Inside/Outside State College: Something Is Missing Downtown

Inside/Outside State College is a new monthly column by Jeff Deitrich offering views on downtown and the outdoors within a 30-minute driving distance.

Spats. Zola. The Deli. The Golden Wok.

If you weren’t downtown more than five years ago, you might not know these names. But those of us who were remember these restaurants fondly. They were the heart of a small-but-vibrant higher-end downtown State College dining scene, along with The Tavern and The Allen Street Grill.

Those places are now gone, along with Mario & Luigi’s and others before them. And with the loss of Mad Mex two years ago, downtown now lacks upper-end, sit-down steak, seafood, southern, Chinese, Mexican and Italian restaurants, along with many other styles of cuisine.  What’s more, the three remaining high-end restaurants all are currently not open for lunch, which leaves a big hole when you want to impress someone during the day.

So, I’m wondering: Where are we going with dining downtown?

Please don’t get me wrong. The new restaurants that have come in downtown are all nice in their own right. But they are exactly that – nice, and the focus is mostly on students and pub food. Few of them could lay semblance of a claim to being upscale or high-end dining, and certainly not fine dining.

Townies like me are thrilled that The Tavern and the Allen Street Grill have survived and are thriving. It causes one to wonder why we’ve lost so many finer restaurants that have not been replaced. I’m not the only one who feels it. Many others do.

Jamie Ryan, general manager of The Tavern, feels it.

Ryan, who spent most of her life on the State College scene apart from 15 years studying in Milan, Italy, says her customers often ask her for recommendations for unique dining options downtown. Apart from the Grill, which she loves, she has little to offer, and she sees that in the behavior of her guests.

“I’ve seen guests come in here for dinner while attending conferences at The Penn Stater,” Ryan said. “They may go elsewhere the second night and then come back here. They always come back here when they return for the conference the next time.

“Guests are looking for options that aren’t chains,” she continued. “We miss places like The Deli, Spats, Zola, and the Golden Wok—places that feel opulent with brick décor and something locally unique. People are looking for charm—an experience.

She added, “A lot of alumni are in their 50s and want to spend their money here. They often remark to me that all the empty shop fronts give downtown a depressing feeling. Many townspeople have told me downtown doesn’t seem to be a place for families, older people or retirees.”

Richard Woodham, general manager of Lionne and 1855 at the Nittany Lion Inn, agrees. While Lionne is separated from downtown a bit, its mid-upscale twist of French-American cuisine with an Austrian/German influence certainly can be considered the one new finer dining option in town, replacing earlier versions of dining at The Inn.

“Downtown caters to a different crowd,” Woodham said. “It’s very fast paced, very a la carte. There’s not a lot of what places like the Allen Street Grill provides, but we could obviously provide more.

“People are willing to spend their money to enjoy their experience,” he added. “They are looking for a high-quality experience.

“The best thing we could do to provide that is bring the people together who can provide the experience and bring them together,” he said. “If the folks who develop the town gave those opportunities to the folks who want and deserve them, then the quality of food and the atmosphere would go up substantially.”

Restaurants like the Allen Street Grill are blessed with owners who are from the food services industry, rather than simply property developers who care more about the rent than the cuisine.

“Ownership came in with a strong desire to do something that State College didn’t have,” said Becky Burger, general manager at the Grill. “They said, ‘We have The Corner Room. Let’s do something unique with the Grill.’

“Their dedication to the team and to buying top quality food, hiring and training educated servers who can give guests a full explanation of the menu, it all makes for a high-end experience,” she said.

“Our owners are in the food and beverage business,” added Bren Dornich, hospitality director. “The real estate developers at other properties don’t care about the town. They just care that they have first floor eateries that pay the rent. When the owners are about the business and their staff, it makes the industry not just palatable but fun.”

And it leads to a great dining experience for guests—something many of us feel this town deserves more of.

“We crave that,” said Dornich about the possibility of having more high-end dining in town. “We feel like we’ll all benefit. A rising tide lifts all boats. It’s not competition to us.”

Certainly there are people working toward that goal.

Kendra Kielbasa, retail and commercial business advocate at the Downtown Improvement District, has that goal in mind, and she also suggested that everyone in downtown has a part to play in making the dining scene more vibrant.

“The dining scene is continually evolving and is shaped by demand,” Kielbasa said. “The downtown is what people want it to be. It’s up to the community to come down and foster that atmosphere. These things really do impact downtown and drive that demand.

“Developers are looking at foot-traffic, the number of cars downtown and whether business is cyclical,” she added. “They need a strong financial plan.”

Of course, it’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg conundrum. I’d expect that more people would come for that kind of experience if more options were available.

Kielbasa noted that several restaurants are being planned for downtown, including Figo, a higher end Italian restaurant. There is some uncertainty about whether that will happen, but, if it does come to fruition, it will be located in The Standard high-rise at College and Atherton. Several other restaurant developers are looking for the right location.

“We recognize that locals want more than a bar and a walk-up counter. It’s not about replacing the past but about meeting the moment,” Kielbasa said. “Together we’re all working toward the same goal.”

We won’t see the likes of Spats, Zola and The Deli again. But here’s hoping our developers keep an open mind toward providing the residents and guests of our town with the finer dining options we crave – and that we the diners earn those high-quality dining experiences with our continued patronage.

I for one would love that.

Jeff Deitrich is a retired hotelier and outdoors writer living in State College. He welcomes comments at psumohs@yahoo.com.