November 07, 2011|By Erik Maza, The Baltimore Sun
Korns is part of the tavern's other reliable constituency: horse-racing fans. When Ted Bauer bought the restaurant in 1979, Mount Washington was a burgeoning neighborhood. But besides drug stores, hair salons, and dress shops, there were no other restaurants. For those who worked at Pimlico Race Track, it was the most convenient place to go wind down before and after the annual Preakness race.
Jockeys and trainers came — Mike Smith, who just won the Breeders' Cup, has visited several times; Kent Desormeaux, showed up once after hours craving a tavern steak; there was also trainer D. Wayne Lucas, and on another occasion, famed trainer Bob Bafford guest-bartended. Every year the trumpet player at Pimlico would come and perform the "Call to the Post" fanfare for the customers.
"It became just what you did when you came into town for Preakness," Hale said. "It was such a ritual."
The fire that destroyed the tavern has left the regulars stranded — though the owners have said they want to reopen by next Preakness, they're not making promises — wondering for the first time in years if they'll have to alter a routine as traditional as the race itself.
"I get very attached to places. This was like a part of me, like an arm and a leg," Korns said. "I've been planning Preakness now, and I don't know what to do. I don't know if I'll have to skip the breakfast and drinks. I wouldn't know where else to go."
Hale said people in the horse-racing business had flocked there because they appreciated how the tavern stayed the same year after year.
Even when Frisch and Lichty took over, the regulars didn't notice because the two of them had been managing for so long, she said.
She can't think of where to go on Preakness. "It just has to be done by then. It just has to," she said.
The two owners themselves haven't changed much. They still wear the preppy regalia — Frisch is clad in his quilted jackets; Lichty is fond of his khakis.
They say the only change they've noticed is in how the business is marketed.
Hopes and plans
Frisch and Lichty say they want to open the bar in time for Preakness, but the scale of the reconstruction is overwhelming. The roof caved in. The kitchen is filled with debris. And while the main bar and raw bar are still standing, but it's not yet clear how much water damage there is. In the garden, only "the retractable roof and some booze" is left, Frisch said.
For the next 10 to 20 days, their insurance company will be surveying the scene, and after that, the rebuilding will start. Already, they've met with engineers and architects to plan. They are looking to re-create the tavern's old look, while updating some design weaknesses in the building.
"We want to make it more efficient and flow better," Frisch said. "It'll be very traditional, and, like the tavern used to be, elegant."
Insurance has provided some comfort to the owners through the ordeal — because the tavern had business interruption insurance, employees will be getting paid as well. But their concern is with the customers and where they'll go for that tavern family, during happy hour or on Preakness day.
Recently, staff members, from the kitchen to the bartenders, invited the owners out to Souris Saloon in Towson to toast the tavern.
"It was very emotional and therapeutic to see everybody," Frisch said. But, when asked where he'd plan to go to for his own beer now that for the first time in decades he won't have his bar, he hesitates.
"I don't know," he said. "That's a good question. "
erik.maza@baltsun.com
Twitter.com/erik_maza
