Stove & Tap is Coming to Lansdale

The old Molly Maguire’s is getting an update.

I was a little bummed when the Molly Maguire’s in Lansdale closed. There aren’t many places in town to begin with, so when they shut down (seemingly out of nowhere), there was one less place to go on a Friday night. I wondered what would happen to the space—would something new come around, or would it just sit there, all old-looking and collecting dust inside?

Well, something new is coming around, and it sounds like the town is finally getting what it needs: a relaxed restaurant where people can come together and enjoy some great food and drinks.

Starr alums Justin Weathers and chef Biff Gottehrer bring us Stove & Tap, a “throwback American” restaurant that they hope will liven up Lansdale by giving the community a place together as well as bring in out-of-towners.

I’m so excited about Stove & Tap that I had to stop in to talk with Weathers and Gottehrer to find out more. When I got there, the building reeked of paint—they were going over the deep red that donned the walls of Molly’s with a nice cream color, which made the downstairs feel much larger. The long, wooden bar really stood out against the new color. “We want the wood to stand on its own,” Weathers says.

The upstairs has the same old red walls for now, but they’re painting them soon. The end goal for the atmosphere of the restaurant is to be “fun, warm, comfortable, and approachable,” says Weathers. Gottehrer wants guests to feel like the place is “new, but like they’ve been there before.”

Considering Weathers and Gottehrer’s backgrounds, the food is sure to be impressive. Weathers was the former Regional Director of Starr Restaurants as well as a chef and manager of a number of restaurants in the city (like The Dandelion), and Gottehrer previously worked at El Vez, JD Domestic, and most recently, The Dandelion. Really, they wanted a place of their own with the “Starr effort,” but with their own take.

What kind of food can we expect? “What we like to eat,” says Weathers. They will serve “all the comfort food people know and love with our own interpretation.” This includes wood-fired grilled steaks and salmon, fried chicken, and their “Tap Cheesesteak” made with smoked eye-round steak that’s deep-chilled, sliced, cooked, and then covered with local beer cheese sauce and caramelized onions.

All of the alcohol will be American. For beer, they’ll have several craft beers and rotating taps from Round Guys Brewery across the street. They want each type of beer on tap to stand out—no ridiculously long list of beers, but rather one good IPA, one good pale ale, etc. American wines and spirits will be served, including spirits from Lansdale’s Boardroom Spirits. Weathers says that they plan to have all the classic cocktails made very well—they won’t have any crazy, fruity drinks with seven different ingredients.

Stove & Tap will be open for lunch and dinner, and they will have a “Tappy Hour” Mondays through Fridays. Weathers and Gottehrer anticipate opening the second week of March, and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty good about this place. Lansdale is rooting for you, guys.

Stove & Tap [Foobooz]