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Glen McFaul likes to challenge himself. He could have named his bar/restaurant in Parkville just the IronHorse Tavern, and it probably would have been successful. But he decided to call it McFaul’s IronHorse Tavern. Ego? Nope. “By design!” he exclaimed, during a recent interview with the Beverage Journal for the latest feature in our series of articles on bars, restaurants, and taverns named after the owner, the owner’s family, or some other person. “It was a way for me to put some added pressure on myself to make sure I was going to accomplish what I told everyone I was going to do. When you put your name on a business, it’s even more important that you follow through and execute on your plans. Naming a business after yourself or your family gives you a heightened awareness of everything.”

And in opening McFaul’s IronHorse Tavern more than a decade ago, Glen McFaul was able to restore the luster and reputation of the Baltimore County cornerstone restaurant that was located on the east side of Loch Raven Reservoir. The site had been everything from a blacksmith shop to a post office to a general store since its initial construction in 1886. Owned by the Sanders family for years, their ice cream and sandwich shop became a restaurant in 1991 until its sale in the late 2000s. 

Removing income tax on servers' tip/gratuity income has been a topic of debate recently. Both Presidential candidates have touted potential policy changes. I did a little digging and have provided a brief breakdown of some of the Pros and Cons I found.

PROS:

During this ongoing series of articles on bars, restaurants, and taverns in and around Maryland named after a person, we have chronicled establishments named after the current owner, after the current owner’s grandfather, and one restaurant baring the family name. And then we have Melanie’s at Griffith’s Tavern in Baltimore’s Hampden community. Yeah, you’re reading that right. It’s named after the Oscar-nominated actress of “Working Girl” and “Something Wild” fame.

Oh, it didn’t always used to be that. This fiercely proud neighborhood bar was previously just Griffith’s Tavern. Hannah Spangler and Allison Crowley bought that business in March 2022 from its previous owner, Rick Koehler, who had run it for 45 years. Spangler co-owned the Cans Filling Station beer bar at Cross Street Market where Crowley also worked. But that place closed at the end of January 2022. The opportunity soon arose for the two business partners to purchase the tavern and its adjoining house.

Words. At the end of life, at our funerals, words are all there is left. Kind words. Loving words. Words of fond remembrance. And when a beverage industry legend such as Tom “Goose” Kaiser dies and the assignment is given to write his tribute article, a word limit comes with it. So, rather than wow you with my usual compelling prose, I’ll let the words of those who knew this extraordinary man best speak for his life.

People like Jane Springer, Executive Director of the Maryland State Licensed Beverage Association (MSLBA). She noted that Goose “often presented a tough exterior, but those who didn’t know him would probably be surprised to know what a compassionate and loyal friend he was. Goose took the time to be there for me at a very sad time and also to celebrate a very happy time. I was very grateful for his company.”

Lobbyist Bruce Bereano added, “During all of the years I knew him – not only in Annapolis, but politically around the state – he 100% cared about other people regardless of color, religious, or political affiliation. That was his secret strength.”

Michael’s Café is a family-owned and operated bar and restaurant that is thriving in two Baltimore County locations, Timonium and White Marsh-Middle River. In 1984, The Dellis family opened the doors of the Timonium site, and family patriarch Michael Dellis endeavored to give locals something they were lacking. In recognition of this success, Michael’s Café is our latest pick to be featured in our ongoing series on bars, restaurants, and taverns around the Maryland-D.C. area to be named after their owners, families, or a specific person.

Steven Dellis, who currently runs Michael’s Café with his sister, said during a recent interview with the Beverage Journal, “This place started as a dark, dingy bar back in ‘84. We had 60 seats. It was a rough-around-the-edges neighborhood kind of place. But my father’s intentions were to put his mother’s crab cakes on the menu along with some really good food. It was an immediate success. And over the years, we’ve gradually built to what’s now a 400-seat restaurant with three bars, several dining rooms, and an outside patio that includes one of those bars. I like to say you can go bar-hopping right here, because each bar has its own kind of feel.”

Max’s Taphouse in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood will celebrate its 40th year in business in 2025. Husband-and-wife team Ron and Gail Furman have run the business pretty much from the get-go. And when you have stayed in the bar business that long, you are sure to get many up-and-comers asking for your advice on how to succeed.

Ron Furman tells them all the same thing with great emphasis: “It’s a business! It’s not a party. While you are the host, you have a great responsibility to your patrons and to your employees. You also have a responsibility to your neighborhood, and you have to honor that. It’s why my wife and I have been able to keep our business up and running for the amount of time we have. We’ve given back so much. We have worked with schools and other local organizations.”

When opening a restaurant, bar, or tavern and you decide to use your own name and likeness out front, there is definitely a heightened sense of responsibility to deliver tasty food, great drinks, and top-notch customer service. Just ask Tony Marciante who operates not one, but two Chef Tony’s Seafood restaurants in Montgomery County – one in Bethesda and the other in Rockville.

"The buck always stops with you,” he said, during a recent interview with the Beverage Journal in our ongoing series chronicling Maryland and D.C. eating and drinking establishments named after their owners or family. “If it’s called Texas Roadhouse, no one really knows who [the proprietor] is, do they? But when your name and your face are on the front, you have to field calls for all kinds of things. Of all the people we serve every day, 99 percent are going to leave happy. But there’s always going to be something that happens – that 1 percent – and they’re going to want Chef Tony!”

Liquid Lib’s holds the distinction of being the first wine bar in Baltimore County. Since November 2013, the business has served the Timonium, Maryland community. Liquid Lib's has established itself among the best places to enjoy a glass or a bottle of Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Grigio, or Sauvignon Blanc.

Owner John Liberatore stated during a recent interview with the Beverage Journal, “We have 27 wines by the glass and over 100 wines by the bottle. We also have eight different draft beers and all kinds of bourbons, whiskeys, and ryes. Our menu is tapas-style, which means small portions that come out as soon as they are ready. We have a fireplace. And just last year, we opened an outdoor patio that is connected to Liquid Lib's. It’s a pretty happening place with a bar top that lights up and changes colors, and our high-tops are made out of actual wine barrels that came from Napa Valley.”

Many people in this area would assume that to get fine Turkish cuisine, you would have to go into either Baltimore or the nation’s capital itself. But in suburban Columbia, MD, Rudy’s Mediterranean Grill has been serving up dishes like Grilled Lamb Adana and Turkish Doner Kebab since 2009.

Most people come for two things: one, the authentic food; and two, the chance to shake hands with co-owner Rustem “Rudy” Keskin. During a recent interview with the Beverage Journal, he proudly proclaimed, “This was the first Turkish cuisine in Howard County. We’ve been here 15 years now, and we have many wonderful customers.”

"Behind Every Great Man Is A Great Woman."  Queue Irene Donnelly.

In this ongoing series of articles on Maryland and D.C. bars, restaurants, and taverns named after their owner (or a legacy family member), I typically talk to the actual namesake of the place. For Dylan’s Oyster Cellar in Baltimore, owner Dylan Salmon was unavailable. In journalism, though, one must be flexible. And, in this case, that flexibility paid off in the form of an excellent interview with Dylan’s wife, Irene Donnelly, the establishment’s co-owner.

She has been with him from the start, and she remembers some early trepidation upon making their restaurant a self-named eating and drinking place. She recalled, “There was a brief time where he felt, ‘I think I might have cursed myself because I put my name on the business.’ There was definitely a whole set of expectations that went with that he felt, and still feels, that I don’t necessarily feel. I watch him go around and talk to tables. And people are like, ‘Who is this guy?’ That’s because Dylan is very casual. He wears T-shirts and you’ll often see him in a beanie or a hat. He doesn’t present like a manager or an owner. He’s just a dude. But as soon as he says, ‘I’m Dylan’ then everybody lights up and gets really excited and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, you’re Dylan!’ It’s a lot for him, but he likes it.”

“Ours is the oldest liquor license owned by the same people in Harford County!”

So proclaims Andy Wargo, who has co-owned and operated Wargo’s Restaurant and Tavern in Forest Hill, Maryland, since September 29, 1980, with his wife, Brenda. As such, Wargo’s is the ideal establishment to launch this new series of articles on eating and drinking places in and around the state that bear the name of either the owner or the founding family.

The building that houses Firestone’s Culinary Tavern in Frederick dates back to 1921. That was a noteworthy year both nationally and internationally. Adolf Hitler quietly became the Fuhrer of the Nazi Party in July. The Republic of Ireland won its independence in December. Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize for Physics. Notable births included Rodney Dangerfield, John Glenn, Alex Haley, Gene Roddenberry, Jane Russell, and Lana Turner. And the world first started eating Cheez-Its, Baby Ruth candy bars, and white Wonder Bread.

Firestone’s didn’t start out as an eating and drinking establishment. It was Shipley’s Department Store, serving the good folks of Frederick all of their apparel and other retail needs. If you walk into the tavern today, you can see how this used to be a multi-level store at one point in its existence.

Tom Hurst was born on November 28, 1924, a member of “The Greatest Generation” as coined by newsman Tom Brokaw to describe the age group that came of age during the Great Depression who fought in World War II and sired the Baby Boom. A native of Baltimore, Hurst indeed joined the U.S. Navy during WWII after attending City College. During the war, he served aboard a ship that was torpedoed and survived.

Hurst returned to civilian life and started a career in the local beverage business that became one of legend. He worked his way up from a warehouse and loading dock employee to President of The Kronheim Company before his retirement in 1990. Along the way, he gave many industry professionals their start and continued to inspire them throughout their careers.

As the next General Assembly session nears, those who fight the good fight for the beverage industry in Annapolis will be focused squarely on two threats. The first is any legislation that seeks to allow beer and wine sales in supermarkets and chain stores. The Maryland State Licensed Beverage Association (MSLBA) has opposed such bills for decades and will continue to do so in 2024.

MSLBA Legislative co-Chair David Marberger of Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits in Annapolis remarks, “The fact that grocery stores are still not selling alcohol is always going to be a big victory . . . as long as that’s a true statement! Sometimes there are different angles from our opposition on that. For us, at the end of the day, there is really no good way for that to be presented. Period! Every year that it goes by that it doesn’t get passed, we consider it a win. We also know that, with that win, comes another attempt the following year. It is a short-lived ‘Hurrah!’ for us, because it’s a perpetual thing. You can never rest on your laurels. We, as retailers, always have to stay focused and paying attention. And we always have to keep communicating with our legislators. You have to let them know who we are and what we do.”

As the Maryland General Assembly prepares to convene on January 10th, the imminent introduction of legislation allowing chain stores and supermarkets to obtain retail liquor licenses, along with another potential extension of direct shipment privileges by Maryland manufacturers (originaly introduced during COVID-19) are sure to be in the legislative hopper. On page 8, Beverage Journal staff writer, Teddy Durgin, interviews industry insiders to provide insights on what to expect and how to counteract these potential challenges.

To navigate this legislative landscape effectively, consider the following 'How-To' guide on political involvement and influence: