Delano's to become Stacker's

By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on November 28, 2008

Delano's, a longtime bar and restaurant in downtown Amherst, will reopen in January under new ownership and with a new name.

The Select Board recently gave approval to the transfer of the alcoholic beverage license from Delano's manager Chick Delano to Brian Stahl of Amherst, who will operate the 57 N. Pleasant St. restaurant as Stacker's.

"We're kind of hoping to have a new local joint where people can hang out, with lunch specials every day," Stahl said.

The idea, Stahl said, is to make Stacker's a place for people who work in Amherst to have an inexpensive meal in the middle of the day, with additional specials on Friday afternoons and transitioning into a student bar at night.

Stahl, assistant manager at McMurphy's Uptown Tavern, said he and the other new owners are in the process of hiring a contractor and getting permits from the town to make primarily cosmetic changes to Delano's, which closed earlier this year.

According to information provided to the Select Board, they will be spending $20,000 for improvements prior to the reopening, including painting the interior, adding new lighting and a new bar top and installing new toilets.

"The whole space needs to be brought back to life," Stahl said.

Pinocchio's on the Go, which still runs a delivery business from the kitchen at Delano's, is expected to remain and operate both its own business as well as handle the bar menu for Stacker's.

Delano, who opened the bar and restaurant in 1977, told the Select Board that it was the right time to move on.

"It took me a long time to find the right people to pass the torch on to," Delano said.

Two of the owners, Thomas Murphy of Feeding Hills and Michael McLaughlin of Amherst, have co-owned McMurphy's at 37 N. Pleasant St. since 1998, when it replaced the former Time Out bar.

The name for the new restaurant was suggested by a friend of Stahl's who works as a beer distributor, and Stahl liked it.

"Stacker's is a good name for just about any thing," Stahl said.

His friend had suggested the name as a merger between his last name and McLaughlin's nickname, which is Macker.

The transformation of Delano's into Stacker's comes two years after the closing of another longtime bar, Barselotti's.

Barsie's, which had existed for 73 years, was closed and renovated into expanded space for Judie's restaurant.

Delano will continue to own the building, and Stahl said he hopes Stacker's can match the success Delano's had.

"He did such a good job for so many years," Stahl said.

<h4>A history</h4>

On Feb. 4, 1977, at 9 p.m., Chick Delano had his first paying customer at his new downtown bar and restaurant.

Now, nearly 32 years after opening Delano's, he has sold the bar to operators who he says will put a new twist on the idea of a neighborhood bar and be able to market it to college students, as well.

Delano said he became interested in the restaurant business when he was 10 years old growing up in Greenwich, Conn., and going to his uncle's diner every day after school.

"Once the restaurant business is in your blood, it never leaves," Delano said.

He first opened up the Edgartown Deli on Martha's Vineyard in the early 1970s, and then in 1974, after meeting Dick Johnson of Amherst on the Vineyard, was encouraged to open a similar deli that he could operate during the fall, winter and spring. Delano opened the Amherst Deli in the Carriage Shops in 1974.

He eventually sold both delis and used this money, as well as a mortgage, to open Delano's in space that had previously been used by the bars Logs and Quicksilver's in the early to mid 1970s.

He said Delano's has been a family business, as four of his five children were brought up there. And he complimented his staff as hard workers.

For the last six years, Delano has worked as a real estate agent for Jones Group Realtors, in addition to running the restaurant. He will also continue to own the building, which has the bar on the first floor and available office space on the second.

He said Amherst has been good to him and he has given a lot back to the town over the years.

Though Delano's was iconic, he said he'll only be slightly bothered that his name won't grace a downtown restaurant. "I'm going to miss that, but that's the ego I had when I was 28," Delano said.

Delano said he intends to frequent the new bar, and hopes to enjoy some Miller Lites when he drops in. But he'll have to be a paying customer like anyone else, as he didn't come to an arrangement with the new owners to get free drafts.

"It was a great ride for 32 years," Delano said. "I'm glad I was able to be such a part of the history of Amherst."