Big changes ordered for Wilkins dining landmark
Carl's Tavern has remained almost the same since the family-owned business opened in 1967 on William Penn Highway in Wilkins, even as the business landscape around it has changed to include more national restaurant chains.
Now the owners of Carl's — known for its fish sandwiches and Carl burger — are planning some big changes of their own.
Those include replacing the 62-year-old building with one that is more than twice as large. The changes won't alter Carl's character, said Brock Harrison, a co-manager whose grandfather, Carl Osterholm, founded Carl's.
“There's something to be said about homemade (food). When you come in here, we know you,” said Harrison, 26.
Osterholm and his wife, Emma, founded Carl's in Braddock in 1953, said their daughter, Christel Harrison, 60.
The Osterholms served workers in the then-booming mill industry, and eventually opened 10 other locations, including in Homestead, East Liberty and the South Side.
By the time Carl Osterholm died at age 47 in 1972, there were seven Carl's remaining. All but the Wilkins tavern closed by 1976. Emma Osterholm died at age 80 in 2005.
Christel Harrison and her husband, Russell Harrison Sr., 62, own the Wilkins business, which is managed by their other son, Russ Jr., 34. The owners decided it would be more cost-efficient to construct a building than to continue repairs.
They plan to close in April, after the busy fish-fry, Lenten season, and construct a tavern of more than 3,500 square feet, extending into adjacent property the Harrisons bought in 2008. The tavern will have a bigger parking lot.
When it opens next September, Carl's will operate on Sundays for the first time since 1975; the number of draft beers will have increased from 20 to 30; and a build-a-burger option will be on the menu, the Harrisons said.
Larger group seating will reflect Carl's customer base: Families with children.
“What we want to do is keep up with the times, (but) we want to still be Carl's,” Russell Harrison Sr. said.
On Monday evening, regulars said they had mixed feelings about the impending changes. They said they liked Carl's casual atmosphere, defined by a central bar surrounded by flat-screen TVs playing local sports and the History Channel.
“I don't know if it needs to be done. The hometown charm might be missing (in the new building),” said Steve Daniels, 55, a California, Pa., resident who sipped a beer at the bar. He is a native of Forest Hills.
Pat Genutis, 60, of Plum, picked up dinner for herself and her husband. As long as the food remains the same in the new Carl's, the changes could be good, she said.
The demolition of the old auto-repair shop next door has already provided a change for the better — much-needed parking space, she said.
“They had more draft beers than parking,” she said.
Christel Harrison said her father, though, would be pleased not only by the changes to come but by his legacy passing to a third generation.
“He would be proud of us,” she said.
Tory N. Parrish is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-5662 or tparrish@tribweb.com.
