Main Street Public House joins ‘Main Street District’

It’s only been two months since Main Street Public House opened its doors, but you wouldn’t know it.

The restaurant and bar have made a serious impression on the newly coined “Main Street District,” drawing the after-work crowd to its beautifully woodworked location at Main and Taylor.

Scott Scheper, bar manager, previously worked at Pearlz in the Vista for six years before signing on. So far, his streamlined drink menu has been well received, striking a different chord with each customer.

“We do a really good lunch, a really good happy hour and a really good late night – and all that is a little different crowd so I wanted to have enough for everybody to enjoy,” said Scheper. “We’ve got PBR in 16-ounce cans for $3, Grand Marnier Cuvee 1880 – one of the rarest Grand Marniers you can get – and Grand Marnier 150 that they don’t even make anymore. We’ve got everything across the spectrum: a really good bourbon selection, really good whiskey selection, a good scotch selection and a lot of tequilas.”

A popular drink that showcases his use of tequila is the jalapeño cucumber margarita. First, the tequila is infused with oranges, cucumbers and jalapeños. Then it’s combined with a little bit of sour, a splash of lime, a splash of orange juice and a little bit of simple syrup.

“It makes for a sweet, spicy margarita,” said Scheper. “It’s one of our more popular drinks. You can taste the spice, but it doesn’t kill you.”

Another popular drink that helps move inventory is the Rain mule. Made with organic Rain cucumber vodka, ginger beer and a twist of lime, it’s “super easy and one of our best-sellers,” said Scheper.

Other best-sellers include conventional cocktails with a twist, like the classic Main Street mule (vodka, mint, lime and ginger beer) and the rye Manhattan martini.

“It’s one of my favorites,” said Scheper. “The thing I like about it so much is the Dolin vermouth we use. It just works really well in a cocktail. I can drink it by itself with a splash of orange bitters.”

Scheper said he only plans to refresh the drink menu seasonally, with about the same turnover for the beer selection. With 24 beers on tap, 90 percent of them have not changed since the opening.

And if you’re worrying about parking, don’t. The owners took that into consideration, too.

“There’s a parking garage directly across the street on Taylor (Street),” said Scheper. “They don’t charge after 6 and definitely not on weekends. So there is no worry about parking at all.”

Sounds like they’ve thought of everything, but they are leaving the bar’s identity to the community.

“We want to let the space become what it wants to become,” said Scheper. “We don’t want to force it in any direction. I believe our demographic is the casual, business-professional crowd, so I would think we would cater to that and make that our focus. I don’t want to force a band in here if somebody’s trying to watch football, and I don’t want to have nothing going on in here if people want to come hear music that night. So it’s just finding a balance, finding out what the demand of the space is, and we’ll react accordingly.”

Dwaun Sellers, dsellers@thestate.com

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 12:01 AM.