Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Evolution of Bellevue's Main Street eateries continues

Three business owners join forces as 'Barmuda Triangle'


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

The owners of three Bellevue bar and restaurant establishments recently came together to form the "Barmuda Triangle" to promote food and drink options in the city. From left to right are Matt Mahoney of Mahoney's Bar and Grill, Pete Prekeges of the Silver Dollar Saloon and Mark Fisher of Mama Inez. Photo by Willy Cook

The owners of three bar and restaurant establishments in Bellevue have organized under the banner of the "Barmuda Triangle" to promote the growing number of food and drink options in the city.

The idea for the Barmuda Triangle—which refers to the roughly triangle-shaped Main Street orientation of Mama Inez, Silver Dollar Saloon and (newly opened) Mahoney's Bar and Grill—originated with Pete Prekeges, who bought the Silver Dollar Saloon on Jan. 18. Prekeges also co-owns Grumpy's Burgers and Beer in Ketchum.

While spending time in San Francisco in the summer of 1985, Prekeges said he saw three of the city's Union Street bars calling themselves the Barmuda Triangle.

In Bellevue's case, the Barmuda Triangle businesses offer local customers a variety of dining and drinking options, Prekeges said. "They all kind of fit a niche," he said.

The four primary owners of the three Bellevue businesses—Mark Fisher of Mama Inez, Pete Prekeges of the Silver Dollar Saloon and brothers Shaun and Matt Mahoney of Mahoney's Bar and Grill—have known and worked with each other at various Ketchum bars and restaurants since the early 1990s, Prekeges said. A third Mahoney brother, Tim Mahoney, is also a co-owner of Mahoney's, but lives outside of Idaho.

As a way to promote the businesses involved with the Barmuda Triangle, a number of promotional events are being planned, Mama Inez owner Mark Fisher said.

The first of these will be an upcoming ski-joring competition on the weekends of Feb. 11-12 and 18-19. Registration for the competition will be from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10, and Friday, Feb. 17, at Mama Inez. The ski-joring races, sponsored by the Wood River Extreme Ski-Joring Association, are being held at the Silver Springs Ranch south of Bellevue with proceeds benefiting local charities.

Registration fees for the event start at $25 and range up to $110 for both days.

The Bellevue business owners are also having Barmuda Triangle T-shirts made and will be hosting several Bellevue street dances later this summer.

Promoting the Barmuda Triangle should serve as a way to bring more business to Bellevue, Fisher said. "Once we can get people in town we can keep them," he said.

"You can get lost down here in the Barmuda Triangle," Fisher quipped. (The "Bermuda Triangle," located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the southeastern United States, is a region noted for unexplained losses of ships, small boats and aircraft.)

Levity aside, the Barmuda Triangle is just one more sign that the Wood River Valley's bar and restaurant scene is shifting steadily southward into Bellevue, Fisher said.

Bellevue's lower-priced rents and more established family clientele make doing business more steady and reliable, he said.

Relocating Mama Inez from Ketchum to Bellevue was "a real good move," Fisher said. "We're doing twice the business we've ever done in Ketchum."




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