Jimmy Mac’s will be back as the Thirsty Buffalo
New bar will open at Elmwood location
The longtime site of Jimmy Mac’s, a popular drinking and dining spot along Buffalo’s Elmwood Strip, will come back to life this September as the Thirsty Buffalo.
The owners of Average Joe’s, an Amherst bar and restaurant, have signed a lease to open a new venture at the 555 Elmwood Ave. site, according to attorney Patrick Noe, who is a partner in the venture.
“We want to do a casual neighborhood bar/restaurant in the same vein as the old Jimmy Mac’s,” Noe said. “We want it to be a place where you can have decent meal, but still have some fun at the bar.”
Chris DeBernardis and Greg Andreozzi, who run Average Joe’s on Sweet Home Road, and Noe tossed around several ideas for what to call the new venture. Ironically, they found their naming inspiration hanging on the wall just inside the venue’s front door.
“There’s this giant, fuzzy buffalo head mounted on the wall and one of us said ‘Hey, he looks kind of thirsty.’ So there was our name — Thirsty Buffalo,” Noe said.
The trio will make moderate physical improvements to the bar/restaurant. The layout will stay the same, but there will be new furniture and a lighter color scheme. The new operators will also install flat-screen TVs in the bar area, so sports fans can catch a glimpse of their favorite teams.
“This isn’t going to be a sports bar, but it’s a Buffalo bar, so people want to watch their Sabres and Bills, and other sports when they’re having an evening out,” Noe said.
The menu will be flavored with a mix of burgers, wraps and salads, plus heartier steak, chicken and fish entrees. “It’s going to be very similar to what people were used to at Jimmy Mac’s, with fun new twists,” he added.
Jimmy Mac’s, once a cornerstone of the Buffalo bar and restaurant scene, debuted in 1981, attracting what would become a loyal mix of downtown politicians and yuppies, and neighborhood residents. Owner Rick Naylon threw in the bar towel in October 2004 after an unsuccessful battle against Erie County’s smoking ban, which he said severely reduced revenues.
Veteran restaurateur Mark Supples, owner of Mother’s Restaurant on Virginia Place, took a swing at reviving Jimmy Mac’s in May 2005, but closed the doors after 16 months. An out-of-town operator began renovations last fall with plans for an eclectic restaurant featuring Mexican, Asian and American foods, but abruptly abandoned the concept.
A fresh lease with the Thirsty Buffalo notwithstanding, the Brooklyn-based owner of 555 Elmwood is pushing ahead with efforts to sell the property. Krinsky & Associates put the building on the market in February, asking $1.3 million.
The Jimmy Mac’s site is being offered as a package deal with three other Buffalo properties with a $3.1 million price tag. The Lesches Group, a Brooklyn real estate firm, recently started advertising the bundle on Loopnet.com, a national real estate Web site.
In addition to Jimmy Mac’s, the bundle includes the three-story building housing Elmwood Lounge Restaurant Bar, at 522 Elmwood Ave., and the two-story structure that is home to the King’s Court Restaurant and Bar, at 189 Delaware Ave.
Sam Gikas, owner of the Elmwood Lounge and King's Court, said today that while he has had discussions with a Lesches Group agent, he has not officially put his properties on the market.
