New restaurant to open in previous Greene Turtle space
Photo Credit: Haley Lynch
The building once occupied by Ropewalk Tavern and The Greene Turtle sits along Main Street. The building's new tenant, The Dark Horse Saloon, is set to open on March 6th.
Joey Hoff, Managing Editor
February 3, 2010
Filed under News
The Dark Horse Saloon is scheduled open its doors March 6 on Main Street, taking over the building once occupied by the Ropewalk Tavern and The Greene Turtle Sports Bar and Grille.
Property owner Marc McFaul purchased the building in 2002 and renovated the space for the Ropewalk Tavern, which opened the following year. McFaul owns and operates another Ropewalk Tavern location in Federal Hill, which he purchased nearly 15 years ago and is still in operation today.
When McFaul put the Main Street property up for sale in 2007, he was approached by Green Turtle franchisees looking to rent the space.
“At the time, it was a smart business decision to accept their offer. Because of the Greene Turtle’s business decisions and financial problems that followed, I realized that I might be back soon,” McFaul said.
The Greene Turtle closed in November 2009, and rumors circled about the possibility of Ropewalk’s return.
“Due to politics and a false perception by some that Ropewalk failed, I decided not to open Ropewalk again,” McFaul said.
Instead of opening a restaurant of his own, McFaul is leasing the space to Chris Reda and Gina Carapico, who will open the Dark Horse Saloon. McFaul plans to work with Reda and Carapico as the landlord and a management consultant.
Carapico plans for the Dark Horse to be more than just a restaurant, bringing needed business to downtown Bel Air and providing jobs for the local economy.
“We would like to be active in the community by hosting fundraisers and being involved in community events,” Carapico said.
Dark Horse Saloon Executive Chef Frank Campanella is incorporating his past barbeque competition experience with a Tex-Mex theme to create a Southwest barbeque fusion menu. Campanella, a member of the competitive barbeque team called the Kansas City Barbeque Society, competes in up to twelve barbeque competitions each year.
With this experience, Campanella will smoke barbeque ribs in-house, and the menu will feature his award-winning pulled pork and brisket.
“You’re not going to be limited to tacos and quesadillas with ground beef and chicken,” said Campanella.
As for the name, the Dark Horse Saloon is a popular horse racing term, which describes a horse that has unfavorable odds, but ends up winning the race.
“Dark Horse was decided upon because Harford County is horse country,” said McFaul.
While the building won’t face major renovations, McFaul plans to incorporate bronze horses, a horse fountain, and murals of Harford County’s horse racing history into the saloon.
“We have a great historical building with so much potential, and we’re creating a great atmosphere with delicious food.” Carapico said. “People want variety and we want to offer something to everyone.”
Joey Hoff can be reached for comment at jhoff@jcpatriot.com.
