The former OHM Lounge, and Miss Kitty’s before that, is heading in a new direction in order to stay current with the growth of the Medical Campus. Roslyn “Roz” Righetti bought 948 Main Street back in 2005, after years of neglect. “The building was in pretty rough shape,” she told me. “I heard that at one point it was in jeopardy of being demolished. The place was tore up from the floor up. Since I’ve owned it I’ve put over $430K into it – I bought the building for $100K. I’m a UB graduate – I knew that the Medical Campus would one day shape the neighborhood, so I figured that I couldn’t go wrong. I’ve been good to the building, and it’s been good to me. Now it’s time to align the business to something that fits with the Medical Campus vision. People are moving here from all over the world to work – this city is full steam ahead.”
A couple of years ago Roz added a kitchen to OHM Lounge in preparation for the day that she would convert the place into a pub. Last month she hired chef Gary Tenebra, who formerly was co-owner of Garangelo Café on Hertel Avenue. “I’m serious about bringing good pub food to the neighborhood,” said Roz. “We’re serving up Italian American food, prepared by a seasoned chef. It’s all homemade and house prepared, from the soups to the dressings. We have new lighting, seating for 60 people, and we’re open from 11am to 3:30pm, Monday through Friday.”
Roz told me that the construction along Main Street put a significant hit on her business. At the same time, she knows that there is a silver lining to the disruption. Thankfully, another silver lining is the Medical Campus work crew – the guys have been supporting her since she reopened under the Preservation Pub moniker last Wednesday. “They have been in here every single day, supporting my business. I don’t know what I would have done without them. I also have to give credit to M&T Bank, the only bank that saw my vision here – without them I would not be here today. The City of Buffalo also helped out a lot. Mayor Brown allowed us to park on the sidewalk during the construction process. And Salvation Army is letting our customers park in their lot, thankfully.”
I asked Roz what the best item on the menu was and she said without hesitating, “The chicken wings. They are the best in Buffalo. It’s my Gramma Rose’s recipe – you can’t beat an Italian making chicken wings.”
The rest of the Preservation Pub menu includes fried calamari, classic Caesar salad, pot roast burger, a Philly cheese steak and roasted turkey. The pub also has a popcorn machine for happy hour.
Preservation Pub is a relaxed place to eat, found at the corner of Main and Allen. At the helm of the business is a dedicated woman who told me that “If you spend a little more time and money doing things right the first time, then the building (and the business) will take care of you for many years to come. There are a lot of people out there who suck the life out of the buildings by only looking out for themselves. I wanted to preserve this building for Buffalo – that’s why I”m calling it Preservation Pub.”
Preservation Pub | 948 Main Street | Buffalo NY | 716-332-0510 | Facebook
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