In June 2015, restaurateur Charlie Gjerde said his team would take over the old Hampden bar McCabe's, which closed after a fire the year before. Now — after a substantial renovation that cost approximately $1 million, Gjerde said — the new bar and restaurant Wicked Sisters will open 5 p.m. Friday to the public.
"If you're a fan of McCabe's, you will not recognize this place," Gjerde said.
The opening has taken months longer than expected because the team decided to renovate two floors instead of one, Gjerde said. Now, the 3,300-square-foot location at 3845 Falls Road has two bars, two dining rooms and a game room with a 14-foot shuffleboard.
(The original opening date was Thursday, but the restaurant had to push it back because of a defected gas meter that has since been fixed, Gjerde said.)
Wicked Sisters is named after two other members of Gjerde's ownership group: His wife, Lori Gjerde, and Carrie Podles, Lori's sister. The trio also runs Papi's Tacos and Alexander's Tavern in Fells Point, and Huck's American Craft in Brewers Hill.
The chef of the 160-seat restaurant is Jason Horowitz, who led the kitchen at Gjerde's now-closed Joy America Café in Federal Hill more than a decade ago.
Gjerde described the food as "premium tavern fare," which will include steaks, burgers "and a few twists." One of those twists is raclette cheese, a dish from Switzerland the Wicked Sisters team discovered through YouTube videos.
For their version, a sliced portion of a raclette cheese wheel is held under heat lamps until the top layer is "nice and gooey." The top layer is then cut tableside and placed on top of roasted fingerling potatoes. Gjerde envisions it as a sharable appetizer.
There are 24 draft lines, and Wicked Sisters will emphasize local craft beer, Gjerde said.
The goal of the new restaurant is "to be a comfortable bar setting, but you get really good food," he said.
This is Gjerde's first operation in Hampden, a neighborhood with plenty of exciting dining options. He called the Food Market "amazing," and noted Wicked Sisters wasn't looking to compete directly with places like it. Instead, he wants to offer a place to watch sports, have a drink and eat bar food that has some flair to it (a similar goal to the new Five and Dime Ale House on 36th Street).
"There are other bars on the Avenue to watch the game, but I'm pretty sure our food will be a step up," Gjerde said. "At the end of the day, we just want people to come in and relax."