, everything. Our wing sauce is pretty good. Besides the fish sandwich, people just love the Bang Bang Shrimp and our zucchini. Our burgers are wonderful.”
Quinn and Sullivan, also of Murrysville, are new to the restaurant business.
Sullivan owns a contracting business and Quinn was an orthodontic technician who has always loved to cook and entertain at home. They met when Sullivan did some remodeling work at Quinn's home and bonded over a shared dream of owning a restaurant.
Sullivan was familiar with the location.
“After the place was Zackel's, it was Smartie Artie's at Zackel's,” he says. “I would go in there, and they always had nice crowds, but I didn't like the atmosphere or the bar area, and I just thought to myself that I could do it better than them. I told them that multiple times.
“I kept telling Jay, the son of the owner (Arthur Sciullo), that I was going to buy it one day,” he adds. “It went up for sale and then, through a long negotiating process, Renee and I finally purchased it.”
The two differed somewhat over their visions for the restaurant.
“I love Chicago-style pizza, and you don't really find that around here,” Quinn says. “Everyone shot down that idea.”
Small differences aside, they agreed on the big things. Both are Penguins season ticket holders and like a sports bar vibe.
“We were working down the street on a Steeler Sunday, and I went in (prior to buying the restaurant) and there were like seven people in there, and I said, this just ain't right,” Sullivan says. “I want it to be a Pittsburgh Steeler hangout, a Pittsburgh Penguin hangout, a Pittsburgh Pirate hangout.”
The previous configuration had the dining area to the left of the entry, with the bar to the right in the original schoolhouse portion of the building. That's been reversed.
“The day we had the closing, we came in and pulled the plaster off the walls and, sure enough, the original brick was there. Seeing how beautiful the brick was, we exposed it all and decided to make this the dining area,” Quinn says. “We took out walls, opened it up and renovated the entire inside.”
Among new brick and wood accents is a chalkboard that also was revealed when the plaster came off. It now hangs in the bar to list the current draft and IPA selections. An old teacher's desk has been repurposed as a six-top table, while a child's desk holds coloring books and crayons for young diners.
The owners also agree that the place will continue to evolve.
They've been booking two- and three-member acoustic groups to play on some weekend evenings, but hope to book bigger, louder bands when a deck is added at the back of the bar area. That should happen sometime this summer, Sullivan says.
“We're getting the locals, and they're starting to come in from Greensburg, Murrysville and farther,” Quinn says. “We haven't done much advertising, but we've put out some mailers and we're starting to get people from Pittsburgh, Sewickley, out that way. They're coming in and then they're coming back.
“We're just getting our feet wet,” she says.
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-836-5750, smcmarlin@tribweb.com or via Twitter @shirley_trib.
