Pickle Barrel Café reopens after fire

The Pickle Barrel Café reopened its doors at a new location this past Monday, meaning GCSU students and others can once again enjoy the restaurant’s popular fried pickles and other items on the menu. An Oct. 17 fire at the business’ old location caused it to temporarily close.

“We knew it would happen quick,” manager Ethel Harris said of the reopening. “Everybody was ready to get back to work.”

The restaurant’s new location is at 1892 N. Columbia St., in front of the Kroger shopping center, in what was formerly South of Philly.

The walls are still lined with sports memorabilia, along with television screens.

Harris said most of the staff from the old location will be returning.

“Pretty much everybody’s coming back,” Harris said. “I’m going to have to hire a few more.”

A Facebook page for the restaurant updated people on the progress being made at the new location. There are currently over 1,500 fans signed up on the page. Many fans, including GCSU students, have posted what they have missed about the restaurant over the last several months.

The fire that closed the business’ old location at 1880 N. Columbia St. is not known, Harris said, but foul play was not suspected by authorities.

Alison Kuhlke, a senior art major, had eaten at the Pickle Barrel “only a few times” before it burned down, but plans on returning now that it has reopened.

“I probably will go check it out just to see if anything is different,” Kuhlke said.

Keri Allgood, a senior mass communication major, did not know about the fire until she saw the outside damage for herself.

“I ate there a lot my freshman year,” Allgood said. “Every time my parents or family would come into town, we would go eat there. We really liked the food. Fried pickles were obviously our favorite thing.”

Allgood and others have looked forward to the reopening, but are unsure if it will be entirely the same.

“I’m really excited,” Allgood said. “I hope the menu hasn’t changed. I will definitely be eating there soon.”

The Pickle Barrel Café will have its Wing Nite on Wednesdays from 5-11 p.m. and a happy hour daily from noon to 7 p.m. The full-service bar is also open Sundays. There will still be trivia nights, but it’s not yet known when they will start back.

Like Allgood, senior art major Lauren Nesmith found out about the fire at the old location when she drove by it one day.

While Nesmith can see herself making a visit in the future, she said she’s not one of those in a rush to stop by the new location.

“I would (eat there) because of the food they used to have, but the location that it’s in now, just what was there before was weird,” Nesmith said. “I’m just weirded out by that location, but I probably will eventually.”

Posted by Courtney Murrah on Jan 22 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry