To anyone traveling by the place in July, it appeared as though Mario's was gone for good.
After a quarter of a century in business, the South Side landmark closed its doors without fanfare. Weary of the grind of operating the bar and restaurant, owner Bob Pessolano, 56, of Ross had called it quits.
"I purchased some property out here a few years ago," he said recently via phone from California, where he is building a home. "I wanted to plant some grapes, make some wine."
An era had ended on Carson Street.
Or so it seemed.
Fast forward four months.
Patty Beck sat on a stool in Mario's, discussing her feelings about now being a caretaker of a Pittsburgh institution.
"Am I nervous⢠Absolutely," she said. "We've only been open a few weeks, but I think I've aged about five years already."
Beck, 26, of Bethel Park and her husband, Mike Beck, both have toiled at a number of area restaurants.
They belong to a group that pooled their resources and purchased Mario's and the adjoining -- and far less legendary -- Blue Lou's from Pessolano last month.
Also buying into the premise that Mario's still has life in it are Southwest Airlines pilot Ian Primosch, 35, of Moon and Cory Lewis, 29, the president of Mirage Financial Services of the North Side, and his wife, Molly Lewis.
The purchase price of the buildings housing the bars totaled $850,000, but the group wasn't buying a run-of-the-mill shot-and-beer joint. This was Mario's, the pioneering bistro that gave a faint pulse to a Carson Street on life support in the early 1980s after the demise of the steel mills.
That trailblazing history contributed greatly to the Becks and their friends quickly making Pessolano an offer when he decided to indulge his interest in wine making.
"When we heard it was available, we couldn't pass it up" Patty Beck recalled.
Things haven't stayed quite the same at the old bar.
Mario's is now smoke-free. If you want to light up, you'll have to venture next door to Blue Lou's.
The ridiculously cramped restrooms have been expanded, and a new menu has been introduced. The upper level soon will feature shuffleboard and billiard tables.
But the new owners quickly decided to keep the bar's original moniker.
"There was absolutely no way we were going to change the name," Patty Beck said adamantly. "Everyone knew Mario's."
She now hopes people renew the acquaintanceship.
