LOWER MACUNGIE TWP., Pa. — A new music-themed restaurant has dropped the needle on its business, and even without a formal introduction drew a crowd on a Monday night.
The Broken Record, whose decor and even food names follow a music theme, held a soft opening at its strip-center location at 6776 Hamilton Blvd.
Without advertising, apparently, enough word had gotten out that perhaps 80 people at one time were being served at the dinner hour Monday.
Owner Jeff Trainer said people were waiting outside when it opened at 5 p.m. Monday.
"I think it's great," Trainer said, taking a break from making his way through welcoming customers.
"We've been dreaming about this, planning it, developing it so long that when it happens, it's, like, 'Wow.'"
In a time when restaurants are working with smaller staffs, The Broken Record on Monday had a large staff that accommodated the full room.
The restaurant will operate with condensed hours, 4-10 p.m. today, Tuesday, Dec. 30, then close for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
It will reopen 4-10 p.m. after that as it seeks township approval to let it open for breakfast, starting in January.
Taylor Eisenhard, who for 13 1/2 years has run the breakfast-and-lunch Griddle 145 on MacArthur Road in Whitehall, which will close Wednesday, plans to add that restaurant's fare to The Broken Record.
Andrea Kenney, Trainer's partner, said the menu is very much a work in progress, and will expand.
Hip, contemporary vibe
What should not be surprising, with its music theme, is that The Broken Record has a hip, contemporary vibe.
That includes the food.
Even without breakfast and brunch, The Broken Record for now will operate with a smaller menu — just nine selections of small plates, plus tacos, salads, four sandwich types and breads.
Also available are pizza selections from the restaurant's wood-burning pizza oven.
But it clearly targets smaller plates.
That doesn't necessarily mean small portions.
On Monday, the mushroom risotto ($13) filled a large plate. Described on the menu as "cremini mushrooms, summer truffle [and] parmesan," it was bursting with mushroom and cheese taste.
Rock Star Shrimp ($17), a dish that Trainer targeted as a restaurant signature offering, included eight very large shrimp covered with Vidalia onions sprinkled with old bay seasoning.
It is prepared with old bay seasoning in a special steamer Trainer had brought in especially for seafood appetizers, then served with cocktail sauce (a heavy horseradish taste, but also sweet) and garlic butter.
Dessert is not available yet, but will be in the future, Kenney said.
Dinner for two, with non-alcoholic soft drinks and without tips, was $40.28.
The menu also lists 10 cocktails, including the signature Broken Record Margarita ($13-15 each), as well as a wine selection and mocktails.
The large bar, which fills the center of the restaurant, was popular Monday. Built so that its sides are relatively close together so everyone can interact, its 36 seats were filled.
The music matters
Of course, an equal attraction to the food at The Broken Record is the music.
Trainer also owns Wind Creek Event Center, the music venue at Wind Creek Bethlehem that for nearly 14 years has been the Lehigh Valley's main destination for national music acts.
This month, Pollstar magazine said Wind Creek Event Center is the second-busiest club-sized music venue in the world.
"Every restaurant and bar I go to in the Lehigh Valley, it's set up in mono almost. Here, you're getting a true left-right, not matter what side of the room you're on."John Rupp, who designed The Broken Record sound system
The rock-star vibe, which also includes records, posters, pictures and other memorabilia on the restaurant's walls, even extends to staff, who wore rock T-shirts on Monday.
John Rupp, a well-known sound man who has done work at Wind Creek as well as at ArtsQuest and other Lehigh Valley venues, designed the restaurant's sounds system.
He said The Broken Record has a true stereo system of QSC speakers and amplification that lets customers distinguish sounds no matter where in the restaurant they're seated.
"Every restaurant and bar I go to in the Lehigh Valley, it's set up in mono almost," Rupp said. "Here, you're getting a true left-right, not matter what side of the room you're on."
That's especially important for listening to songs from the 1970s, which were engineered in true stereo, Rupp said.
And songs from that era were among the music played at The Broken Record on Monday, including Van Morrison and Michael Jackson.
Songs by Heart were played on vinyl records on a turntable and came through the sound system clear.
Eventually, Trainer said, customers will be able to choose music to be played. Boxes of vinyl albums at the front of the restaurant will be fashioned into a bench area for patrons waiting to be seated.
Music selections Monday also included artists as diverse as Fuel and The Darkness, who just recently played Allentown's new Archer Music Hall.
On Monday, the music was loud enough so patrons could hear pretty clearly, but not loud or overpowering.
Rupp said the system is positioned high in the room so it's "all above everyone, so it's not punching you in the face."
