Stone Balloon returns to Newark's Main Street

If Bobby Pancake had been at the University of Delaware when he was college-aged, you wouldn't have found him crushing beer cans with his head or shotgunning cheap Budweiser at the old Stone Balloon Tavern and Concert Hall in Newark.

It's just not his style.

Even though he never stepped foot in the legendary watering hole, he's the one who has brought the Balloon back to Main Street, re-filling the hearts of those who spent perhaps a little too much time in the notorious bar.

When Bill Stevenson, the original owner of the Balloon drove down Main Street and saw the sign for the first time, he was overtaken with emotion.

Everything was right again in the heart of Newark.

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And even better, it was back to being a Balloon-branded beer bar and not a somewhat haughty wine bar filled with light jazz, artisanal sheep milk cheeses and Argentine Malbecs.

"I couldn't believe it was back. I'm delighted. This ale house brings it full circle," says Stevenson, who is not involved in the project. "Why they didn't take more advantage of the Stone Balloon name in the past surprised me, but this makes it all right."

After closing for a short time last month for remodeling, the 100-seat Stone Balloon Ale House opened its doors a few weeks ago, showcasing the Balloon legend with plenty of nods to the old rock club without the sometimes cheesy feel of a Hard Rock Cafe. (And fear not, the custom-made archway made of brick and stone from the façade of the old original Balloon remains.)

The back wall is adorned with the names of many of the major acts that played the hallowed hall and guitars line the stairway not to heaven, but rather the upstairs dining area available for private events.

The restaurant's music system even has many of the artists who performed at the Balloon programmed in. So the next time you stop in for a beer to chat about the good ol' days, you might hear Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road" while snacking on chicken noodle kettle corn ($3) or George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" while attacking the "Bucket of Bones" entrée of mango jalapeno beer barbeque ribs ($19).

The original Stone Balloon closed in 2005 after a 33-year run – a year after Pancake moved to Delaware and opened his first Buffalo Wild Wings in Bear, where he lives.

The restaurant has an impressive 25-page menu mounted on a wooden clipboard that doubles as a conversation piece loaded with comfort foods, beer lists and the history of the Balloon. Chef Robbie Jester remains charge of the restaurant's kitchen, building on his past work at the dining rooms of Hotel DuPont and Toscana.

Speaking of beer, there are 16 brews on tap currently and nearly 40 available in cans or bottles, including a small sampling of "lawnmower beers" that old fans of the Balloon might be more comfortable with, like $1 Natural Light and $3 Miller Lite.

The current draft craft beer list has a variety of brews that should make any beer-drinker hoppy with selections from local brewhouses like 16 Mile, Delmar's 3rd Wave, Milford's Mispillion River Brewing and Twin Lakes Brewery in Greenville.

National brands like Brooklyn Brewery, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Otter Creek Brewing and Yards Brewing Company are among those represented, ranging in price from $4.50 for a New Belgium Brewings Snapshot to $7 for the 9.9% ABV Lagunitas Brown Shugga'. There are also eight wines on tap.

The site of the old Stone Balloon, which hosted musical acts that included Springsteen, Metallica, Dave Matthews and My Morning Jacket, has been home to three restaurants over the past six years or so. And the lingering confusion over what restaurant is currently housed there after all the turnover is one of general manager Philip DiFebo's main challenges to overcome.

"The No. 1 thing we hear is, 'What are you guys now? This is like the fourth thing that has been here.' Well, it's really only the third and there's not going to be a fourth," he says. "They want to know why this has been continuously changing. We are working to get to word out that we are not the same and we don't do things the same way.

"Guests would say they would get a table to have a beer and their servers would tell them they couldn't sit there unless they ordered food. People would leave the building. That's the stigma attached to this place: inhospitable."

So people are allowed to just drink at their tables now?

"It's kind of encouraged. It's kind of frowned upon if you don't," he jokes.

After the old Balloon was leveled, the site came back to life in 2009 when owner Jim Baeurle opened the street-level Stone Balloon Winehouse with the Washington House Condominiums above.

In mid-2013, he partnered with Georgetown-based 16 Mile Brewery and re-branded the spot 16 Mile Taphouse, leaving Main Street without the Balloon name for the first time in 41 years.

It didn't last long.

This summer, Baeurle sold the spot to High 5 LLC, led by Pancake and his business partner Steve Wheat, who own and operate six Delaware Buffalo Wild Wing franchises stretching across the state from Rehoboth Beach in the south to a Limestone Road location in Stanton to the north. Two also have a pair of "BDubs" in Maryland.

While working on a vision for their new restaurant, the tavern remained opened as 16 Mile Taphouse for several months before a nondescript temporary white banner was strung up front Dec. 2, announcing the return of the Stone Balloon name.

DiFebo has been hands-on, transforming the bar and restaurant into something a little closer to the Balloon in terms of it being communal gathering space. (The staff, some of which are University of Delaware Students, can come into the restaurant and use it as a Wi-Fi-connected study center after business hours as along as other staff members are in the building working.)

While the the Stone Balloon Ale House is gunning to be more accessible than the site's previous two incarnations, don't expect the sticky, beer-splattered floors or even any live music. Remember, there are now people living (and sleeping) just above in the attached condos.

"There are no holes in the wall in the men's room where people used to urinate," DiFebo jokes. "Those days are gone. That doesn't exist anymore."

Even so, the new restaurant will begin hosting "Throwback Thursdays" in a couple of weeks in a nod to the Balloon's infamous Mug Nights. Customers that bring in their old Stone Balloon mugs and get $3 select craft drafts from 3 p.m. to close. In a bit of a stretch, the new restaurant also happily notes on its signage that it was established in 1972.

"It's a great name. It's what Newark is best at," says DiFebo, who previously worked at his family's restaurants like DiFebos in Bethany Beach and Feby's Fishery just outside Wilmington before joining the High 5 team about 16 months ago. "It's a gathering house where people can come, relax, reminisce and also bring their kids."

There's more seating in the front of the restaurant, giving more space for people-watching on Main Street. A couple of booths have been added, along with a soon-to-come a Lazy Susan-style beer barrel-turned-table that seats eight. Colors of black, cranberry and taupe dominate the re-designed dining room and bar.

When it comes to the food, appetizers range from "keg fries" topped with beer cheese, braised short ribs, pico de gallo and bacon ($7) to meatloaf-wrapped bacon "lollipops" ($7). The bacon is a house-made cherry wood smoked bacon encrusted with peppercorn and honey. You can get a plate of just bacon for $6.

In addition to salads, tacos, hamburgers and sandwiches, entrées include a chicken and vegetable pot pie ($14) and pan-seared Icelandic cod ($17).

The menu will rotate every few months with seasonal dishes added, some of which will be made with ingredients from DiFebos' 200-acre family farm in Pennsville, N.J.

And, no, there are no buffalo wings to be found on the menu. "I know where to get the best wings in town, so I don't need to have them here," Pancake says.

Pancake and Wheat have had a good run in recent years, growing their in-state Buffalo Wild Wing imprint and being named Restaurateurs of the Year by the Delaware Restaurant Association in 2011.

A year earlier, the pair, along with other members of their High 5 team and a few other business owners, met with President Obama in the Oval Office to discuss small businesses and jobs initiatives. Later, they stood behind him in the Rose Garden during a statement on the issues.

But these days, Pancake's attention is less on the leader of the free world and more on his first non-franchisee stand-alone restaurant and the Balloon's legacy.

"The name Stone Balloon really piques peoples' interest," says Pancake, a West Virginia native. "And we want to bring back that nostalgia and give it credit for what it did and what it meant for Delaware."

-- Ryan Cormier, The News Journal. Facebook: @ryancormier. Twitter: @ryancormier. Instagram: @ryancormier.