Stage Left Celebrates 20 Years of Business

When Mark Pascal and Francis Schott opened Stage Left restaurant in New Brunswick on May 22, 1992, they had a simple idea - quality food done well. No gimmicks, no fads, no cheap product. Just quality dining.

20 years later the duo still subscribes to this mantra, and have a legion of regular patrons, awards decorating their walls and a lock on a corner of Livingston Avenue that when they started "didn't look like this," Schott said.

Pascal, then 26, and Schott, then 27, were bartenders at the nearby Frog and the Peach before opening the restaurant.

The Crossroads Theatre had just moved to its current spot two years earlier, and the downtown area was in a redevelopment phase, but the restaurant was on the edge of the redevelopment, in sight of neighborhoods still plagued by crime.

They received four stars from the Star Ledger right off the bat, and a review of "very good" from the New York Times, they said.

The restaurant was "very subdued" they said. Paper was on the table, and the menu centered around a wood burning grill, uncommon at the time.

Quality Ingredients

From the beginning, Pascal said, they have made quality ingredients their ultimate goal, focusing on unique, deeply flavorful and enjoyable ingredients, rather than things that are gimmicky, cheap, or poor quality.

"If you see an 18-wheeler (pull up in front of a restaurant) you're probably not going to get anything good," he said.

Pascal and Schott instead source a lot of their ingredients from local farmers and suppliers, such as quail from Griggstown Quail Farm and Market in Princeton, and eggs from Suydam Farms in Somerset.

They've carried that mentality into their bar as well, which is a grandiose, vintage bar that the duo spent a chunk of their cash on when they started, Pascal said.

Drinks are made with fresh squeezed juices and home made sour mix, which consists of simple syrup, lemon juice and frothed egg whites, Pascal said, a trick they learned from acclaimed mixologist Dale DeGroff.

"People didn't know why it was better, they just knew it was better," Pascal said.

Despite opening two successful restaurants, Schott and Pascal say hospitality is key, making sure patrons enjoy what they order, training a staff that is willing to make suggestions, or, if they wish to dine on something that isn't exactly on the menu, being able to accommodate those changes.

Their attention to quality food and pleasing their guests is not lip service.

During an interview with the duo in Catherine Lombardi, Schott stops answering questions and turns a plate of house-made Italian cookies on the table, telling a reporter to try the freshly baked powdered sugar crescents on it, as they just came out of the oven.

"We tried to create a restaurant and bar that we really wanted to go to," Pascal said.

Successes

Several entities have decided that Stage Left is the place to go to, as the restaurant has been honored numerous times.

Pascal and Schott have been voted Restaurateurs of the Year by the NJ Restaurant Association, and the Stage Left burger, served only in the bar, has been voted best burger in New Jersey in nine different contests, including one hosted by NJ Monthly.

Stage Left has been expanded into additional rooms, including a private dining room, and a lofty wine shop. 

In 2005, the duo, looking to recreate the food of Pascal's Italian grandmother, opened Catherine Lombardi directly upstairs, naming the fine Italian and cocktail establishment after her.

Catherine Lombardi is very much present in the restaurant - in photos on the wall, and in the smell of her recipes that Pascal says hits him when he walks through the doors of the restaurant, reminding him of his youth.

Two kitchens turn out the food for the two restaurants, which sit above about 10,000 bottles of wine in the wine cellars, Schott said.

They host tastings of both food and liquor, radio plays in the dining rooms of the two restaurants, pig roasts and cigar smoking out in the sidewalk cafe. And as a side gig, the two host a successful internet radio program called "The Restaurant Guys."

Pascal told a story of a conversation he had with a friend who works as an insurance salesman.

"You have the unfortunate job of selling something (people) need but don't want," he said. "(I) sell something they want but don't need. To me, that's a great way to make your living."

Pascal and Schott will host an anniversary dinner at 7 p.m. tonight at Stage Left, prepared by past and current chefs of the restaurant. Dinner is $79 per person.

For more information, including the menu and reservations, visit the Stage Left website.