February 2012
What a start to the month! On the first Friday we have the JIM ROBERTI BAND back on our stage. If you are a big Roberti fan, and you want more of him locally, I really suggest you make it out that night. Jim is deciding if he wants to make Sarah Street a regular stage for his band in 2012, and who shows up for this one will have lots to do with that. This town needs more Jim, and now there is only one real music stage left in Stroudsburg, so help make it be here!
The next night, February 4th, needs it’s own paragraph in the SSG News Letter. CHRIS CUZME is celebrating his 35th Birthday, which means he has been performing here for over 15 years! He has been a HUGE part in so many awesome music projects and bands I can’t list them all, but here is a few: The Bobby Syvarth Combo, Flutophone Jackson, The Five Flutophones, Panjea, Spoken Movement, Maryella, Eddie Sanabria and Changes, and many more. These performances really helped Sarah Street get it’s reputation as a real music room and if I had to pick one artist to be the most influential in that, it is the incredible saxophone and terrific bass playing of Mr Cuzme! For his 35th he is performing as an opener with Bobby Syvarth and then with THE STATESMEN. The Statesmen is a side project of JONAH SMITH, a Sarah Street Legend. Jonah teams up with Josh Dion, Ben Ruben and Mr Metzger to be the Statesman, and on this night they will be joined by CHRISTOPHER RAFEAL CUZME for his 35th celebration. There is no reason to be anywhere else, and I ask all my friends, all that love music here at SSG, and those that want to see what the best music we have to offer here is like, mark Saturday February 4th on your calendar and enjoy the show! If you can’t make it, boo, but Jonah will be back with the JSB on the 18th – something that deserves all the same credit and compliments, but won’t have Cuzme on the Sax!
Then comes the SUPER BOWL, on Sunday the 5th. Only here is there sound of the game throughout, and great prizes given away at every commercial break – skis, golf bags, shirts, hats, DVD players, basketballs, a football signed by the QB of the Eagles, and much more. Yes, this is the only championship game, or any playoff game that WE DON’T PLAY MUSIC OVER THE COMMERCIALS. Sometimes I wonder if this is better or not, but we all want to hear what someone spends millions to create and have played during the most watched TV event of the year, and I need time to give away these great prizes! No one does this game better then we do, it is like a great house party with someone else doing all the set up and clean up!
How about this month is also the 10th Aniversary of Sushi At Sarah Street! Boy oh boy, time does fly. Not only has is been 10 years, but 10 years of always getting better and more creative. Come and wish Jo, Christie, Jimmy, Dan, and Nate a happy decade of slicing fish to perfection.
Hey, did you miss the Wine Tasting Night in January, since we didn’t have one? I did, but we are going to have the event now every other month in 2012, and this month is a go. Get your ticket a head of time, because when you put as much work as Christy does in preparing these events, with help from CJ, Christie, and Jimmy with the food, and the hosts our wine suppliers send to talk about the wine, you need to be here!
How about home sales are up, unemployment is down, GM is now back to being the #1 Auto maker in the world, Osama is sunk deep in the ocean, and our troops are out of Iraq (sort of). In these days of constant negative news, I call this positive with a long, long, long way to go. Peace all.
January 2012
Before I start talking about 2012, one last plug for NYE 2011. We have a great party band with THE WHO KNOWS BAND – the actual name of the band, not a way of saying I have not made up my mind yet, and a house DJ VJ keeping the dancing going all night long. There is a Champagne Toast at Midnight, party favors for all, and tickets are a mere $15. Chef Rob has his NYE Dinner Specials all planned out, and they will be terrific. NYE at Sarah Street is always fun! We are open New Years Day, as we have the last day of NFL regular season games, followed by the Pocono Duo. BIG SUNDAY NIGHT GAME: COWBOYS vs GIANTS, winner goes on, loser stays home. The next day, Jan 2, we are closed for our end of the year staff party. This staff works hard and I am happy I am able to show them a night of thanks. Thursdays have the ERIN McCLLELAND BAND with NO COVER. The Weekends are full of great live bands and Playoff NFL Football. Make a note that the last weekend is a BLUES FEATURED WEEKEND with the VESTAPOLITANS on Friday the 27th and BROOK SHIVE AND THE 45′s on Saturday the 28th. I get lots of requests from those that want more Blues on the SSG stage, so here is their chance to show support to two great Blues bands.
A much more aggressive after work HAPPY HOUR starts here on January 3, with $1 off of all beverages and 10% off all Sushi and House Appetizers from 4:30 – 6:30 PM, Monday – Friday. When you want to shake off the day of work, or just gather with friends and workmates, come right over here to Sarah Street where the best bartenders and servers in the Poconos are employed, the best music plays, and now is the home of the best HAPPY HOUR. You may ask, “is this guy some kind of self crowning title giver?”, and I say, “come and find out!”
Well here is title I don’t have to self appoint: The Sarah Street Hockey Team won the Pittston Rink A League Championship for the first time. We have made the finals many times over the years, but this time we won in a best of 3 final, losing 1 – 2, winning 4- 3 in overtime, and then capturing the tie breaker 4 – 2. Really close series with our arch rival, the Bulldogs. Season tickets are still available for the next league, but please, no autographs!
The NBA is back and here at Sarah Street we have all the games as well as all the NHL games. If your game is not on, just ask and it soon will be. On Monday the 9th, we have the BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, with our famous SSG Buffalo Wings put out at half time for FREE!
After the BCS, Monday Night Game Night returns. Backgammon, Chess, Pinocle, Playstation, WII, Trivia, Video Poker and more are all available to help us get through having no Football for the next 8+ months! We have a house Chess Champ, Todd (The Red Headed Miami Fish Fan), and if you can beat me, you get a shot at him. That pain in my butt is really good a Backgammon too!
We are researching what local charity will benefit from our 17Th Anniversary on April 9, when 17% of sales that day go to a worthy cause. Any ideas and suggestions, email them to me at dave@sarahstreetgrill.com.
Welcome to the New Year, and may it bring you positive memories and good times!
December 2011
Blizzards, Heavy Rain and Sunshine mixed up the end of October and all of November – one can only guess what the beginning of Winter will bring! Well you don’t have to guess what Sarah Street will bring, because I am about to tell you. No one, in at least a wide radius of here, does NFL Football like we do. Every game is in HI DEF, unless there is more then eight on at once. When there is more then eight, we have those too, but sadly they are on the “old school” visual which many of our competition makes your only option for all the games. At this time, unless you are a Rams fan like me, there are a lot of great games coming this month. Thursday nights, Sunday and Sunday nights, Every game on Christmas Eve day, Monday nights, and Christmas night are all Football Nights at Sarah Street. Wings specials, beer specials, sound on your game, and Sarah St service – why watch anywhere else! * Another great month of music is hitting our stage, and if I wrote about them all, these letters would get repetitive. Therefore, let me point out the ones that are different then usual like our 10th Annual HAMELL ON TRIAL CHRISTMAS SHOW with guests JOHNNY RYDELL and VINCE DEL SOL, THE DOS DIABLOS. HAMELL won’t be back until April or May 2012, Mr Rydell is on the top of his music game, and this show is one for the SSG History books as it is the 10th one – so don’t miss it! The next day we are once again doing a joint venture with the Sherman Theater and having a Christmas Jam on December 17th. On Thursday, the 29th, local legend band THUNDER MOUNTAIN is having a reunion and CD release party here at the Grill. New Years Eve Eve, the 30th, brings back in our own SSG legend BOBBY SYVARTH COMBO. Then we have the end of the year bash of bashes on NYE with the WHO KNOWS BAND and house DJ/VJ DAVE. I promise you will dance the night away and enjoy your midnight toast that comes included with the door charge. Chef Rob will have terrific NYE dinner specials, so where else can you have so much at one location? * Starting in 2012 we will be redoing our Happy Hour concept. The new one will be $1 off all drinks, and 10% off of all appetizers and sushi, Mon – Fri 4:30 until 6:30. This will all start Jan 3, 2012, and I will have more specifics in January’s News Letter. * One local/political point to make: route 80 is ridiculously dangerous. When there is any kind of rain the visual on that already scary two lane truck filled highway becomes a nightmare. Where are the reflectors? Where are the lane lines that can be seen? Who makes these decisions? Well whoever did will be responsible for many injuries and worse. Why redo something and make it more dangerous, not less? We sit in crazy traffic while road work is done (well in theory, as you often see no one doing anything), only to have a lessor product upon completion. I know you can’t get away with that in the restaurant business. * Okay, enough of that and back to happy Holiday thoughts: May you and your family and friends have a terrific Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Years Eve, and a 2012 full of joy and positive experiences. Or the simple way to put it – Peace and Love all.
November 2011
This is the end of hope for some Indian Summer days and playing golf, getting some last sit downs on our outdoor deck, and hoping those with Solar panels and swimming pools will get great return on their investments of the Sun for 2011. To put it simple: it rained too damn much! Well maybe that will mean a fun Winter with lots of snow and skiing. This month, as always, is filled with great things here at Sarah Street. NFL Football continues with every game in HI DEF on Sunday afternoons, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and now Thursday Night Football. All the games feature our areas best Buffalo Wings for .35 a piece, and 23 oz Miller Lite for $3.50. The first Thursday Night Game, the Raiders @ the Chargers, features PHLITE DECK TICKETS, where two tickets for the EAGLES vs PATS game on Nov. 27th will be given away. These tickets for the game include food and drink, so mark on your calendar: November 10th be at SARAH STREET GRILL. While marking your calendar, or just printing ours off our new web site and posting it on your fridge, make these notes too: on the 12th Johnny Rydell’s full band LOS DIABLOS, truly on of the best things going on our stage these days, will be rockin the house. Not much better than watching something that has always been great become awesome, like Mr Rydell and his band. The following weekend brings the BOBBY SYVARTH BAND back from playing every day in the Caribbean for the past 6 weeks. They should be sharp, and tan, as can be! Then THE STEVE MCDANIEL BAND takes the stage November 23, the night before Thanksgiving. This is one of the biggest party nights of the year and there are not many opportunities to see the full SMB in our area anymore. Come out and have a pre turkey day blast, and let us cook for you as their will be plenty of home kitchen time the next day! We are closed Thanksgiving so we can all spend time with family and friends and give thanks, then the Thanksgiving weekend is stacked with more unique and fun things to do here at the Grill. Not only is RAILROAD EARTH continuing a Stroudsburg Thanksgiving Weekend tradition of playing back to back shows at the Sherman Theater Friday and Saturday, but some of the best Blue Grass Eclectic Jam bands around are playing all over the town. Here at Sarah Street, on Friday the 25th, we have a pre show featuring SHOCKENAW, which is three of the five members of Railroad Earth. Then during and after the RE show, we have CABINET returning to the Sarah Street stage. On Saturday we have a pre RE show event called the SLAVIC SOUL PARTY and afterwords, another well known band in the Blue Grass scene, YARN, takes our stage. If you have the weekend ticket for the Sherman, it also covers your entrance here at Sarah Street for both pre and post parties. Pre parties start at 6, and post parties start at 10 30, with Railroad Earth finishing at the Sherman around 11 30. As I often seem to be doing, I will give a plug to the Wine Tasting Night that happens the last Tuesday of every month. The food is always great, the wine delicious, and a great way to make new friends and hang with old ones. This past one, October’s, featured a potato and fresh Shitake mushroom pasta, salmon with two great sauces, and a sheet pumpkin pie/cake with fresh whip cream that many people freaked out over, including me! I didn’t even taste the wine, as I had a hockey league game to play in, and I still had a great time. The beer dinner the night before was really good too, and in a few months we have another of those. Okay, that is enough for now.. see you at the Street!
October 2011
There is so much to talk about this month, I hardly know where to start. The NFL is in full swing, and other then a DIRECTV HI DEF issue in week one, during the first half of the 1:00 games, it has gone only the way Sarah Street can do it. All of our HI DEF TV’s are posted days in advance, and sound is available at your table for whichever game you want to listen to when multiple games are on at the same time. When there is only one game on, Sunday, Monday, and Thursday (starting in November) night, we have our house DJ playing music over the commercials. We will do the same in the MLB playoffs for all the Phillies and Yankees games. Other MLB playoff games will have the option of table listening through our house SOUNDOGS. Not everyone likes to hear sounds of sporting events in a classy dining establishment like Sarah Street, but there are many things about this place that are unique and not the “norm”, like authentic Sushi in an American themed restaurant, or being an original encouraging music venue that also promotes and features out and in market sporting events, or being the first to go non smoking and also being the only place to build a place for smokers to satisfy their cravings – although I really think you should all QUIT! It is a collection of all the things I like, and luckily, many of you do too! Of course we always do our best to make everyone happy, and if you want a quieter place to dine when others are yelling at the TV, we will try to find you one. We do have six different areas for your pleasure! The month starts off with the TRIATHLON, and the town of Stroudsburg will be quite fun. Saturday the 1st, has MIKE FRANK AND FRIENDS, and if you haven’t checked them out yet, you should – they are lots of fun. Then comes Columbus Day weekend, and after a weekend of great music, food, and sports intermingled, Monday the 10th features the NAN POKER BIKE RUN, an annual motorcycle run for a great charity. For more info, go to www.nanfoundation.org . FRED GILLEN JR returns to the Grill for singer songwriter Tuesdays, on the 11th. Fred is a very cool musician that has played our stage for many years, but does not come often. I highly recommend making a point to attend this one. FREIGHT TRAIN takes the stage for the first time on the 14th, and I always point out that a first show is the show when everyone attending can give their input on if this new band should come into the SSG rotation. SUZE plays the next night, and coming out of the Scranton, they have already established a great vibe in our town. Then comes ESU Homecoming weekend, and JIM ROBERTI returns to the roots of where he and his band became one of the most popular local bands of all time – The Sarah Street Grill! Yes, on October 21st, Jim and the boys finally are back on the only real bar stage in the Poconos. You, the general population, have been on me to make this happen for years, so show up and have a blast! The next night brings THE DIRK QUINN BAND back, and they also are a don’t miss show. They rocked the Court House Square at Stroudfest, and really deserve a strong local following. Chris Gavalas’s feature of the month (he is always woking hard on something special) is the third CG Beer Diner, on Monday the 24th. It will feature five different versions of Sam Adams, served with five courses of finely prepared culinary wonders! The Beer Dinner full menu will be available at are newly redesigned WWW.SARAHSTREETGRILL.COM website. Thursday’s featured band of the month is THE KEVIN BRENNAN BAND, and Thursdays have no cover charge and $2 Yeungling pints from 9 till Midnight. This band begins the Halloween five day party on the 27th. Then we have the ERIN MCCLLELAND BAND on the 28th, WHO KNOWS on the 29th, the POCONO DUO on the 30th, and our House DJ and MNF on the 31st. All of these Halloween nights will feature prizes for the best overall costume, and maybe the return of The Blues Brothers, Jake and Elwood. Every last Tuesday of the month ends with Christy’s Wine Tasting Night. I have had a great time at every one of those I have attended, and Christie and Assistant Head Chef CJ, with help from Sushi Jimmy, really give this their all. May the Fall bring a good time to all, and we promise to do our best to assist in that goal.
!Questions or Comments: dave@sarahstreetgrill.com
September 2011
Well I sit and write this as the first, of hopefully many, MADY’S SNOW DAY goes on. This outdoor charity concert is of to a great start, and the vibe here is really awesome. So many Sarah Street employees, almost every other local bar, friends, artists, staff from the Sherman Theater, Strausers Landscaping, Fernwood Resort, and Mady’s family have donated a ton of time and energy to make this possible. The whole parking lot has been turned into a concert setting, and so far, the weather has cooperated. Since there are major storms North and South of us, maybe Mady has something to do with that. A very special thanks to my GM, Chris Gavalas, who has really put an amazing effort into this project. Thanks as well to anyone I forgot to mention. As we finish MADY’S DAY, we get ready for STROUDFEST taking place on September 3, in the Courthouse Square. There is a whole web site set up for Stroudfest which will give you all the info of who is performing and at what times (just GOOGLE Stroudfest). I want to give an extra plug on the band going on at Noon, and who is also playing here the night before, Friday the 2nd. They are the DIRK QUINN BAND, and are one of very few instrumental rock/jazz/jam bands that really gets me musically excited. Usually I can only handle about 40 minutes of music without vocals, but not with these guys. Each one is better then the other, and they never get boring – maybe a little loud – but never boring. The closer of STROUDFEST, THE STATESMAN, also deserves an extra mention, as this is house favorite JONAH SMITH’S other project. It includes JOSH DION on drums and vocals, who has his own history as a SSG star, BEN RUBEN on bass, and ERIC METZGER on guitar. They will also be playing here at the Grill the night after Stroudfest is complete, with Chris Cuzme’s saxophone replacing Eric’s guitar. Thursdays featured artist this month is the ZAC LAWLESS BAND, and they can be enjoyed with NO COVER and $2 Yeungling Lager pints every Thursday except the 8th BECAUSE NFL FOOTBALL IS BACK! Every game is on here at Sarah Street in HI DEF and sound, the areas best Buffalo Wings at .35 each, and on Thursday the 8th it kicks off with the SAINTS at the PACKERS. I guess week one is like a playoff game for me, as Rams fan, as I will either talk to or be talked at by all my Eagles fan friends for the entire season. Then those funny horned helmet fellas with play another house favorite, the Giants in week two on Monday Night. Throw in their games against the house favorite number three, the Cowboys, and the Kennedy boys Redskin team later in the season, and oh how the trash talk will fly. Hopefully not towards me! * We have a first time band here on the 23rd, WOODEN SPOON. Come out and give your feedback, because there is only one first time! First Love, first touchdown, first homer, first job, first walk, first you know what (hint: 1st and 3rd in list), first tooth, and first gig at a new room. * Hey cranberry drinkers, or in my case vodka and cranberry drinkers, have you tried the white cranberry? I think it is a fantastically better tasting juice and mixer, and we now have it, as well as traditional cranberry, here at Sarah Street. All of our juices are not from concentrate, and never, never from the soda gun. Why would anyone mix a good drink with a bad juice? * Well enjoy what remains of beach and pool weather, and we here at Sarah Street thank you for making us possible.
Questions/ Comments: dave@sarahstreetgrill.com
