Musicians now cooking at Mother’s Restaurant
The village business district is constantly re-inventing itself.
Mother’s Restaurant, long the pride of owner Terri Root — famous for her homemade pies — is now owned by Scott Schimpff, a prominent local rock musician.
And Scott’s head chef is his bandleader, internationally known electric guitarist Tim Harrington. Both musicians hail from East Syracuse.
The eatery at 201 First St. — now known as Mother’s Homestyle Restaurant — still serves Italian specialties, a French dish or two, steak and seafood.
“We’re keeping it simple,” Harrington said. “We’re using all fresh ingredients and doing a lot of the cooking on the fly. So far, people are responding well to it.”
Harrington predicted the restaurant will undergo “a facelift and a menu-lift” over the next few months.
Rumors continue to circulate that Syracuse’s Limp Lizard Lounge would open its third area barbecue joint at Mother’s location, but Schimpff and Harrington’s tastes run more toward alfredo sauce than barbecue sauce.
The multi-talented Schimpff plays electric bass for Creepjoint, a progressive art-rock combo featuring Harrington’s otherworldly guitar work. Last fall, the band released its second CD, good cookie a.k.a “Thick & Chewy.”
For Mother’s reservations, call 451-9774.
Plate up for sale
The many-named restaurant at 105 First St. has closed. Most recently known as Plate, the two-story eatery is now up for sale.
Best known as the former site of Foster’s, Tutor’s, Three Saints and Aureli’s, over the past half-decade or so the place has been owned and operated by Deborah Voss who first called it Sertino’s Caf (c), later identified it as the Bar at 105 and finally named it Plate.
After toiling over bagels, banquets, burgers and Italian cuisine in its various incarnations and after twice repairing the roof, Voss decided the restaurant business isn’t for her.
Eagan-affiliated realtor Karl Ashley is handling the property’s sale, and interested parties can contact him at 474-7411.
The asking price is $790,000, Ashley said, and that includes the business, the building and the land.
“The biggest concern is parking because JGB has purchased the municipal lot that’s right next door,” Ashley noted.
JGB, which renovated an opened the Red Mill Inn in Baldwinsville a few years back, tentatively plans to build a hotel on First Street’s parking lot site.
Before Voss bought it, 105 First St. flourished for decades as a restaurant, bar and banquet hall. Parking concerns aside, the place surely has the potential to prove profitable once again.
Gelato melted away
Gelato d’Italia is also history. The ice-cream biz operated by Bill Pappas from Syracuse’s 53-year-old Geddes Bakery opened last summer in the eastern-most section of Plate’s first floor, but Pappas left the building earlier this spring.
Gelato d’Italia continues serving its frozen delicacies at locations in North Syracuse and the Carousel Center mall.
Butter-colored business
A splash of yellow now welcomes motorists entering the village via Old Liverpool Road.
Voss Signs, whose plastic yellow logo quickly catches the eye, has opened a retail outlet at 310 Oswego St., between Pat’s Tires and the railroad tracks.
Since 1965, the firm has produced stock and custom signs using a wide variety of materials at its 32,000-square-foot-facility at 112 Fairgrounds Drive in Manlius. To contact the new Voss Signs location in Liverpool, call 461-8677, or e-mail [email protected].
For more than 40 years, Russ Tarby has covered entertainment, crime, sports and politics for a number of Upstate New York newspapers. Over the years he has won awards for investigative journalism, features, reviews and columns.
