Stone City Saloon is not really a saloon, at least not in the cowboy/western sense. The new bar at 220 Lexington Ave. aims for something less specific.
‘The original meaning for saloon was a gathering place, a wide-open place where people could have drinks and socialize from all walks of life and really feel comfortable together, with nobody feeling out of place,’ said owner Kevin Kirby.
The dimly lit bar seats around 50 people, with another 10 on the patio in good weather. Kirby’s intention is for a ‘non-pretentious, local bar’; its predecessor, Vera Pizzeria, was established as a trendy cocktail bar.
Happy hour runs from 4:30 to 7 p.m. daily, with $6 cocktails, $3 domestic beers, $5 drafts and glasses of wine, plus a sandwich and either mac salad or potato salad for $10.
‘It’s not a cocktail bar or a beer bar, it’s a new-age, modern corner bar. It’s a Renaissance man in a bar,’ Kirby said.
Although Kirby has been out of the industry for 10 years – including a stint with Sinatra Development – his roots are in hospitality in staple Buffalo restaurants.
