WILKES-BARRE —
It is tough to not like Teberios Tavern in Miners Mills Wilkes-Barre. It now has almost hit the same status as our all-time favorite, Keats Pub on Bowman Street, In third place is the Barney Inn (Cris Nics) on the corner of Barney and Horton. Don’t get me wrong, I like the Barney Inn a lot but sometimes, out of nowhere they stop serving beer in glasses, and change to plastic cups. Some people just don’t like plastic cups.
My friends and compadres took me to Teberios for my birthday and we have been back twice since as the Teberios are as nice as their place. The Mrs. is carrying a little Teberio as we learned on our last visit and if the little guy is as nice as the mom and the dad, America is going to gain from her or his mere presence in the country. You'd love Teberis and you'd love the hospitality at Keats, and you'd love the fun at Chris Nics. There are no losers there.
The Times Leader ran a piece a few months ago, and I am including a big excerpt here. You can go to their site to get the rest. It's worth a read. The link is at the end of this excerpt.
"Mike Teberio's dream of running a pizza shop and pub was nearly destroyed when fire struck four years ago. But from the ashes rose his legacy.
A lot of little things make the warm and cozy tavern and pizzeria nestled in the Miners Mills section of the city unique.
Walk in the main door of Teberio's Pub & Pizzeria at the corner of East Thomas and St. Clair streets and you're greeted by the warm glow of soft lighting on the copper-colored tin ceiling and molding with hammered-in designs of a bygone era.
Intricate carvings top wooden pillars behind the long, mahogany bar constructed more than a century ago.
“Just the woodwork alone, I think that's the most impressive part. This bar top is one tree trunk of red mahogany, which in itself is pretty impressive,” Mike Teberio, the proprietor, said in a recent interview.
Teberio's pride in his business is as obvious as his gratification that his son, Michael Jr., told him he would like to take over the family business someday.
But all of that old world charm, not to mention the memories wrapped up in the history of the turn-of-the-century building, was nearly wiped out forever after fire struck in 2010 and the pub and eatery closed down. But Teberio, 48, of Wilkes-Barre, wasn't about to let the history come to an end, nor would he allow his dream to be extinguished.
Building's history
When Teberio bought the place about eight years ago, Ron Norakus, who ran Norakus' Bar there in the 1970s and '80s after taking over operations from his parents, gave Teberio a tour of the building and a little history lesson as well, Teberio said.
“He told me they brought this bar in from Chicago on the train. They brought it up here where the train stops,” Teberio said, gesturing to the railroad tracks about a block away. “Then they brought it down on horse and buggy, piece by piece, and put it in here over 100 years ago.”
He estimates the structure was built around 1909. After the Norakus family ran it for decades, the place changed hands and was run as the Captain's Quarters, a popular restaurant featuring German and Italian cuisine, in the 1980s and '90s. For a short time, it was also an Italian restaurant before it was shuttered and went up for sheriff's sale, he said.
Teberio says many of his customers appreciate the building's history. He's trying to find a misplaced photograph taken outside the bar in 1954 that has sparked quite a few conversations.
“There's about 1,000 people out on the street and they're having log-cutting competitions. I had the picture hanging up here before the fire and a lot of customers that would come in, they would say, 'Oh, that was me as a kid in the picture,'” he said.
To think the building and all of its history was nearly nearly lost makes Teberio shudder. Fortunately, firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze before it could consume the bar and its contents.
Labor of love
After an initial remodeling, operating for about two years, and another, more extensive remodeling, Teberio's story becomes one of finding another road to success.
It took him about three months after the fire to regroup and come up with a remodeling plan, which included opening the wall behind the bar to add a second bar top, as well as a dining room and separate take-out area. But he never once considered giving up.
And why should he?
He already had a successful pizza takeout business in Luzerne Borough, and it was almost as if the career path chose him, rather than he, it.
When he opened Teberio's Pizzeria on Union Street in Luzerne 10 years ago, he did so with no restaurant experience and not even a large-batch dough recipe, despite the fact that his grandparents were successful restaurateurs.
They had operated the Wahoo Inn at Harveys Lake, once a successful restaurant and catering business, which his grandmother sold after her husband died because the work became too overwhelming. She then opened Teberio's Pizza World in Wilkes-Barre across from the former Bishop Hoban High School, but closed it after a couple years.
“But I was young then, I never got any recipes. She didn't show me how to make the pizza. But it was something I just always wanted to do,” Teberio said. “I never worked in a pizza shop in my life. I did it out of my kitchen. That's how I started. I was actually driving for FedEx,” Teberio said.
Read more at http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/50830612/
