Fallston Barrel House to open on troubled corner at Route 1 and 152

Two area businessmen have big plans for a &quot;community event facility&quot; in a building with a history of failures on a corner in Fallston.Bob Diem and Bill Grose are turning the proposed home of Mickey's – and the former site of The Mallet, Tully's and Pecora's, to name a few – into Fallston Barrel House at the corner of Routes 1 and 152 next month.Diem and his father operated Parkville's popular Emerald Tavern from 2000 to 2005, and Grose oversees The Brewer's Cask in Baltimore's Federal Hill. Diem said he has lived down the street from the Fallston corner since 2000, and wants Fallston Barrel House to be more than just a restaurant.&quot;I have watched it not make it time after time after time ... In my opinion, it wasn't used properly and it wasn't managed properly,&quot; Diem said Thursday about the site, noting past owners have all struggled to make the best use of the large, 14,000-square-foot building.&quot;In the last 15 years, everyone that went out there, they have repainted it, put some new tablecloths in, but they have never really changed the concept,&quot; he said. &quot;We don't really want to be a bar or a drinking establishment, somewhere that is for partying. We want to be a restaurant.&quot;He said he has experience turning establishments around. With The Emerald Tavern, &quot;we took the same building when it was run-down and we rebuilt it.&quot;The downstairs area will be a catering hall to cater events for up to 300 people. Edgewood High School is looking into using it for murder mystery shows, Diem said.The back parking lot will also be a &quot;farm festival&quot; market, with local produce, and another downstairs bar will seat up to 80 people. It will also serve as overflow space for dinner and a small catering site for companies, he said.The Barrel House is set to open sometime in August, with the catering hall to follow in September or October, he said. The first event there is scheduled in October.The building will be reconfigured, with the bar and dining room moved, he said. The bar will have 16 microbrews on draft, and the business will incorporate a lot of wood from nearby Frank Thomas Sawmill to give it &quot;a speakeasy feel,&quot; Diem explained.It will feature a mural that will take 18 months to complete, showcasing a meadow and sites in the community like an old post office, roads and schools – &quot;some of the old and some of the new,&quot; he said.Diem said he believes the approach he and Grose are taking will be better received by the community. Diem is working with his wife, Ruth, and Grose with his wife, Eleanor, in two management teams. They also plan to have a manager for the catering division.&quot;Everyone struggles with trying to make a music venue,&quot; Diem said about the businesses that have folded in the past. &quot;We will cater to an over-30 crowd and we are more family-oriented.&quot;Fallston Barrel House will have music, but only in addition to other events, he said, &quot;so 90 percent of the time, the music we have will be in addition to a bull roast, catered affair, [etc.].&quot;Diem hopes to partner with a local church for a &quot;pasta night&quot; in the winter and work with other schools or local groups for use of the venue.The food at Fallston Barrel House will be American, but with &quot;a little twist on things,&quot; which Diem explained as &quot;not the typical bar and restaurant food.&quot;&quot;We are really excited about a 3.5-ounce homemade meatball,&quot; he said, adding he is also &quot;developing a hamburger that we think will be one of the best in Harford County.&quot;Fallston Barrel House has applied for a beer, wine and liquor license with the Harford County Liquor Control Board and is scheduled for a hearing Aug. 3.The license requires the business owners to invest at least $250,000 in dining and kitchen facilities, liquor board administrator Pilar Gracia said.Diem said he is committed to avoiding the nightclub atmosphere that spelled trouble for some past establishments.Most recently, Michael &quot;Mickey&quot; Cucchiella Jr., a former 98 Rock Radio morning show host, tried to turn the site into Mickey's Bar and Grill, but ran afoul of the liquor board for putting up signs before getting official permission. Mickey's ultimately never got off the ground.Fallston Barrel House would be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and from 8 a.m. to midnight or 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, he said.Also, &quot;we will have a 15-passenger bus, where, if you make a reservation, we will pick you up and take you home,&quot; he said.Diem said he has 14-year-old twins, and &quot;it is very important that we represent the community well.&quot;

Fallston Barrel House to open on troubled corner at Route 1 and 152

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