EVERETT — With lively piano music for those in the mood for a melody, a steakhouse-style menu and a prime location, Chopstix hopes to fast become a fixture of downtown Everett’s nightlife.
The piano bar at 2820 Oakes Ave. opened a month ago on the North Everett Lions Club property, where a former bingo hall has given way to redeveloped commercial and meeting spaces. Chopstix’s leased space of 5,500 square feet includes some of the building’s original brick walls, married with high ceilings and big new windows.
“We’re very pleased with how the building turned out,” said CJ Ebert of Everett’s Harbor Mountain Development, which worked with the Lions.
On a stage at one end of the bar and restaurant sit two baby grand pianos, where four days a week, pianists provide the entertainment.
Sitting in the restaurant before the dinner crowd arrived last week, co-owner PJ Pedroni said it wasn’t a hard decision to open in Everett. It seemed like a natural destination after opening the first two Chopstix locations in Seattle and Tacoma over the past four years.
“We’d been in talks about coming to Everett for two years, because it was a place where we wanted to grow,” said Pedroni, 36, who lives near Tacoma. Other co-owners are Marc Drewry, Tony Fattahi and a silent partner.
When the owners began looking around Everett, they talked to city economic development officials and downtown business owners, including Joel Starr, who owned The Flying Pig for a decade and now runs Tailgater Joe’s on Hewitt Avenue.
“It’s definitely an event spot,” he said of Chopstix, adding he’s glad to see it and other restaurants sprouting around downtown. “The more great places we have, the better it is for downtown.”
Both Pedroni and Dustyn Fuller, general manager of the Everett Chopstix, said they’ve been warmly welcomed by other business owners and customers.
“It’s been fun because of the support we’ve gotten. A lot of people are coming to check us out,” Pedroni said.
As for the music, don’t expect a pianist sedately tickling the ivories to provide background music. Instead, the signature show at Chopstix features two pianists on the stage playing requests from the audience. Chopstix pianists typically can play hundreds of titles, including songs by Billy Joel, Elton John, 20-year-old heavy metal music and a variety of contemporary music.
“We end up doing a lot of American anthem songs, tons of ’80s music and more. It’s a fun show,” Pedroni said, describing the typical dueling piano show as “part comedy, part party.”
He and his partners say they were inspired to launch Chopstix after seeing dueling piano shows in other parts of the country, including Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans, which is known as the “original” dueling piano bar.
While its signature shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights are for the 21-and-over crowd, the Everett location is the first of the three Chopstix to welcome all ages up to 8 p.m., and it holds a special family-oriented piano show every Sunday evening. In addition to all-ages-appropriate rock and pop songs, the pianists will throw in things such as cartoon theme songs and children’s music for the youngsters.
The reception of the family show on Sundays and all-ages hours on other days has been positive enough that Chopstix is looking to do something similar now at its Tacoma location, Pedroni said.
So far, the 30 or so employees of the Everett restaurant and bar have focused on honing the service and menu during the Chopstix’s first weeks. Once settled, however, the business hopes to host corporate parties, wedding receptions and other events in the large restaurant space here.
With its space and good-sized parking lot, Chopstix also should be able to juggle a regular crowd with the pre- and post-event influx that occurs when there’s something going on at the nearby Comcast Arena at Everett Events Center, Pedroni said.
As the number of people who live, work and play in downtown Everett grows, Pedroni said he thinks Chopstix and other restaurants in the city’s center will do better and better. He said he’s happy people are thanking the business for “taking a chance” on Everett, but that’s not how he sees the decision to open here.
“We don’t feel like we took a chance,” he said. “We just feel like we’re ahead of the curve.”
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com
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