At 10 p.m. on a Tuesday evening in late August, a lone party of eight is finishing up their meal at Mangia Qui, waiting for their limo to show up. They won an auction gift that was an in-kind donation from the owners, Staci Basore, Elide Hower and Qui Qui Musarra, who sit around me, eager to chew the fat about their new restaurant, Rubicon.
Musarra keeps using the atmospheric buzzword “convivial” to describe their endeavor. Staci Basore, front of the house manager and co-owner, keeps coming back to the horseshoe bar, a 20-person showcase piece that will define the space. Elide Hower, baker extraordinaire and co-owner, provides input on Rubicon’s proposed hours.
Still short on details, the main thing we know about Rubicon is that the restaurant being constructed next door to Mangia Qui/Suba will be a “proper bar.” Or, in the words of Qui, “bar culture fortified by good food.” A couple of other firm points: a menu mainstay will be French onion soup, and Ashlyn Hawkins, long-time Suba employee, will be tapped as the restaurant’s maître d’. Everything else is up to your imagination until they open in the next few months.
What is certain is that, if the test kitchens are any indication of the creativity and care the ladies of Mangia Qui are putting into this place, Rubicon is sure to live up to their vision par excellence.
On a beautiful June night, a selection of Harrisburg’s own was invited to serve as glorified guinea pigs in Qui’s backyard patio garden. We were de facto food and drink testers, business concept judges and community supporters, offering up our “mmm’s” and nonverbal cues (mostly thumbs up) when eating the battered frog legs (that could have been chicken wings), slurping the French onion soup and dipping crackers into the paté.
The design of a test kitchen is simply this: It’s a way to engross select community members in lively conversation to solicit feedback about the epicurean delights and overall strategy of an incoming restaurant.
While the test kitchen has been selective, Rebecca Miller, former employee of Mangia Qui, has augmented Rubicon’s social engagement with the community through a robust Facebook, Twitter and Instagram campaign.
She says, “Our goal is to engage the community via an image-based media campaign.” Photos by Anela Bence-Selkowitz, owner of Studio A and a local photographer, have been popping up on Facebook since late June, providing glimpses of the construction, the drink concepts. Some posts have asked for opinions from the larger community on matters ranging from preferred libations to the kind of sustainable flooring that should be installed. Call it community input.
And this is because Rubicon, as Basore notes, is all about accessibility.
When asked about the demographic most likely to patronize Rubicon, the three owners are unanimous in saying, “all ages.” Whereas Suba is geared toward a young professional/higher-end drinking crowd, and Mangia Qui to a wealthier strata with a mixture of locals and tourists, Rubicon is a destination designed to attract a wider spectrum of people: those wanting a classic drink at a reasonable price, the best hamburger in town, seasonal dishes or charcuterie.
As the planning gears up, JEM Group continues its work on a total rehabilitation of the former Neptune Lounge, which closed two years ago.
As of this writing, workers had completely gutted the inside, making way for the grand bar with tables that will encircle the main dining area. A staircase will take you to the second floor landing, where you can sip drinks and look down on the goings-on below. Above, you will look into the rafters, where a yet-to-be-purchased light fixture will dangle its way down the three floors and ultimately hang above the bar. The bar’s expansiveness will be a horizontal and vertical feature, and the intended vibe is to evoke an era gone by and now being resurrected here in Harrisburg.
Hawkins, however, says it plainly: “The ladies of Mangia Qui are opening a bar.”
Sold.
Rubicon will be located at 268 North St., Harrisburg.
