Restaurant Updates for April 27th, 2011

The Mint, on W Broad Street in Bethlehem, is set to open next month.  Staff has been hired and the interior is being finished up.  The Mint is taking over an old bank, converting the vault into a wine cellar.  This might be the most upscale place to open up in the valley since Cosmopolitan and Sangria.

Thankfully those who loved Tap & Table won’t be without a beer bar for long.  We received a tip that the former owner of Magnolia’s Vineyard in Orefield, which closed last fall, will be renting the spot and opening a bar called “The Trapp Door”.  They’ll featuring a similarly huge beer selection and we can’t wait.  We’ll be speaking with the owner next week about details.

The recently-dormant Tap & Table is being converted into The Trapp Door

Pacino’s Cigar Bar appears to have had their liquor license denied.  Their application flipped from pending status back to safekeeping in the transfer from the former Dancing Fish sushi bar on 3rd in Bethlehem to the new cigar bar on Main Street in Bethlehem.  Calls to manager Richard Mayer have gone unreturned. 

Vegan Treats, even prior to the announcement that they’ll be on Animal Planet for a reality show, was set to move over to Stoke Park Road in Bethlehem, but reportedly isn’t making the move any longer and will stick to their current spot on Linden St in Bethlehem for now.

The Morning Call picked up a good tip that Nueva Lanterna, the Latin restaurant over on Pembroke Road in Bethlehem, has shut down and will be replaced by a Japanese steakhouse.

The former Club Beyond in center square Easton looks to have been snatched up in part by developer Domenic Albanese.  The new location will be called Spicy’s.  No indication yet what the new spot will be, but hopefully not another club.  When it was Club Beyond there were numerous large fights, culminating in homicide attempts and the owner tampering with evidence trying to cover his ass.

Club Beyond sits closed with a new liqour license application in the window

Tapas on Main, replacing (my personally beloved) Tika’s on Main Street in Bethlehem, is currently hiring and being constructed.  We give it another month or two before this is open.  The owner is Chef Rafael Palomino, who owns Pacifico in the Promenade Shops, various restaurants in CT and NY, and is a published author. 

Tapas On Main with paper up on the windows to block sight of the construction on a recent visit